Legal UK refuses extradition over Japan's human rights record

Not exactly flattering: a British court has ruled that one of three men detained over his alleged involvement in a 2015 jewellery robbery at a luxury store in central Tokyo will not be extradited to Japan, citing concerns over the country's human rights record.

Friday's decision not to extradite Joe Chappell, who is currently on bail, was based on the grounds that the Japanese authorities could not provide "sufficient assurances" that he would be treated in compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights. The three men -- Chappell, Daniel Kelly and Kaine Wright -- left Japan two days after the heist, which netted 106 million yen ($731,000) worth of jewelry. They were put on an international wanted list by Japanese police through Interpol. Chappell's defense team has expressed concerns that if extradited, he might be made to confess under duress. Japan has argued that police interrogations in principle are recorded. At a hearing earlier this year, British authorities asked the Japanese government to ensure his detention complies with the convention, particularly on provisions regarding prohibition of torture and the right to a fair trial.

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Japan currently only has extradition treaties with the United States and South Korea. In the absence of an extradition treaty, the country where a crime was committed usually asks a suspect's home country to prosecute.

I remember this case! This was when some dudes punched out a security guard at Harry Winston in Omotesando Hills, and then stole some jewelry and disappeared. This was back in 2015. Caused a furore for a hot minute about the efficacy of security guards.

So these scumbags punched their way into a "soft" target (soft by western standards) and then grabbed some jewelry, then fled the country two days later. The Japanese police identified them and put out an international search warrant. Finally caught in late 2022, but are out on bail in the UK.

This will cause a bit of turbulence in UK/Japan relations. If these guys are the suspected perpetrators, but the UK won't hand them over, Japanese sentiment will not be very sympathetic to the UK. The principle of "innocent until proven guilty" and "no confessions under duress/torture" are largely ignored by the police here, and the public in general shrugs at stories of rough treatment by Japanese police. I think the Japanese public views heavy-handed police tactics as a tolerable price to pay for a peaceful society, so it is pretty much a non-issue here. It seems like 90% of the cases where unfair treatment or detention is an issue, the person in question is a foreigner. So there is a feedback loop where attitudes in favor of the police (and against foreigners) grows and grows. This story will accelerate that feedback loop.

Tough case as the principle of basic rights for the accused are completely submerged in Japan in favor of harsh tactics to secure/perpetuate the 99.9% conviction rate in Japan. In the US and UK, there is an almost sacred belief that the state should not impinge on individual rights, whereas in Japan there is almost universal belief that "if the police are roughing you up, you probably deserve it". These two principles collide in a case like this.

Back in the early 70's when I was in Fukuoka , the police had a terrible record. My encounters with them were always no problem. I saw a lot of people crying and shaking in fear when dealing with police. All my Japanese friends said they were like Nazi storm troopers. Once one of the workers at the bar where I worked got arrested for drugs. Everyone who worked at the bar had their apartments/homes raided by police. One morning at 5AM , about 5 cops kicked in the door to my apartment and seemed to be shocked to find a "gaijin" there. None of the spoke English and I wouldn't speak Japanese so they left seeming very flustered. A few days latter I got called down to the base police station and questioned by 2 Japanese detectives that did speak English. I answered all their questions and swore all my Japanese friends were innocent angels and nothing ever came of it after. They did close the bar down for 2 weeks which we used to redecorate and clean it. The guy who had been arrested was never seen or heard from again?

Considering that the hard right in the UK (most of the government these days) have been braying to remove the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights and the government's dehumanising and scapegoating of tens of thousands of desperate refugees crossing the English Channel in small boats for Britain's problems, there's a certain amount of double standards on the UK side. The removal of a mural of cartoon characters at children's detention centres for being 'too welcoming' at the personal request of a cabinet minister indicates the attitude towards human rights of the people running the country.