Davis for Freedom, yeah right.

David Davis, MP for Haltemprice and Howden and doughty defender of Liberty (at least that's what his website says) has a curious lacuna. That is anything to do with the European Union. He will stand up and sit down on issues such as 42 day detention, yes. And good for him. He will go to the barricades to oppose Id cards, and so say all of us.

But when it comes to the European Arrest Warrant he goes strangely silent. Today the Law Lords have released their decision on the Symeou case.

In June when the High Court offered the case to the Law Lords everybody felt that at last something would be done to stop Andrew from being extradited. But no. The Law Lords have now shown themselves to be cowards. They have declined the opportunity to defend a British citizen who will now be extradited on the basis of no evidence presented to a British Court.

It is easy to see why this is the case. Obviously they belibve that nmo British citizen should be extradited without evidence being presented. But because the UK has signed up to the European Arrest Warrant, (legislation written by Lib Dem MEP Graham Watson) there is nothing they can do to defend a young Briton's liberty.

At no point in the last 1000 years would we have the situation that we are prepared to hand over a British citizen to a foriegn jurisdiction without evidence. Now we have two cases in as many weeks.

Of course the case of the Pentagon hacker, Gary McKinnon is getting more coverage because it plays into the native anti-American prejudice of the liberal elite in our country, however because this is an EU matter the case is being relegated into a side issue.

Frank Symeou, Andrew's father said this today,

"By fighting Andrew’s extradition to Greece has given us invaluable time.
Considering back in June 2008, when he was arrested, we had no information at all and the past twelve months has given us the opportunity to accumulate, analyse, compare and question evidence.

We have lobbied the Greek Authorities and the Investigating Judge in Zante and presented her with evidence that contradicts statements found in the Greek Police
files.

It has also meant the boys who were beaten by the Zante police and made to sign false statements implicating Andrew, were able to go to Zante and give verbal testimony directly to the Judge officially retracting their previous statements.

They testified how they had been subjected to eight hours of interrogation, threats and abuse; that police officers had slapped and punched them and were made to sign statements that were not true.

Without this extra time Andrew may by now have been in a Greek prison convicted of a crime he did not commit, based on evidence obtained by torture and that had been fabricated and manipulated by the investigating police officers.

Andrew is ready to face his accusers confident in the fact that he is innocent and that the case against him has no foundation in truth.

This whole nightmare has tested Andrew in ways that most of us could not imagine. Yes, it has been extremely difficult for him and the stress has taken its toll, but he has shown great courage and strength of character.

On 23rd July Andrew will be taken under police escort to Heathrow and handed over to Greek Police who will fly him to Greece. The next stage of this terrible ordeal will have begun with no one knowing how it will end.

Logic dictates that the case will be thrown out before even going to trial, but for the past two years it seems logic and common sense has never played a part in these proceedings."

Andrew's laywers tell us, via Fair Trials International, that the prosecuting magistrate goes on holiday on the 8th August. In order to get a bail hearing before that date as much pressure needs to be brought to bear as possible. I ask anybody who cares about justice and British liberty to write to the Greek Embassy here in London at this address,

political@greekembassy.org.uk

or
H.E. Achilleas Vasileious Pistinis
Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic of Greece
1A Holland Park
London,
W11 3TP

or try,
H.E. Dr. David Landesman OBE
Ambassador
The British Embasy
1 Ploutarchou Street
Kolonaki,
Athens
Greece

information.athens@fco.gov.uk

And ask that the bail hearing takes place before the 8th of August or Andrew will spend a long hot summer, in a Greek gaol with no end in sight.

Oh and why David Davis? Because when he launched his campaign he refused to help, when it was brought to his attention on Question Time, he didn't engage. When we asked him today to help the message came back that he was too busy, but if we sent the details he might look at it over the next few days.

Not ruddy good enough. This case has been rolling through for 18 months and more. Davis has known about it all the way, but has refused to lift a finger. We in UKIP know (and it is the London UKIP MEP Gerard Batten who has done more to highlight this case than anybody else) that is Davis was to make a statement the press would take notice. But he cannot be arsed to lift a finger to defend British liberties against EU regulation.

So be it, you lazy, good for nothing, preening hypocrite. Stop grand-standing about freedom when you refuse to act to defend it.