Tuesday, December 09, 2014



Against extradition to China

So, the Chinese regime wants New Zealand to extradite "corrupt" former Chinese officials. Its a bad idea. Why? For the same reasons that we shouldn't extradite alleged murderers there: China has the death penalty. They use torture. Their justice system is questionable and subject to political direction. Their prisons and "re-education camps" are appalling. Extradition to China exposes an accused person to all of these dangers, and cannot possibly be found to be compatible with our Bill of Rights Act.

So what about promises that people we extradite will be well-treated, given fair trials, and not tortured or murdered? John Key thinks they will provide a sufficient assurance, but the problem is that the Chinese have promised to fix these things in the past and nothing has changed. Their assurances are worthless.

Until China eliminates the death penalty and torture, and has a truly independent and robust justice system, we can not and should not extradite anyone to them. And the same applies to everywhere else.