Extradited businessman Christopher Tappin calls home from US prison cell (From News Shopper)
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Extradited businessman Christopher Tappin calls home from US prison cell
11:24am Tuesday 13th March 2012 in News By David Mills
Christopher Tappin
TWO weeks after he was extradited to the US over allegations he attempted to sell batteries to Iran for missiles, pensioner Christopher Tappin has finally been able to call home.
Retired businessman Mr Tappin, from Farnborough Park, Orpington, has been left languishing in the Otero County Prison Facility in the New Mexico desert since his arrival in America.
The 65-year-old was last week refused bail by a US judge in El Paso, Texas, after prosecutors claimed he may be "a danger to the community" if released and feared he posed a "flight risk".
His daughter Georgina Raeburn told News Shopper his prison conditions had now improved, after he was initially kept in a cell for 23 hours a day with the light permanently on and without any reading material.
He now shares a cell with four inmates, a man called Luther who he has been playing cards with, and three Mexicans who don't speak much English.
Ms Raeburn, who picked up the phone when her father called at around 10.30am on Friday (MAR 9), said: "It's become an awful lot more bearable for him. He had nothing to read for six days, no clock in the cell, and was allowed out for one hour a day in a caged area.
"Things have improved day-to-day. He now has someone to talk to.
"He's not in danger. He's not in the general prison population, he's between there and solitary. His cell can take 20 but there's five of them in there at the moment."
She added: "He sounded okay, I couldn't really tell as the line was so bad.
"He's very resilient and determined and wants to be given the opportunity to fight his case."
It is hoped Mr Tappin will be able to appeal the decision to remand him in custody at some point in the next two weeks.
It has been reported US prosecutors allege Mr Tappin was "a veteran arms dealer", a claim his daughter said: "If it wasn't so horribly frightening then it'd be ludicrous."
The family has been inundated with letters of support, some from complete strangers as far away as Australia.
Some mail is simply addressed: "The wife of the extradited man, Orpington".
Meanwhile the Mayor of London Boris Johnson is the latest politician to criticise the US-UK extradition treaty.
On a visit to Orpington on Monday, he told News Shopper: "I’m generally of the view the extradition treaty is unfair against British nationals. People can be extradited without the reasons being clear, often for crimes not committed in the US.
"I do think it needs looking at, for many people it remains a serious issue."
Comments(5)
Chrisbitz
says...
2:53pm Tue 13 Mar 12
right-writes
says...
7:39am Wed 14 Mar 12
"I’m generally of the view the extradition treaty is unfair against British nationals. People can be extradited without the reasons being clear, often for crimes not committed in the US."
However, one has to wonder what the real problem is… Just a few minutes ago, I read this story:
http://www.annaracco
on.com/madeleine-mcc
ann/portuguese-men-o
-law/
It's worth a read, it concerns a man cleared of a violent crime 20 years ago, because the injured man stated that he was NOT the assailant. However, he has just been arrested for the more serious offence of murder, even though the victim is not dead, and he is about to be carted off to a Portuguese jail.
Perhaps we should be looking at our own legal system, since it is responsible for sending people to trial in foreign countries on little or no evidence, for crimes which have not even been committed.
And it is not just America, it is potentially even more dangerous to offend someone in the EU, since there is not even extradition with the European Arrest Warrant, just arrest and shipment.
ho_ho_ho
says...
9:24am Wed 14 Mar 12
I've read the .pdf's at the bottom of his wiki page.
Forget what the items were or what they may have been for. He needed a license to export them from the US and he worked in exports (he knew the syatem). A standard and widely unpunished procedure is to misdeclare items at customs to get products with stupid regulations in and out of countries. He asked for these to be re packed to disguise the contents and he would use a different commodity code to export under. This way in theory, the goods should pass customs at both ends without issue.
This is the main issue here. Tappin was directing the misdeclaring of restricted items. Which is a crime. Forget they they were missile batteries. I'm sure someone somewhere could state they had other uses.
No one can say, not even Tappin. When they have his emails and phone recordings that he wasn't breaking US law by attempting to smuggle out restricted items. He knew he needed a license. No defence.
Plead guilty to that and not arms dealing. You'll be home by the time your 68.
What should have happened here, was the US should have told him to stop. A warning and that should've been the end of it.
Jeepo 11
says...
10:32am Wed 14 Mar 12
Just from what I read this old f@rt took the p1ss and is now paying the price. Just because he wears a blazer and plays golf aint a licence to break the law. If he was a drug dealer he could loose his assets, looks to me like he has been dealing arms or the equivalent, now deal with it.
Ohh and I do think to be fair he should have got bail, no reason to keep him in jail, after all he did surrender himself up.
Jeepo 11 says...
11:33am Tue 13 Mar 12