is that in 1985 he was committed for extradition and that the legality of his extradition was tested in the Canadian courts and, following due consideration of his arguments, affirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada in September 1991. The author does not raise any complaint about a denial of due process in Canada. His allegations concern hypothetical violations of his rights by the United States, which is not a State party to the Optional Protocol. In our opinion, the 'link' with the State party is much too tenuous for the Committee to declare the communication admissible. Moreover, Mr. Kindler, who was extradited to the United States in September 1991, is still appealing his conviction before the Pennsylvania courts. In this connection, an unreasonable responsibility is being placed on Canada by requiring it to defend, explain or justify before the Committee the United States system of administration of justice. APPENDIX Individual opinions submitted pursuant to rule 94, paragraph 3, of the Committee’s rules of procedure, concerning the Committee’s Views A. INDIVIDUAL OPINION BY MR. KURT HERNDL AND MR. WALEED SADI (concurring on the merits/dissenting on admissibility) We fully concur in the Committee's finding that the facts of this case do not reveal a violation by Canada of any provision of the Covenant. We wish, however, to repeat our concerns expressed in the dissenting opinion we appended to the Committee's decision on admissibility of 31 July 1992: "[...] 6. Hitherto, the Committee has declared numerous communications inadmissible, where the authors had failed to substantiate their allegations for purposes of admissibility. A careful examination of the material submitted by author's counsel in his initial submission and in his comments on the State party's submission reveals that this is essentially a case where a deliberate attempt is made to avoid application of the death penalty, which still remains a legal punishment under the Covenant. Here the author has not substantiated his claim that his rights under the Covenant would, with a reasonable degree of probability, be violated by his extradition to the United States. 3. This communication in its essence poses a threat to the exercise by a State of its international law obligations under a valid extradition treaty. Indeed, an examination of the travaux préparatoires of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights reveals that the drafters gave due consideration to the complex issue of extradition and decided to exclude this issue from the Covenant, not by accident, but because there were many delegations opposed to interference with their governments' international law obligations under extradition treaties. 4. Yet, in the light of the evolution of international law, in particular of human rights law, following the entry into force of the Covenant in 1976, the question arises whether under certain exceptional circumstances the Human Rights Committee could or even should examine matters directly linked with a State party's compliance with an extradition treaty. Such exceptional circumstances would be present if, for instance, a person were facing arbitrary extradition to a country where substantial grounds existed for believing that he or she could be subjected, for example, to torture. In other words, the Committee could declare communications involving the extradition of a person from a State party to another State (irrespective of whether it is a State party), admissible ratione materiae and ratione loci, provided that the author substantiated his claim that his basic human rights would be violated by the country seeking his extradition; this requires a showing of reasonable cause to believe that such violations would probably occur. In the communication at bar, the author has not made such a showing, and the State party has argued that the Extradition Treaty with the United States is not incompatible with the provisions of the Covenant and that it complies with the requirements of the Model Treaty on Extradition produced at the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, held in Havana in 1990. 7. As for the issues the author alleges may arise under article 6, the Committee concedes that the Covenant does not prohibit the imposition of the death penalty for the most serious crimes. Indeed, if it did prohibit it, the Second Optional Protocol on the Abolition of the Death Penalty would be superfluous. Since neither Canada nor the United States is a party to the Second Optional Protocol, it cannot be expected of either State that they ask for or that they give assurances that the death penalty will not be imposed. The question whether article 6, paragraph 2, read in conjunction with article 6, paragraph 1, could lead to a different conclusion is, at best, academic and not a proper matter for examination under the Optional Protocol. 8. As for the issues that may allegedly arise under article 7 of the Covenant, we agree with the Committee's reference to its jurisprudence in the Views on communications Nos. 210/1986 and 225/1987 (Earl Pratt and Ivan Morgan v. Jamaica) and Nos. 270 and 271/1988 (Barrett and Sutcliffe v. Jamaica), in which the Committee decided that the so-called 'death row phenomenon' does not per se constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, even if prolonged judicial proceedings can be a source of mental strain for the convicted prisoners. In this connection it is important to note that the prolonged periods of detention on death row are a result of the convicted person's recourse to appellate remedies. In the instant case the author has not submitted any arguments that would justify the Committee's departure from its established jurisprudence. 5. The majority opinion nevertheless declared this communication admissible, albeit provisionally, because it Views the extradition of the author by Canada to Pennsylvania as possibly raising issues under articles 6 and 7 of the Covenant. Yet, the facts as presented to the Committee do not disclose any probability that violations of the author's Covenant rights by a State party to the Optional Protocol would occur. As an alien who illegally entered the territory of Canada, his only link with Canada 9. A second issue allegedly arising under article 7 is whether the method of execution – in the State of Pennsylvania by lethal injection –could be deemed as 123

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