Cape Verde disobeys ECOWAS court ruling, extradites Alex Saab to US

The Cape Verdean court has on Tuesday, March 16, approved the extradition of Alex Saab, the embattled Venezuelan diplomat, to the United States.  

This is coming barely a day after the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) court ruled that Saab’s arrest and extradition attempt was illegal. 

On Monday, March 15, the ECOWAS court ruled that since there was no Red Notice in place when Saab was arrested, Cape Verde authorities should release him immediately. 

However, on Tuesday March 16,   a Cape Verdean Supreme court ruled that Saab be extradited to the United States.

In its ruling, the Cape Verdean Supreme Court explained that it refused to comply with earlier decisions of the ECOWAS court because “it considers itself as not legally bound to the said protocol.” 

However, this contradicts the action of the then Prime Minister of Cape Verde, José Maria Pereira Neves, who, signed the Final Communiqué of the twenty-eighth session of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government held in Accra on 19 January 2005. 

The communique signed by Pereira, on behalf of Cape Verde, included the provisional application of the Protocol. 

However, according to Saab’s defense team at the ECOWAS court led by Femi Falana, SAN, there can be no debate about the binding nature of the Court’s decision on Cape Verde.

Falana noted that if ECOWAS wants its highest human rights court to continue to command respect on the continent, its senior officials, and Heads of member States, must condemn the actions of Cape Verde.

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Similarly, the head of Saab’s defense team in Cape Verde, Jose-Manuel Pinto, described the action of the Supreme Court as a destruction of the global diplomatic order and the sanctity of diplomatic missions which has been established over several centuries. 

Earlier, on Monday March 1, the African Bar Association had for reasons similar to those cited by the ECOWAS court condemned Saab’s detention and planned extradition. 

According to a statement signed by the association’s President, Hannibal Uwaifo, it reached a position following the conclusion of an investigation into the matter by the Human Rights and International Law Committees of the association on the authorization of the governing council. 

The first condition given by the association is that there was no Red Notice (used as a basis for the detention) at the time of the detention because it was issued on the next day. Similarly, the association noted that no evidence of the supporting arrest warrant issued by the United States has been shown to Ambassador Saab or his Defense team since his detention.

The second basis was that Saab enjoys immunity and inviolability due to his status as a Special Envoy of Venezuela and he was carrying documents which identified him as such and the purpose of his humanitarian Special Mission to Iran. Despite this, the evidence has been ignored by Cape Verde to accommodate the externally motivated interests.

The long legal tussle Saab was arrested and detained in Cape Verde based on the request of the Donald Trump led United States government during a stop over on his way to Iran over allegations of money laundering, a move the Venezuelan government faulted with claims that the businessman is its special envoy on a humanitarian mission.

The Venezuelan government claimed that before his arrest, Saab had been on a mission to get food and medical supplies in Iran, stopping over in Cape Verde where he was arrested by security operatives.

The failure of Cape Verdean authorities to obey the ruling of the ECOWAS court by extraditing Saab to the US is not the first contempt for court order by the authorities since his detention last year. 

Saab was denied access to any member of his defense team despite three court rulings granting him the right to do so. 

Two of the judgements are from the Barlavento Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Justice in Cape Verde while the third is a binding ruling from the ECOWAS Court of Justice. 

The first ruling from the Barlavento Court of Appeal was on 21 January 2021 when it ruled that Saab may not contact anyone apart from the lawyers who are representing him. 

In another decision by the same Court dated 29 January 2021, it ruled that Saab may receive regular visits from his lawyers for a period or up to 3  hours. 

In the same vein, on 20 February 2021, the Supreme Court of Justice ruled that the house arrest of Saab does not limit freedom and movement adding that the “current actions of Cape Verde violate all legal norms, international and domestic court orders.”

The first ruling that backed Saab’s house arrest was by the Barlavento Court of Appeal on December 30, 2020. On February 22, submissions were made by the court on the conditions of his house arrest. 

In the ongoing U.S. proceedings involving Saab, where a motion for special appearance and dismissal was filed in January, 21, a ruling expected to be delivered between March 18th and 19th. 

Saab’s team has till March 31 to appeal the latest ruling by the Supreme Court, which grants the extradition of Saab.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE