WASHINGTON – A United States court yesterday denied a final appeal to delay the extradition to Japan of two Americans accused of having helped former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn flee the Asian nation.
Michael Taylor and his son, Peter, were arrested in May last year after Japan issued a warrant.
Court documents said the duo filed an “emergency motion to stay their surrender and extradition to Japan”.
They filed the petition to have time to mount a new legal challenge to a previous court ruling greenlighting their extradition.
A panel of three judges at the First US Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ruled yesterday that the Taylors “have failed to demonstrate a likelihood of success” in their challenge, and “more generally, have failed to demonstrate that a stay is in order”.
A US federal judge late last month gave the go-ahead to extradite the two to Japan, saying they could not satisfactorily back up their claim that they would be subjected to conditions approaching torture in Japanese prison to merit breaching the extradition treaty between Tokyo and Washington.
Judge Indira Talwani also pointed out that their alleged actions would be considered a crime in the US, as well as Japan.
Tokyo has accused the Taylors, along with Lebanese George-Antoine Zayek, of helping Ghosn escape justice by fleeing the country on December 29, 2019.
Peter was apprehended in Boston as he was trying to leave for Lebanon, where Ghosn had taken refuge, and where there is no extradition treaty with Japan.
He and his father, a former US special forces member turned private security contractor, have been imprisoned while awaiting the extradition hearing, due to being considered flight risks.
US court documents showed that the three men allegedly tried to help smuggle Ghosn out of the country inside a large musical equipment case. – AFP, February 12, 2021
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