International Extradition—Mexico, Lebanon, and Jordan

A number of extradition stories demand a little attention today. The first comes from Mexico, the second from Lebanon, and the third from Jordan.

Over the weekend, one of the FBI’s 10 most-wanted individuals was arrested in Tijuana, Mexico.^[1] Genaro Espinosa Dorantes, is accused of “burning, beating, and torturing to death Luis Osvaldo Cisneros, his girlfriend’s four-year-old son.”^[2] This allegedly happened at the end of February 2003.^[3] On February 20, the child’s mother, Martha Cano Patlan, reportedly “agreed to cooperate with police and was taken into custody” in Dolores Hidalgo, Mexico.^[4]

Mr. Espinosa is charged with first-degree murder in Tennessee, but as we have mentioned a number of times before, Mexico does not extradite people who face the death penalty. Tennessee authorities can still seek life imprisonment however.

Also making extradition headlines is Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s extradition request made to Lebanon. Among the five men who are the subject of the extradition request is Wassef Ali Hassoun, the Utah Marine who allegedly faked his own kidnapping in 2004, and is now charged by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service with desertion.^[5] Along with Mr. Hassoun, Sec. Rice has requested the extradition of Imad Mugniyah, Hassan Izzeddine, Ali Atwa, and Mohammed Ali Hammadi.^[6] Up to now, the Lebanese government has refused the requests of those four men, mainly because, as a spokesman for Premier Fouad Siniora said, “[t]here of those wanted by the U.S. have been pardoned under the General Amnesty Law, and one of them has already served his sentence. So it is not clear why the issue is still being raised.”^[7]

Mr. Hammadi, if you recall, is the man who was recently released from German prison after serving a sentence for the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847, which resulted in the death of a Navy Seal diver.^[8] Under Lebanon’s General Amnesty Law of 1991, “all crimes committed by militias and armed groups during the 15-year Civil War, which ended in 1990, were pardoned.”^[9] As we have mentioned before, in the absence of a bilateral extradition treaty between the US and Lebanon, the final determination whether to send any of the individuals to the United States will based on Lebanon’s domestic laws.

Finally, a Jordanian lawyer is planning to sue Jordan’s Ministry of the Interior “for handing over a Jordanian-American citizen to Washington where he has been charged with plotting attacks on soldiers in Iraq.”^[10] The individual who has been extradited to the US is Mohamed Amawi, who was indicted last week for allegedly plotting to attack US and coalition soldier in Iraq.^[11] He was also “specifically charged with making ‘verbal threats to kill or inflict bodily harm against the president of the US’ George W. Bush.”^[12]

The controversy stems from the fact that Mr. Amawi holds dual US and Jordanian citizenship. A Jordanian government spokesman said yesterday that Mr. Amawi “is an American citizen. He is accused in a criminal case in the US. He was deported on the basis of this.”^[13] Mr. Amawi’s lawyer, however, countered by saying “Even if that is true, he is still a Jordanian citizen and the constitution is clear”; it clearly states that “no Jordanian may be deported from the territory of the kingdom.”^[14]

The extradition treaty between the US and Jordan, however, states that if “all conditions in the Treaty relating to extradition are met, extradition shall not be refused based on the nationality of the person sought.”^[15] The terms of that treaty, however, may not have been followed at all.

According to an Associated Press article, Mr. Amawi was arrested “last weekend in Jordan” and he arrived in the United States three days later.^[16] There is almost no way that a full extradition hearing was conducted in that time frame. Either Mr. Amawi was deported, which would suggest a violation of Jordan’s constitution, or he was simply bustled onto a plane and flown to the United States. Details, unfortunately, are lacking. If it is the latter, Mr. Amawi will join at least three individuals who were seemingly summarily removed from Mexico, as individuals sent to the United States without due process considerations.

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[1] One of “Most Wanted” Nabbed in Mexico, Associated Press (via CBS News), Feb. 28, 2006.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Matthew D. LaPlante, Rice Reportedly Urged Extradition of Utah Marine, Salt Lake Tribune, Feb. 28, 2006.
[6] Rym Ghazal, Lebanon Mulls U.S. Extradition Requests, Daily Star (Lebanon), Feb. 27, 2006.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Jordanian to Sue Govt Over His Extradition, Agence France-Presse (via Gulf Times), Feb. 28, 2006.
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] Id.
[14] Id.
[15] Extradition Treaty, Mar. 28, 1995, U.S.-Jord., art. 3, S Treaty Doc. No. 104-3 (1995).
[16] Shafika Mattar, Lawyer of U.S.-Jordanian Suspected Militant Tries to Annul Extradition Order, Feb. 27, 2006. (subscription only)