This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/1285
Eight people were killed in 1995 subway attack by GIA -Group Islamique Arme
November 17, 2005
Paris bomb suspect loses extradition challenge
(Filed: 17/11/2005)
Terrorist suspect Rachid Ramda has lost his latest High Court appeal to block his extradition to France where he is wanted in connection with the Paris Metro bombing 10 years ago.
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Two judges rejected claims that new moves to deport the Algerian national were legally flawed.
The ruling by Lord Justice Keene and Mr Justice Poole mark the beginning of the end for 35-year-old Ramda's marathon campaign against standing trial in France.
The longest-serving extradition prisoner in the UK, he has fought off repeated attempts in the past 10 years to try him for allegedly helping to finance the bombing of a Paris Metro station in 1995, in which eight people died.
Lord Justice Keene upheld the decision by Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, in April this year to extradite Ramda, who is alleged to be a member of Algerian militant organisation Groupe Islamique Arme.
The judge said Mr Clarke "had sufficient information before him" to exercise his statutory and general discretionary powers - "and the conclusions which he reached were not irrational."
Ramda's lawyers are now considering taking their case to the House of Lords for a final ruling.
A 2002 extradition order was quashed by two High Court judges who said the case must be reconsidered. They expressed concern about some of the evidence against Ramda, who is being held in Belmarsh jail in south-east London.
Today's decision follows a ruling yesterday by Mr Clarke that Babar Ahmad, a computer expert from Tooting, South London, be extradited to America to faces charges related to terrorist fundraising.
17 November 2005: Clarke orders suspect's extradition ------------------------------------------ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1876350,00.html
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This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/1285