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24 September 2021 / George Hepburne Scott
Issue: 7949 / Categories: Features , Brexit , Extradition
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Could post-Brexit UK-Ireland extradition arrangements be unlawful?

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George Hepburne-Scott considers the potential impact of Saqlain’s referral to the European Court of Justice
  • Are post-Brexit extradition arrangements between the UK and Ireland on the brink of being declared unlawful by the EU’s top court?
  • Looks at the case of Saqlain v Governor of Cloverhill Prison and Salman v Governor of Mountjoy Prison.

Following the seismic shift in the relationship between the UK and the EU post 11 pm on 31 December 2020 (Brexit day), the extradition arrangements between the two also fundamentally altered. Or did they?

Polakowski

It could be argued that in reality very little changed. There was a perhaps predictable, immediate challenge in the High Court of England and Wales: the case of Polakowski & Ors v Westminster Magistrates’ Court [2021] EWHC 53 (Admin), [2021] All ER (D) 70 (Jan) in effect challenged the legality of the UK’s post-Brexit extradition arrangements with the EU.

However, these challenges were roundly rejected by the High Court in that case which robustly described them as ‘misconceived’

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