Did a US lawyer really say, that they have the right to kidnap any Brit if they want too?

Question

heard it on BBC Radio 4´s "Now Show", that he said that.
is it realy true?

Answer 1

yes he did. shows their arrogance doesn't it. just go across there and see if you can kidnap one of theirs. no wonder they are isolated in the world. they think they can do as they like. no wonder they have sponsored so many dictators in this world. it must remind them of the way they are.

Answer 2

Actually, that is not what the lawyer said. That is what he appeared to have said, or is thought to have said!

He did not say that the American Government have the right to kidnap foreign citizens in their own countries and covertly transport them to America for trial. What he actually said, was that there is nothing written in American law, that would automatically prevent or disallow anyone who had been brought to the court for trial, from being tried; simply because the intended defendant had been kidnapped in order to get him (or her) to the court.

The means by which the defendant arrived at court, had little or no bearing on any subsequent trial proceedings, providing of course that the relevent arrest warrant or other necessary legal paperwork had been issued by the American courts at the appropriate time.

It must be remembered that although our two legal systems have many similarities, they also have many differences. The fact that the Americans can, and do employ Bounty Hunters for example, to locate and arrest miscreants or those suspected of committing crimes, is one particular odditty that may have some bearing in such a case as that curently in question.

Although it has I think been known for the Police in the UK to offer a reward for information leading to the arrest of a wanted person, there is generally not the slightest suggestion that any member of the public should arrest the person concerned and deliver them to the courts.

In fact it would of course be extremely risky for any member of the public in the UK to attempt to do this as they would probably end up being prosecuted by the arrested party for assault, or some Human Rights offense.

American Law has quite possibly preserved the status quo in this matter as they have overland territorial boundaries with other countries which miscreants can probably escape to relatively easily, which is a problem that we have never had to experience or contend with in the UK.

It depends a bit on your personal concept of freedom I guess, but we should not be too quick to judge their system as being wrong, when we don't experience the same problems.

We it seems have the opposite problem. We have lots of foreign criminals residing here, that we would like to send back to their own country (or anywhere else for that matter if the truth be known), but we can't even do this because of insane European Human Rights legislation or equally insane assylum laws that we seem to be the only country that abides by!.

Perhaps we should ask our American friends for some advice on how to deal with our problem!!

Answer 3

I'm a US Lawyer so i can speak with some expertise on the issue. There are many different kinds of law, administrative, environmental, international. In this case its the Law of the Jungle. You can do anything you want and if someone questions you you respond with "yeah, what are you going to do about it?" and if you cant do anything about it well its legal.

Answer 4

i'm irish not british but kidnapping is not only an abuse of human rights its also an abuse of gods law. guantanomo bay is prime example of this abuse but then again i dont remember any piss sodden british journalist speaking up against irish interment. my dad done 3 years for being catholic. had it been done american style the whole of italy would have been carpet bombed

Answer 5

yes and no responce from our corrupt new world order following freak of a government .