International Extradition Updates—Sadequee and Adamov

A couple of the international extradition cases we have been following have some developments that should be mentioned.

The arrest and removal of Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, from Bangladesh, which we mentioned on Friday, has caused a certain amount of concern in that part of the world. “A controversy is raging in the Bangladeshi media about [Mr. Sadequee], who while visiting his parents was picked up by police and handed over to the US [FBI].”^[1] Seeking to quell suspicions, Bangladesh’s Home Minister Lutfozzaman Babar said that Mr. Sadequee was handed over and deported “on the basis of sufficient information and evidence about his involvement in militancy.”^[2] That did not lessen concerns that Mr. Sadequee was removed extrajudicially because of the lack of an extradition treaty, however, as the Deputy Commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Obaidur Rahman Khan, said they did not know what happened to Mr. Sadequee, who was arrested on April 17.^[3] According to Mr. Khan, “an abduction case has been filed about [Mr. Sadequee’s] disappearance and it is still under investigation. ‘After his rescue, we will talk to him and then we will know what actually happened,’” he told the media.^[4] He’ll be waiting a while, because Mr. Sadequee apparently arrived in New York for his arraignment on Friday.^[5] How he got there, however, is a topic of speculation in Bangladesh.

According to the Daily Star, “one of the chartered aeroplanes allegedly used for the controversial ‘extraordinary rendition’ by the CIA … has been tracked flying out of Bangladesh on April 20” at midnight.^[6] The aircraft was a Gulfstream G-V with the identification number of N596GA; it was to fly from Bangladesh to Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, then to Teterboro, New Jersey, and then to Manassas, Virginia.^[7] According to the Daily Star, an airport official confirmed that “an unscheduled flight of a Gulfstream G-V aircraft left the airport” a little after midnight on April 20.^[8] We previously discussed extraordinary rendition in January.

The other story we have been following concerns Yevgeny Adamov, who was the subject of competing extradition requests by the United States and Russia in August. The last time we mentioned Mr. Adamov, in December, we noted that he was ordered to be extradited to Russia, which was a reversal of an original decision to have him sent to the United States. Now comes news that the US Attorney’s Office in Pittsburgh, where his US charges are pending, has resigned itself to the likelihood that they will never be able to prosecute Mr. Adamov.^[9] According to Assistant US Attorney Bruce Teitelbaum, “We believe, in good faith of everything we’ve seen, he’s never going to be here. He’s never going to face a U.S. trial.”^[10] That does not mean, however, that they are planning on dropping charges against Mr. Adamov.^[11] The Swiss arrest of Mr. Adamov, and the subsequent extradition to Russia, jeopardizes the government’s case against Mr. Adamov’s co-defendant, Mark Kaushansky.^[12] Before he was arrested, Mr. Adamov “had been negotiating with federal prosecutors to find a way to ‘confront the charges’”; his arrest has “caused other potential Russian witnesses to question whether they should come to the U.S. to testify in [Mr.] Kaushansky’s trial,” because they see the arrest as a “cheap shot.”^[13]

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[1] Dhaka Detains US Citizen, Hands Him to FBI, New Kerala News, Apr. 24, 2006.
[2] Govt Confirms US Citizen’s Deportation, The Daily Star (Bangladesh), Apr. 24, 2006.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Adam Goldman, Terror Meetings Suspect Appears in Court, Associated Press (via Wired News), Apr. 22, 2006.
[6] Daily Star, supra note 2.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Jason Cato, Adamov Unlikely to Face U.S. Trial, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Apr. 22, 2006.
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] Id.