A strange case has been under way this week in the Kempton Park magistrate’s court — an application for the extradition of a British spy, Paul Grecian, to the United States. Grecian, the man credited with blowing the cover on Saddam Hussein’s project to build a “super-gun”, was arrested on December 15 while on a visit to South Africa for a holiday with his fiancee who lives in Cape Town. He has been languishing in prison ever since.
The hearing was proceeding as the Mail & Guardian went to press and the legal issues at stake should not attract comment until the magistrate has delivered judgment. But it should be said that the efforts by Washington to snatch Grecian from our shores leave a foul taste.
Grecian is wanted in the US for illegal arms dealing and fraud — charges relating to the sale of military equipment to Iraq in breach of a US arms embargo. He has already been cleared of similar charges by the Appeal Court in London after the British government belatedly admitted that he had been working for MI5 and MI6 when the alleged offences were committed.
Why his British spy-masters left him to the mercies of the law rather than rewarding him for his efforts is not clear; on the face of it, it is taking to extremes “M’s” warning to James Bond: “You’re on your own, now.”
Why the US authorities are so anxious to imprison him is difficult to understand. The suggestion is they are acting out of umbrage at Grecian’s failure to be more co-operative in the prosecution of other arms dealers.
Most bewildering of all, however, is the question why South Africa had to get involved in this tangled web in the first place. Apart from the costs of the extradition hearing, it is distasteful for us, as a country which prides itself on the protection of civil liberties, to have held in detention for more than four months a man who has done no wrong in our jurisdiction.
We would suggest to the Minister of Justice, Dullah Omar, that at the earliest appropriate moment he suggest to the British authorities that the proper place for this extradition hearing is the UK.
If, on the other hand, no assurances are forthcoming that the US would pursue the matter in the UK, we should restore him to the company of his fiancee with a quiet apology and recommend to him our glorious tourist venues.