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Nick Baker - The Campaign Goes On
June 12, 2003 12:00 AM
Lawyers for British citizen Nick Baker, who has received a sentence of 14 years for drug-smuggling in Japan today, will be appealing.
His conviction after an unfair trial and by a judge who has never returned a 'not guilty' verdict is described as 'an outrage' by LibDem Euro-MP Baroness Sarah Ludford. She said:
"This verdict will contribute to the Japanese courts' 99% conviction rate. But it's not a record to be proud of when accused are treated as guilty from the start."
"Nick's trial was marked by an absence of safeguards expected in a civilised country: no lawyer present for three weeks of interrogation, no taping of interviews, and 10 months in solitary confinement for protesting his innocence. Most crucially for the defence, vital evidence was ignored."
Sarah Ludford will be seeking a meeting with Foreign Office Ministers to urge a more energetic attitude, especially on getting evidence from Belgium on similar activities of the travel companion transferred. She added:
"On behalf of Jack Straw, the Foreign Office said it could not intervene. All it takes for injustice to prevail is for a few good bureaucrats to feel inhibited from action by diplomatic conventions."
"But a British citizen has suffered a gross miscarriage of justice. Are we going to stand by and simply wash our hands of him? How can Tony Blair justify overcoming 'sovereignty' objections to liberate Iraqis from human rights abuses, but not one of his own compatriots?"
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