Chechen leader Akhmed Zakayev, charged with murder and kidnapping by Russia, has been granted asylum in Britain, the Home Office said yesterday.
"After all, Percy, we have so many raving lunatic Islamists in here in Britannia already, what's another one?"
"You're right, Alistair. Where's my 'approved' stamp?" |
Russia, which sees its fight against Chechen rebels as part of the global âwar on terrorismâ, has already criticized Britainâs decision not to extradite Zakayev, accusing London of double standard. The EU has criticized Russia for human rights abuses in Chechnya.
| Taking 700 hostages in a theater in Moscosw isn't a violation of human rights? Only if you kill the Bad Guys will they stop doing such things. It's actually more effective to kill the head cheeses than the cannon fodder. |
Zakayev has been in Britain since December last year and requested asylum within days of his arrival. He said he feared he would be killed if he returned to Russia, which accuses him of atrocities dating from the first of two wars in the breakaway Russian region from 1994-96.
| And this is a bad thing because...? |
Earlier this month Britain rejected Russiaâs bid to extradite him, saying there was a substantial risk he would be tortured if he were sent to Moscow for trial.
| "Put the pliers away, Igor. He's not coming... Now, don't cry like that. I hate it when you cry." |
That decision drew an angry response from Moscow, warning of damage to otherwise friendly Russian-British relations.
| Britain may someday desire the presence of some Chechen who, say, blows up Buckingham Palace... |
Russia had sought to extradite Zakayev on 13 charges from the mid-1990s. Russia first asked for his extradition during the notorious Moscow theater siege last year, when a Chechen suicide squad held hundreds of hostages prisoner.
| But that was a long time ago, and we're all so much older now. Except for the dead people. |
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