'File 4/13 Kuwait-Iraq Relations (Extradition Rights)' [‎6r] (11/156)

(?, 13785/27/93)
FOREIGN OFFICF, S.W.l.
22nd November, 1948.
Confidenti al .
Dear Chancery,
Your letter No. 773/25/48 of 15th October
to the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. at Bahrain, about the two cars of
Chafiq Ades.
T here is no extradition treaty between Iraq
and Kuwait. In any case extradition treaties do
not normally provide for the surrender of the
property of a criminal, but only of persons charged
with the commission of crimes.
Our Legal Advisers point out that no State
is obliged under international law or practice to
enforce the penal laws of another State or to
give effect to the sentences of the courts of another
State in penal matters. m he practice o f the United
Kingdom and of many other countries is not to
enforce the penal laws of foreign countries nor
to give effect to the sentences of their courts.
It is therefore perfectly open to the Kuwaiti
authorities to decline to return the cars to Iraq.
Their refusal mip^it be put to the Iraqis on the
ground that it is not in accordance with their
practice to enforce the penal laws of a foreign
state - provided of course that 'there is nothing
in Kuwaiti practice inconsistent with such a
statement. The Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. will no doubt be
able to confirm this point.
Yours ever,
The Chancery, SASTSRR DSPWTKNT.
Btsh. Sirbaesy,
Baghdad.