By The Telegraph
A former high-ranking Iranian diplomat has won a High Court battle in his attempt to avoid extradition to the US.


Nosratollah Tajik, 59, was the target of an American sting operation in London six years ago and is wanted on suspicion of conspiring to export US defence night-vision weapons sights to Iran without a licence.




The ex-Iranian ambassador to Jordan turned engineering scholar was arrested in 2006 after agents from the US Department of Homeland Security pretended to be co-conspirators.




There have been long and controversial delays in the extradition process amid fears that sending Tajik to America for trial could cause further diplomatic problems between the UK and Iran and create a "real threat" to staff at the British embassy in Tehran.




Today Lord Justice Moses, sitting with Mr Justice Sweeney, ruled that Tajik "has escaped extradition" because of a failure to "show reasonable cause" for the delays.




Tajik will now be set free unless the Home Secretary and US government attempt to take the case to the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land.

The judges ruled that the Americans had failed to justify the delays which had occurred.

Tajik became an engineering scholar and was briefly appointed an honorary fellow of Durham University in 2004.

He has a wife and two sons and is currently on an electronic tag and subject to a night-time curfew at his west London flat.

After today's ruling, he said the extradition moves against him were "politically motivated" and the High Court judges had made "a brave decision".

His extradition was first agreed by former Home Secretary John Reid, but the Iranians consistently lobbied for his release.

London's High Court heard at a hearing last month that the Americans were asked whether they wished to proceed with their extradition request, because of fears for UK embassy staff in Tehran.

Alun Jones QC, representing Tajik, said there followed more than two years of delay, between 2009 and 2011, before the US gave its response.

Tajik's removal would now be "oppressive", said the QC.

His heart and other health problems made it unlikely he would survive the rigours of the US judicial system and a possible 10-year jail sentence.

Hugo Keith QC, appearing for Home Secretary Theresa May, said the delays had occurred because ministers wanted to see if the US government wished to withdraw its request as there was a "real and immediate threat to UK embassy personnel in Tehran" if extradition went ahead.

Mr Keith said that, when the US authorities were first approached, there was also the potential for a new US policy being adopted following US elections.

Despite the long delays, the Americans did not withdraw their extradition request, and the current Home Secretary ordered extradition after deciding that Tajik's medical condition was not a bar.

Mr Keith argued the minister had acted within her powers.

But Lord Justice Moses disagreed. The judge said it would not have been oppressive to surrender Tajik to the US authorities, but the court had to consider whether reasonable cause had been shown for the delays.

The judge ruled: "It is not open either to the UK or to the requesting country (the USA) to extradite at a time of their own choosing without offering, for the judgment of the court, its justification for the delay in surrender.

"Extradition must take place according to the terms of the statute (2003 Extradition Act)."

The judge said the US had failed to justify the delays that had occurred.

"It has advanced no justification for choosing to reply to the UK's request in August 2011 and not much earlier - in 2009 or 2010.

"The only inference the court can draw is that it has arrogated to itself the time for choosing when Mr Tajik should be extradited and face trial without advancing any justification for its decision.

"This is a stance which the provisions of the 2003 Act do not permit."

 

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