Italian system 'slowing up extradition'

By David Willey
BBC Rome correspondent

Osman Hussain's lawyer believes he may continue to be kept in Italy

Differences between the Italian and British legal systems mean the suspected London underground bomber arrested in Rome cannot be extradited as quickly as British police might wish.

Hussain Osman was arrested last week and is currently in custody in Rome's Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven) prison facing possible trial in Italy on charges related to international terrorism.

The main difference between criminal procedure in Britain and Italy is that while the prosecution of crime in Britain is basically controlled by the police assisted by the director of public prosecutions, in Italy, all criminal investigations are handled from the start directly by the judiciary with the police performing a secondary role.

Mr Osman's case has been handed to an Italian preliminary investigating judge (GIP).

This judge has virtually no deadline to conclude his inquiry into whether there is sufficient evidence to secure the conviction under Italy's new anti-terrorist laws of the Ethiopian-born suspect - now a British subject - who police believed left London after the failed bombing at Shepherd's Bush underground station.

60 days

A parallel, but separate court procedure is also going on to determine whether the request for Mr Osman's extradition by the Metropolitan Police in London under the new European Arrest Warrant can be granted.

A decision has to be made by this court within 60 days, but the accused can appeal against it, further delaying the extradition.

Lawyer Antonietta Sonnessa ... said her client had also indicated that he preferred to remain in Italy

Mr Osman's court-appointed defence lawyer Antonietta Sonnessa said the Italian authorities believe there is sufficient evidence against him that he should continue to be held in Italy to face investigators here first.

She said her client had also indicated that he preferred to remain in Italy - a country with whose language he is familiar and where he used to live when he was a teenager.

This view does not reflect the opinion expressed in Rome on Monday by Carlo de Stefano, the head of Rome's anti-terrorist police, who said that the evidence police have so far is that Mr Osman had no connection with any terrorist cells in Italy and was not planning any attack here.

Political asylum

Mr Osman - known in Italy as Hamdi Issac - was one of five Isaac brothers who left their birthplace in Northern Ethiopia from 1989 onwards and sought political asylum in Italy.

Two later moved to Canada.

Mr Osman moved to Britain in about 1996, where he later successfully applied for political asylum and then naturalisation, using false papers claiming he was a Somali citizen.

Two of his brothers remained in Italy.

There is a problem in reconciling the desire of the British authorities for a rapid handover of Mr Osman with the requirements of Italian law

One of them, Remzi, runs a small gift shop near Rome's Termini railway station.

It was in his apartment in a working class Rome suburb that Mr Osman was arrested last Friday.

Remzi Issac is now also in custody facing charges connected with international terrorism.

Fethi Issac lives in Brescia in northern Italy, midway between Milan and Venice.

He was arrested there last weekend and has also been charged with falsifying and hiding documents. A judge in Brescia has reserved a decision on whether he can be released into house arrest.

'Reasoned judgement'

Although Italy has recently passed legislation adhering to the European Arrest Warrant procedure there is a problem in reconciling the desire of the British authorities for a rapid handover of Mr Osman with the requirements of Italian law.

Italian extradition procedure requires a "reasoned judgement" from a British judge before the request can be considered.

As he is now a fugitive from British justice but has never appeared before a magistrates' court in London, no such "reasoned judgement" is currently available.

An Italian criminal lawyer I consulted suggested that one way round this problem would be for a London High Court judge to issue a judgement requesting Mr Osman's extradition.

Another would be to invoke a provision of the European Arrest Warrant providing for the temporary extradition of a fugitive from justice of one EU country currently being held by the judicial authorities of another.