Rwanda Extradition Appeal Fails

Four men accused of taking part in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, in which nearly a million people were killed, failed in a high court attempt to avoid extradition from Britain yesterday.

The court dismissed arguments that John Reid, the home secretary, had exceeded his powers under the 2003 Extradition Act by extending the time within which Rwanda was required to file detailed extradition requests from 45 days to 95 days after the date of arrest.

The men were arrested in London, Manchester, Essex and Bedfordshire last December under a memorandum of understanding in which Rwanda waived the death penalty and became a temporary special extradition partner with the UK. All are accused in a provisional extradition warrant of killing, or conspiring with or aiding and abetting others to kill, members of the Tutsi ethnic group "with the intent to destroy in whole, or in part, that group".

Vincent Bajinya, who changed his name to Brown on becoming a British citizen in 2005, was arrested in Islington, north London; Celestin Ugirashebuja was detained in Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex; Emmanuel Nteziryayo was arrested in Manchester; and Charles Munyaneza in Bedford.