Prime Minister Blair’s imperative to “get them back” signals a single-minded purpose: to remove the men at whatever cost, including threats to their fundamental human rights.217 Securing the men’s most fundamental human rights was not the purpose of attempts to secure diplomatic assurances. The assurances were simply a way of gaining “cover” should the government be questioned about violating the absolute ban on torture and refoulement.218 In the end, Hani Yousef and the three other men were not deported because the Egyptian authorities were unwilling to proffer the assurances, not because the U.K. government was unwilling to accept such inherently unreliable assurances. The Netherlands Case of Nuriye Kesbir Diplomatic assurances from Turkey were the subject of a court decision in The Netherlands in January 2005. An appeals court there ruled on January 20, 2005 against the extradition of a woman who was an official of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK, now known as Kongra-Gel). The court concluded that diplomatic assurances could not guarantee that she would not be tortured or ill-treated upon return to Turkey. Nuriye Kesbir, a PKK official and minority Yezidi Kurd, was subject to an extradition warrant from Turkey alleging that she had committed war crimes as a PKK military operative during the time she fought in the civil war in Turkey’s southeast. In May 2004, a Dutch court determined that although her fears of torture and unfair trial in Turkey were not completely unfounded, there were insufficient grounds to halt the extradition. The court gave exclusive authority to the government to either grant or reject the extradition request, but advised the Dutch Minister of Justice to seek enhanced diplomatic assurances against torture and unfair trial from Turkey.219 217 The Prime Minister wrote “Get them back” across one letter from the Home Office informing the U.K. of the Egyptian authorities’ negative response to on-going attempts to secure assurances. Ibid., para. 15. 218 The case of Metin Kaplan, a radical Muslim cleric, is also instructive. Kaplan, labeled a threat to national security, was deported from Germany to Turkey in October 2004. In May 2003, however, a German court halted his extradition based on human rights concerns, including the insufficiency of diplomatic assurances against torture and unfair trial from the Turkish authorities. In response to the judgement, the German authorities vowed that they would find a way to remove Kaplan and sought enhanced assurances from the Turkish government. See “Empty Promises,” pp. 31-32. Kaplan lost a series of legal challenges to his subsequent deportation, but the German government justified Kaplan’s removal by claiming that it had secured written assurances from the Turkish Foreign and Justice Ministries that Kaplan would get a fair trial. See “German Interior Ministry: ‘Turkey Assured Us of Kaplan’s Fair Trial,’” Andalou Agency, October 13, 2004 and Richard Bernstein, “Germany Deports Radical Long Sought by Turks,” New York Times, October 13, 2004. Kaplan was taken into custody immediately upon return to Turkey. His trial on terrorism-related charges commenced in Turkey in December 2004 but was adjourned the same month until April 2005. 219 Advies inzake N. Kesbir, Hoge Raad der Nederlanden, EXU 2002/518, 02853/02/U-IT, May 7, 2004, copy on file with Human Rights Watch. The Turkish authorities had offered written assurances in February 2004, but the HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOL. 17 NO. 4(D) 72