Israeli 'spy' appeals extradition
2010-07-19 15:23
Warsaw - An Israeli man held in Poland for suspected involvement in the killing of a Hamas chief has appealed against his planned extradition to Germany, his lawyer said on Monday.
Lawyer Krzysztof Stepinski said his client Uri Brodsky was fighting extradition on the grounds that Polish law bars such handovers when the alleged offence is politically motivated.
Brodsky is wanted by Berlin for allegedly having obtained a German passport under false pretences.
The document was found to have been used by a member of the hit-squad that killed Mahmud al-Mabhuh, the founder of the military wing of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, in Dubai January.
The team, who Dubai police believe were from Israeli spy agency Mossad, were found to have used 26 doctored foreign passports, sparking diplomatic fallout not only with Germany but also Australia, Britain, France and Ireland.
According to German weekly Der Spiegel, which broke the story last month, Brodsky was arrested on June 4 at Warsaw airport by Polish authorities acting on a European Union warrant issued by Germany.
A Warsaw court approved his extradition to Germany on July 7.
Delicate issue
The court said it had not made any judgment on Brodsky's guilt or innocence but had simply assessed that the German warrant was drafted correctly and confirmed the suspect's identity.
Stepinski said a court would hear the appeal on August 5.
In the wake of Brodsky's arrest, Israel called on Poland to send him right home rather than handing him over to Germany.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk last month dubbed the issue "delicate", pointing to the tragic history between Poland, Germany and Israel.
Nazi-era Germany occupied Poland during World War II. Half of the six million Jews killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust were from Poland.
Warsaw now has close ties with both Germany and Israel, but Tusk said the law leaves Polish justice authorities little room to manoeuvre.
- SAPA
