In the ongoing Dotcom saga there have been a number of rather disturbing behaviours by the police and the Crown (although in fairness, I doubt the police are wildly enthusiastic about this particular waste of their time), but the most disturbing is contained in this judicial rebuttal to Crown arguements:
It would not be consistent with the object of promoting the rule of law internationally, were the domestic courts to refuse to review the lawfulness of warrants" obtained in this manner, she noted.
"If having conducted a review, it is determined that there was a fundamental defect in the warrant, it is difficult to see why a Court should decline to declare as much, even where trial processes are engaged in another jurisdiction.”
The Crown is appears to be arguing that when considering extradition proceedings the courts have no business questioning the validity of the warrants and the foreign judicial process obtaining it. I don’t want to be judicially murdered in Saudi Arabia if I make fun of Islam, or dumped in a Bangkok prison for a decade if I’m rude about the Thai royal family. The idea that the Crown are advancing, that New Zealand citizens should be extradited no-questions-asked to any foreign kangaroo court with no consideration, is a frankly terrifying position. I’m appalled the New Zealand government of the day is so desperate to do anything the FBI ask it would advance such a position.
