Court Weighs Forde, Nandlall Arguments in Extradition Appeal

Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde and Senior Counsel Anil Nandlall, Attorney General, have advanced competing arguments over whether the country’s extradition arrangements adequately protect the constitutional rights of Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed and his father, businessman Nazar Mohamed. The Court of Appeal must now determine whether the treaty provisions and diplomatic assurances relied upon by the Government satisfy Guyana’s constitutional requirements.

At the centre of the challenge is a fundamental legal question: can an extradition treaty or diplomatic assurance satisfy the law if the protections it offers are alleged to fall short of Guyana’s constitutional requirements?

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Forde argues that the Government cannot rely on diplomatic assurances from the United States to overcome what he considers a deficiency in the extradition framework. Nandlall maintains that the existing treaty arrangements and Washington’s written assurances provide adequate protection against the Mohameds being transferred to a third country without Guyana’s consent.