Leading Article: An unsuitable case for extradition

THE ordeal of Susan Hagan and Sally Croft continues. But at least these two former followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh will not today be on their way to face trial in Oregon on charges of conspiracy to murder an American lawyer. Yesterday's High Court ruling granting them the right to judicial review of their extradition to the US represents the first glimmer of hope for the two women.

They and their solicitor had taken their appeal against extradition through practically every level of court in the land. At last it reached a judge who, contrary to his colleagues in the Divisional Court last September, found the Home Secretary's original decision in 1990 unreasonable. Their fate now seems to hinge largely on the outcome of a House of Lords ruling early next month in a case with some legal parallels.

Given the oft-demonstrated reluctance of US courts to extradite IRA suspects and escaped prisoners to Britain or Northern Ireland, the willingness of the Home Secretary (in this instance, Kenneth Clarke) to order the surrender of these two women was surprising. The grounds for American refusals are usually that those sought by the British authorities might not receive a fair trial. The same goes for this case, not least because it was to have been tried in the same conservative and deeply Christian state where hatred of the Bhagwan and his followers ran so deep: in Britain, important trials are moved to a neutral area. Lord Scarman, the former Law Lord, has said a refusal to extradite would have been justified on the grounds that a miscarriage of justice was possible.

The allegations against the two women were made in the course of a plea-bargaining deal with two former commune members concluded more than five years after the alleged events. The charge of conspiracy is a loose one. No attempt was ever made on the life of Charles Turner, the lawyer involved in investigating the commune whom they are accused of conspiring, with others, to assassinate. When a German judge looked at similar evidence against another alleged member of the same conspiracy, the case was thrown out. The final irony is that Ms Hagan and Ms Croft ended up as deeply disillusioned with the Bhagwan as they were in danger of becoming with the ability of English courts to protect the rights of English citizens.