Liberal arrogance knows no bounds
The British government faces a potential diplomatic row with Antigua over the shooting of the honeymoon couple Catherine and Benjamin Mullany after demanding that anyone convicted of the crime will not face the death penalty.
Antiguan officials told The Daily Telegraph that the Foreign Office attempted to make such a pledge a condition of allowing Scotland Yard detectives to fly out to help in the investigation.
One senior Antiguan source said British officials initially demanded a signed guarantee from the country's Prime Minister, Baldwin Spencer.
There is so much fun to be had on so many levels with this one, but in the interests of time & because this morning I haven’t even finished my first cup of not-fairtrade coffee, shall be just say that in Great Girlyman Britain, the concept of a murderer doing the “long drop” is a complete anathema. Then the op-ed pages of our liberal press anguish over our absurd levels of crime. Trust me on this, a few still twitching corpses swinging gently in the breeze will do more to deter crime than trying to understand the causes of crime – plus it saves the taxpayer money. Sadly, all we can do is to lament the death of our good friend, common sense.
Mind you, then we have the flip side of the coin...
The British Government has been told to postpone extradition of Abu Hamza until a ruling on whether sending him to a maximum security US jail would breach his human rights.
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg gave the order as the 48-year-old's lawyers claimed he would be kept in inhuman conditions.US authorities want to jail Hamza in America's most secure jail, the Supermax ADX Florence in Colorado, which houses 38 convicted international terrorists.
His lawyers claim that prisoners live in boxes, there is only two hours exercise per week, there are no family visits and every correspondence is intercepted.
The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has already approved Hamza's extradition and last month Hamza was refused leave to appeal to the Law Lords, the highest court in England and Wales.
A Home Office spokesperson said: "The decision is a matter for the European Court. We shall seek to have his case expedited so it is heard as soon as possible."
Hamza is currently serving seven years in Britain for soliciting murder and stirring up racial hatred. The former imam at London's Finsbury Park Mosque is accused in the United States of trying to set up an al-Qaeda training camp in Oregon. He faces 11 charges in total, including sending cash and recruits to al-Qaeda and the Taliban and one relating to the kidnap of 16 tourists in the Yemen in 1998. Four hostages, including three Britons, died in a rescue attempt.
Via Bill & The Isle of Wimps