LAWYERS FOR ALEX SAAB MORAN SEEK TO BLOCK HIS EXTRADITION FROM CAPE VERDE TO MIAMI

Saab's Antigua diplomatic passport

Attorneys for the fugitive  money launderer ALEX NAIN SAAB MORAN, who on July 31 was ordered extradited by Cape Verde's Barlavento Court of Appeal, are throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the Supreme Court of Justice, to convince the STJ to reverse the lower court's ruling.

The arguments they are asserting:

(1) Due to the COVID-19 virus, Saab's health is in danger all the time that he remains in custody. he should be released forthwith.

(2) Saab faces a possible Life Sentence if convicted in the United States, and the Republic of Cape Verde appears to oppose the extradition of individuals who might have such a sentence imposed upon them. In a 2017 extradition case against an Iranian and a Pakistani, who were looking at possible life for money laundering and narcotics trafficking, the STJ reversed the lower court ruling, and declined to extradite them to the United States.

(3) Saab, a Colombian national, had diplomatic immunity by virtue of his Venezuelan diplomatic passport. This argument fails, as the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations only confers immunity in transit to an assignment where the diplomat will be presenting his credentials to be accredited at his destination. Saab's argument has not basis in law, and his dodgy " diplomatic appointment" by Venezuela, and supposed Venezuelan nationality, is not based on fact.

One of Saab's two Dominica offshore banks; he has one in Antigua also

Some commentators are asserting that Saab's attorneys simply trying to 'run out the clock" and obtain a delay until the American election, after which they believe that the likely incoming Democratic Administration will back off on extradition. Saab's lawyers forget that Saab has been indicted, has been sanctioned by OFAC, and is a major target of the Department of Justice. They should not expect any change in American policy towards him.