Britain is “thoroughly considering” a final representation made by Tiger Hanif, an alleged aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, against his extradition to India in connection with two bomb blasts in Gujarat in 1993.
Hanif, whose full name is Mohammed Hanif Umerji Patel, was traced to a grocery store in Bolton, Greater Manchester, and arrested by Scotland Yard on an extradition warrant in February 2010. “Mohammad Patel has made further representations to the Secretary of State (Theresa May). These are being thoroughly considered,” a Home Office spokesperson told PTI on Thursday.
Since his arrest, 51-year-old Hanif has lost a number of legal bids to stay in Britain, claiming that he will be tortured in India. In April, he lost his appeal in the UK High Court following which the case was handed over to Home Secretary Theresa May to sign an extradition order. As part of usual proceedings, he was allowed to make representations to the Home Office.
Hanif will exhaust all legal options in the UK if May signs an extradition order. He may then take his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
May had announced in the House of Commons in July that a new immigration bill contains measures to make it harder for foreign national criminals to avoid deportation through “spurious appeals”.