The Ministry of Justice said it will keep trying to have British citizen Zain Dean extradited to Taiwan to serve a jail sentence for a hit-and-run accident that killed a newspaper delivery man.
The ministry reiterated its determination for the extradition after a local newspaper reported on Friday that the British government has proposed allowing the time Dean has been detained in the UK to count toward his sentence in Taiwan.
The ministry declined to confirm whether there was such a proposal, but an official who requested not to be named said that in theory that can happen.
Under Taiwan’s Prison Act (監獄行刑法), the convicted Briton, who was sentenced to four years in prison for killing Huang Chun-te (黃俊德), in Taipei, while driving under the influence of alcohol on March 27, 2010, has a non-probation period of two years and eight months, the official said.
However, according to the official, while the extradition case has not yet been finalized, the UK courts could release Dean on bail if the time he is detained in the UK runs beyond the date he was allowed to apply for probation in Taiwan.
Even if Dean is eventually extradited to Taiwan to serve his jail term, he could also apply for the execution of the sentence in the UK based on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Act (跨國移交受刑人法), the official said.
Dean managed to flee back to the UK using a friend’s passport in August 2012, after his conviction in the fatal hit-and-run case.
He was arrested in the UK in October 2013, one day after Taiwan and the UK signed a memorandum of understanding on the extradition of the people convicted of crimes to Taiwan.
Soon after the arrest, Taiwan filed a request for the extradition. In June last year, the Edinburgh Sheriff Court ruled Dean must be extradited, but he appealed, claiming he faced the risk of unjust judicial procedures in Taiwan.
The High Court of Justiciary — the supreme criminal court of Scotland — overruled Dean’s appeal on June 24, saying that Dean had received a fair trial in Taiwan that met the European Convention on Human Rights.
In regards to Dean’s complaint against Taiwan’s prison conditions, the court concluded that there was a need to investigate the claim and scheduled a session of the court for September.
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