United Kingdom Extradition Law — Case Law, Legal Framework and Procedure

Extradition cases involving United Kingdom — Requested and Requesting State

🇬🇧

United Kingdom

United Kingdom Extradition Law & Case Law — 32 cases

17
As requested
state
15
As requesting
state
Case Law
State immunity denied for remote spyware hacking causing injury in the United Kingdom
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Summary
Two Bahraini pro-democracy activists brought civil proceedings alleging that agents of Bahrain had remotely infected their computers in the United Kingdom with spyware, conducted intrusive surveillance and caused them psychiatric injury. By a majority, the Supreme Court held that section 5 of the State Immunity Act 1978 applies where legally causative acts occur in the United Kingdom, even though the operation was initiated abroad and the foreign State’s agents were never physically present there. The installation and operation of spyware on computers located in the United Kingdom, including the accessing and exfiltration of data and activation of cameras and microphones, constituted causative acts within the jurisdiction. Bahrain was therefore not entitled to State immunity, and its appeal was dismissed; Lord Leggatt dissented, considering that an act occurs where the human actor is located rather than where its effects are produced.
27/07/2026 · Supreme Court of the United Kingdom · [2026] UKSC 25
🇬🇧United Kingdom → 🇧🇭Bahrain
Procedural orderOther
Competing extradition requests: decision to prioritise the United States quashed for unfairness and factual errors
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Summary
The case concerned a Portuguese national facing two competing extradition claims for substantially overlapping cybercrime-related conduct: a United States extradition request under Part 2 of the Extradition Act 2003 and a Portuguese arrest warrant under Part 1. The requested person preferred extradition to Portugal and challenged the Home Secretary’s decision under section 179 of the 2003 Act to defer the Portuguese warrant until the United States request had been disposed of. The High Court held that the decision-making process was procedurally unfair because the Home Secretary had refused to receive representations from the requested person, the United States and Portugal, despite the significant consequences of choosing between competing extradition claims. Relying also on the CJEU judgment in OP v Procureur de la République, the Court interpreted section 179 consistently with the need to consider all the circumstances of the case, including the interests of the requested person. The Court further found that the decision was vitiated by material factual errors and by a failure to take relevant considerations into account, and therefore quashed the decision so that the matter could be reconsidered by the Home Secretary.
11/09/2025 · High Court of Justice, King’s Bench Division, Administrative Court · [2025] EWHC 2293
🇬🇧United Kingdom → 🇺🇸United States
Procedural orderExtradition
Andrysiewicz v Circuit Court in Lodz, Poland – relevance of early release in Article 8 proportionality
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Summary
The UK Supreme Court considered whether, in extradition cases based on conviction warrants, courts may take into account the possibility of early release under the law of the requesting State when assessing proportionality under Article 8 ECHR.The appellant was sought by Poland to serve a two‑year sentence for fraud. She argued that extradition would disproportionately interfere with her private and family life, partly because she might be eligible for early release under Polish law.The Court reviewed conflicting approaches in domestic case law and held that the mere possibility of early release is relevant but carries little weight. Courts in the requested State should not attempt to predict the likelihood of early release, as this would involve speculative assessment of foreign law and undermine principles of international comity.Only in rare and exceptional cases, supported by clear evidence, may a court attach greater weight to early release prospects. Ultimately, the Court endorsed a cautious approach: acknowledging early release as a factor but generally giving it minimal significance in the Article 8 proportionality balancing exercise.Although the extradition warrant was withdrawn (as the sentence had effectively been served), the Court ruled on the legal issues due to their general importance.
11/06/2025 · UK Supreme Court · [2025] UKSC 23
🇬🇧United Kingdom → 🇵🇱Poland
Procedural orderExtradition
Extradition, nationality discrimination and freedom of expression: leave to appeal conditionally granted in Assange v United States
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Summary
Extradition may be subject to appeal where the requested person establishes an arguable risk of prejudice at trial by reason of nationality, including where such prejudice may affect access to fundamental constitutional protections in the requesting State. In such circumstances, issues under Article 10 ECHR (freedom of expression) may arise, but only insofar as they are consequential upon the risk of discriminatory treatment. Extradition may also be challenged where assurances provided by the requesting State are insufficient, particularly in relation to the death penalty and the rule of specialty, with the court entitled to require further guarantees before determining whether the appeal should proceed. By contrast, the prohibition of extradition for political offences contained in an unincorporated bilateral treaty does not confer directly enforceable rights in domestic law, nor can it operate as an independent bar to extradition under the Extradition Act 2003. The statutory framework constitutes an exhaustive code, and extradition must be ordered unless a specific statutory bar is established. Finally, at the leave stage, the appellate court is not concerned with determining the merits of the grounds, but only with whether they disclose a real prospect that the lower court’s decision was wrong.
26/03/2024 · UK High Court of Justice · AC-2022-LON-001745 and 1746
🇬🇧United Kingdom → 🇺🇸United States
PendingExtradition
Withdrawal of the extradition request and revocation of seizure
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Summary
The withdrawal of the extradition request entails the revocation of real precautionary measures, with the consequent return to the rightful owner of the assets subject to seizure, given that—pursuant to Article 6(2) of the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters of 20 April 1959—the requesting State is not entitled to dispose of assets obtained through the execution of a letter rogatory that has subsequently been withdrawn. (In the present case, the Court quashed without remittal the order by which the Court of Appeal had ordered the return of the seized assets, limited to those not yet transferred to the requesting authority).
11/09/2018 · Italian Supreme Court · 48284/2018
🇮🇹Italy → 🇬🇧United Kingdom
Procedural orderExtradition
Country Contributor
Edward Grange
Corker Binning
Edward Grange is regarded as one of the leading extradition lawyers in the UK, advising on complex, high-stakes extradition, international criminal, and serious criminal matters.
He is recognised as a Star Individual for Crime: Extradition in Chambers UK 2026, where he is described as “a fantastic extradition lawyer – the best of the best.”
He is widely recognised for advising individuals in complex, sensitive, and often high-profile cases with significant international dimensions. With over 18 years’ specialist experience, he has advised and represented individuals facing extradition to jurisdictions across the world and has an exceptional track record in successfully resisting extradition requests. His work includes defeating requests from the United States, Russia, India, and the United Arab Emirates. He has conducted hundreds of extradition cases arising from almost every EU member state and was a member of the legal team advising Julian Assange.
His extradition expertise places Edward at the forefront of legal challenges involving INTERPOL. He regularly advises individuals who are subject to, or at risk of becoming subject to, INTERPOL Red Notices and diffusion requests. He has successfully made representations to the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files (CCF) securing the deletion of Red Notices and, in pre-emptive cases, preventing notices from being issued altogether.
Edward is an experienced criminal defence lawyer with a career spanning all stages of the criminal process, from police station representation through to contested trials. His criminal litigation practice covers the full spectrum of serious criminal allegations, including complex fraud, serious sexual offences, and offences involving serious violence. He has particular expertise in representing children and young people accused of grave criminal conduct, having spent many years practising extensively in the London Youth Courts. He also advises on road traffic offences, from regulatory matters through to allegations of causing death by dangerous driving.
Edward is the co-author of Extradition Law: A Practitioner’s Guide (Legal Action Group, 3rd edition, 2021), the leading practitioner text on the subject. He is the co-founder and former Chair of the Defence Extradition Lawyers Forum and was elected to the Advisory Board of the European Criminal Bar Association in October 2024. He has given expert evidence before the House of Lords Select Committee on Extradition, with his evidence featuring extensively in its final report. Edward is also a regular commentator in the national and international media on extradition law and cross-border criminal justice
Edward is the co-host of Corker Binning’s podcast, Full Comment, where he discusses developments in criminal law, extradition, and cross-border investigations.
Country Contributor
Rebecca Niblock
Kingsley Napley
Rebecca specialises in extradition and cross-border criminal matters. She advises individuals, families and family offices facing complex criminal investigations, extradition proceedings and cross-border enforcement action with an international dimension.
Her practice focuses on extradition, INTERPOL and mutual legal assistance (MLA) requests, as well as wider cross-border enforcement issues. Many of her cases involve sensitive issues and require careful coordination across multiple jurisdictions, often alongside reputational or political considerations. Her work frequently involves matters where criminal proceedings intersect with reputational, political or diplomatic considerations.
Rebecca also represents clients in serious and complex financial crime matters, including allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption, and in investigations conducted by agencies such as the Serious Fraud Office and Financial Conduct Authority. She is particularly experienced in cases involving parallel proceedings or competing enforcement interests in different jurisdictions.
She has extensive experience acting in extradition cases involving requests from the United States, EU member states, India and jurisdictions across the Middle East and the CIS. She regularly leads high-stakes matters raising complex issues of international law, human rights and abuse of process.
Rebecca works closely with private client advisers, trustees and reputation specialists when managing cross-border criminal risk for individuals and families.
She is ranked as a Star Individual for Extradition by Chambers and Partners and as a Leading Partner in Legal 500.
Rebecca is co-author of Extradition Law: A Practitioner’s Guide, one of the leading texts in the field, and contributes regularly to legal and policy discussions on cross-border criminal enforcement.
She holds a PhD in the History of Art from the University of Bristol.
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