A new precedent

[Hard-Luck Henry]

For the first time ever, a foreign national has been convicted in a UK court for crimes committed abroad.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4693239.stm

Interesting. I wonder who could be next ... ? Thoughts, anyone?

[URL=http://www.imageshack.us][img]http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/7295/bell27rn.jpg[/URL][/img]

 

[Reverend Blair]

It really isn't new...the first international agreements allowing this type of prosecution were written during the Nuremburg trials. Nobody has really used them though.

As long as the prosecutions take place in the context of international agreements and the accused are given their rights under both international and domestic (in this case British) law, they are a positive step forward. Not having to wait for the vagaries and political maneuverings that surround the ICC will discourage the guilty from seeking asylum in western countries and western countries will be discouraged from offering asylum for political reasons.