A Coalition of Civil Society Group has formally written the United States President Barrack Obama, condemning extradition, describing it as an act of abduction, torture and impunity not tenable in both US and international laws.
As stated by the group's President, Etuk Bassey Williams who addressed newsmen in Abuja at the weekend, the process has been found damaging to attempts by the United States to combat terrorism because rendition itself is as bad as terrorism.
He said: “It is imperative that the war against terror or any other illegalities is conducted within the rule of law, otherwise those fighting such crimes will lose their moral authority to do so.”
The group recalled that rendition, which is the legal process of sending a suspected criminal to another country to be interrogated or detained, usually for law-enforcement purposes, had earlier been condemned by the United States President during his 2008 presidential campaign.
It said: “The high rate of erroneous renditions clearly defines its failure thereby making the need for an alternative to be inevitable. It is in lieu of this that we propose that the technique of empathy and non-torture as used by former FBI counter terror agent, Ali Soufan, which has been very effective to be adopted in addition to developing other tactical and operational tradecraft.”
The coalition also added another reason for it being against the policy: “Amnesty International had criticised European countries and the United States for operating contrary to basic legal principles and has called on the United States to put an end to rendition, conduct independent and thorough investigations in the practice.”