Extradition Process Between the UAE and IndiaPosted by Dr. Hassan Elhais on September 26th, 2023 The United Arab Emirates is a signatory of the Riyadh Arab Convention on Judicial Cooperation for Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iraq, Algeria, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco. In addition, the UAE has entered into bilateral treaties for judicial cooperation with the United Kingdom, France, India, Pakistan, Iran, Australia, China, Egypt, Kazakhstan etc. Similarly, India has signed extradition treaties with 43 foreign countries. It has extradition arrangements with countries such as the UAE, Antigua and Barbuda, Croatia, Fiji, Italy, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tanzania and many others. The UAE has issued federal law no. 39 of 2006 on the ‘Mutual judicial cooperation in criminal matters' which comprises the ‘Extradition law’ of the UAE. In 2012, the UAE also ratified the extradition treaty facilitating the transfer of prisoners between the Gulf states and India. Pursuant to the extradition treaty signed between the two countries, both countries have agreed to hand over fugitives who have committed an offence to the requesting Country where the offence was committed. The bilateral treaty solidifies that both jurisdictions refuse to foster criminals and to cooperate fully in terms of extradition requests. Specific Extradition Process in India with Extradition Treaty:Extradition process refers to an action wherein one sovereign jurisdiction (requested State) delivers a person either acquitted or convicted of an international crime to the law enforcement of another jurisdiction (requesting State) upon their official request. Compliance with an extradition request involves transferring the physical custody of the accused person to the recognized legal authority of the requesting jurisdiction. An extradition process can be accepted in India once it is received by either:
The steps and measures taken for extradition when there exists a specific extradition treaty between India and the requesting nations will be as:
According to the agreement signed in 2011 between the UAE and India for the ‘transfer of sentenced prisoners, both countries allow for the sentenced prisoners to be transported to their home country for their imprisonment term. However, these provisions do not apply when the crime in question pertains to heinous crimes of murder, drug abuse, financial fraud etc. The conditions that must be met in order for a sentenced criminal to be transferred from the UAE to India or Vice versa:
Question: Sometimes the criminal law covers acts which were done out of the national territory as exceptional rules although the criminal law only applies to the act in the national territory and in some rare cases the person could be punished if the crime was committed outside. The question here can the extradition be done or requested on the basis of a crime done out of the territory? Answer: Yes, that could be done. However, the requested country could take the decision in light of the circumstances and danger of the crime. Question: Could the extradition be done on the basis of political crimes? Answer: It is subject to the power of the requested country whether to execute the extradition for political rights or not and Article No. 6 of the treaty gives the power to the requested country to refuse the extradition if they believe that the crime is political. Question: What happens if the requested country receives more than one extradition request from different countries at the same time? Answer: According to Article No. 12 of the signed treaty, the priority in such cases shall be given to:
After executing extradition, the person shall not be delivered to a third country without the approval of the requested country. If the person got detained while the investigation is going on before the extradition is executed, then such detention period shall be deducted from the sentence. Exceptions to Extradition Requests:Both India and UAE do not allow extradition requests for their nationals. However, in such instances, the accused can still be tried in one jurisdiction based on the case instituted in the other. With the recent changes imparted in the extent of judicial cooperation between both countries in 2020, India now accepts direct execution of the final judgment issued by a UAE civil court concerning civil or financial matters. Article by: Dr. Hassan Elhais, a legal consultant in Dubai, specializing in the drafting of all statements of claim, memos, and consultation on litigation of all manner. Like it? Share it!More by this author |