Magazine article New Internationalist
Deport, Deprive, Extradite Twenty-First Century State Extremism
Article excerpt
Deport, Deprive, Extradite Twenty-First Century State Extremism by Nisha Kapoor (Verso, ISBN 9781786633477)
In this important study of the brutal consequences of the extradition and extraordinary rendition processes, Nisha Kapoor sheds much-needed light on the activities of the security state apparatus and how the ongoing 'War on Terror' has vastly expanded the boundaries of what states are able and willing to do to their citizens. Drawing on multiple case histories of Muslim men accused of terrorist offences, both in the UK and the US, she shows how, once they have been 'rendered to justice' in the chilling phrase, these individuals are stripped of their human rights, dehumanized and denied even the semblance of due process and presumption of innocence. As Kapoor tells the tales of these men, the repetitive nature of their ordeals bludgeons the reader. Time and again the story is one of lengthy pre-trial incarceration, physical and psychological torture, denial of access to evidence and lawyers, last-minute plea bargains and, finally and inevitably, decades-long sentences. …