Christopher Tappin accused of selling batteries to be used in Iranian missiles after sting by US agents posing as exporters
A retired British businessman can be extradited to the US to face charges of selling batteries to be used in Iranian surface-to-air missiles, a judge has ruled.
District Judge John Zani, sitting at City of Westminster magistrates court in London, said Christopher Tappin, 63, a successful businessman and president of his local golf club, could be extradited to Texas. Conviction could bring a jail term of 35 years. His lawyers said they would challenge the decision in the appeal court.
Tappin, from Orpington, south-east London, denies the charge. His supporters have likened the case to that of Gary McKinnon, the British hacker whose lengthy battle against removal to the US focused attention on alleged unfairness within extradition arrangements between the countries.
Tappin, who was a director of Surrey-based Brooklands International Freight Services, was arrested in August last year after a raid on his home.
Shortly after, he arranged a news conference at which he said he was a businessman of "unblemished good character". He admitted arranging the shipment of batteries from the US to the Netherlands at the end of 2006, but insisted he had no idea they were destined for re-export for the manufacture of Iranian missiles.
Tappin further argues his case has resulted from entrapment by US customs officers, who set up a false company, Mercury Global Enterprises, to snare those hoping to export banned items to Iran.
He says he became involved after a business contact suggested the company could handle the paperwork on the £16,000 battery deal, which, Tappin says, brought him a profit of just £300.
At a court in hearing in September, Ben Cooper, defending, argued that US agents "overstepped the mark of legitimate law enforcement" and in effect "caused the offence to be committed".
Tappin is accused of conspiring to export defence articles without licence or approval, aiding and abetting the attempted export of defence articles without the required licence, and intentionally and unlawfully attempting to conduct financial transactions from the outside to a place inside the US with the intent to promote the carrying on of a specified unlawful activity. The offences date from 2005 to January 2007.