Law professor: Constitution should prevent extradition to Iran

Ministry to decide on fate of men ordered not to leave Finland

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The Ministry of Justice is expected to decide in the coming weeks on whether or not to extradite two men wanted by Iran on charges of terrorism. In recent years Finland has refused to extradite a criminal suspect to another country only once, but this case is likely to be an exception.
     It involves two Iranian men who were detained on an international arrest warrant as they entered Finland on Sunday. The two, who live in exile in France, are members of an Iranian opposition group. They came to Finland to participate in NGO activities linked with the OSCE foreign ministers’ meeting, and to prepare for a visit to the Finnish Parliament by Iranian human rights advocates.
     The two were released from custody on Wednesday, and ordered not to leave the country for the time being.
     
Finnish Minister of Justice Tuija Brax (Green) said on Thursday that the Finnish constitution prohibits the extradition of anyone to a country where they might face the death penalty, torture, or other inhumane treatment.
     Iran still implements the death penalty.
     Human rights expert Martin Scheinin, a professor of international law, says that he does not believe that it is possible to extradite the men to Iran.
     He also advises the Ministry of Justice to be cautious when it makes a decision on the matter.
     According to the Ministry of Justice, Iran issued an arrest warrant through Interpol in 2002. Under the request, they are to be apprehended for extradition to Iran.
     Finland acted according to the warrant, and stopped them at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport on Sunday.
     Vantaa District Court released the men, but ordered them not to leave Finland.
     
Brax would not take a stand on the case of the two men, saying that Iran had not submitted an official extradition request. The Ministry of Justice has told Iran that it should submit such a request on Friday next week at the latest.
     “Handling it will undoubtedly take several days”, says ministry official Juhani Korhonen.
     Iran’s Ambassador to Finland Reza Nazarahari said in Helsingin Sanomat on Thursday that he hopes that the two will be sent to Iran for trial.
     
The ambassador claimed that the men have committed numerous crimes and have taken part in terrorist acts as members of the terrorist organisation MKO.
      MKO does have a violent history, but numerous European parliamentarians see it as a non-violent organisation, and are calling on the EU to remove it from the list of terrorist groups.
     
The EU court declared on Thursday, for a third time, that MKO (also known by the initials PMOI) is not a terrorist organisation. In the view of the court, the EU was wrong to keep the assets of the organisation frozen.
     MP Heidi Hautala (Green) points out that the men have been granted exile in France decades ago. She suspects that with its actions, Iran is trying to intimidate critics of its administration into silence.
     Finland receives about one extradition request a year for a criminal from a country outside the EU, and the Ministry of Justice complies with the requests almost always.
     
Finland refused to extradite one person in 2007. The case reportedly involved a man suspected of theft in Belarus.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Iran demands extradition of “terrorists” (4.12.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat