Crime boss Liam Byrne says his extradition to the UK should be rejected because he risks “inhumane and degrading treatment” in a British prison.
The extraordinary claim is one of the key arguments his lawyer is using to persuade a Spanish court to refuse Britain’s request to hand him over.
Extradition expert Jaime Campaner is alleging there is a “real risk” Byrne’s fundamental right to physical and moral integrity will be in danger if his forced return goes ahead.
And he is also claiming the approval of the Irishman’s extradition would also violate his human rights because the only evidence against him are hacked messages on encrypted communications network Encrochat.
The arguments Spanish criminal lawyer Mr Campaner put forward to try to thwart Britain’s extradition request at Spain’s Audencia Nacional court last week emerged overnight.
Byrne, held on June 4 on a UK-issued international arrest warrant at a restaurant in the Majorcan town of Alcudia as he ate dinner with his children, watched the proceedings via videolink from the prison near Palma where he remains in custody.
Mr Campaner has cited the rampant overcrowding in some UK prisons as reasons why he believes Byrne’s wellbeing would be put at risk.
He has also flagged up the recent escape of terror suspect Daniel Khalife from Wandsworth Prison, which triggered a political storm about staff shortages and conditions at the jail as well as the four-day manhunt that led to his recapture on September 9.
Liam Byrne lost his battle against the Criminal Assets Bureau in 2019 - and it seized his Dublin home, which is located close to the home of his parents Sadie and James Byrne.
The CAB, in its High Court proceedings against the Byrne Organised Crime Group (BOCG) named Liam as its leader, and also named several individuals as the beneficiaries of the group.
Liam Byrne’s brother David was shot dead at the Regency Hotel attack in Dublin in February 2016 - a murder which dramatically escalated the Kinahan Hutch feud. David Byrne’s murder was followed by a campaign of bloody revenge by the Kinahan cartel - which struck back just three days later with the murder of taxi driver Eddie Hutch.
The cartel went on to murder 15 more men in a war which has claimed 18 lives. As part of their investigations CAB investigators claimed Byrne was at the “very top tier” of organised crime in Ireland. In submissions to the High Court, CAB outlined his links to Christy ‘Dapper Don’ Kinahan’s cartel.
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