The charges against the ex-Mufti of Jerusalem are not extraditable offenses under the Anglo-French extradition treaty and, therefore, no useful purpose would be served by demanding his extradition, Hector McNeil, Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs told the House of Commons today.
Barnett Janner, Laborite, and vice-president of the British Zionist Federation, pointed out that the Mufti had recruited forces for Germany to be used against Britain. George Thomas, Laborite, asked why he could not be indicted as a war criminal.
Replying to the latter question, McNeil said that technically the Mufti was not a war criminal, since he was not an enemy national and had not served in the armed forces of the enemy. The Foreign Office spokesman asked for more time to prepare his replies, when he was queried by Janner as to whether he would endeavor to obtain the Mufti “by some method or another.”
He also evaded a question as to whether Britain had asked France to transfer the Mufti to British custody, and whether, if such a request has been refused, it will be repeated.
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