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minor exceptions the Chief Magistrate approached the case in the correct manner, was correct in his rulings in law, that where he exercised his discretion there were no grounds to interfere, and that his decision to commit should be upheld on
all the charges except one. He declined to accept the argument that prisoners who were returned to Hong Kong would in effect have been surrendered to China, with whom the UK has no extradition arrangements, after the transfer of sovereignty in 1997, within the meaning of the Fugitive Offenders Act 1967. Mr Osman petitioned for leave to appeal to the House of Lords against this judgement which petition was refused.
4. His second habeas corpus application challenged his extradition on the grounds of diplomatic immunity. Не
claimed to be an accredited diplomat of the Republic of Liberia. The claim was rejected by FCO and this application was also dismissed. He petitioned the House of Lords for
leave to appeal and was refused on 1 February 1990.
5. The third habeas corpus application arose out of the decision in the Hong Kong appeal court to quash the arrest
warrant issued in Hong Kong on 30 November 1985, on the grounds that it had been vitiated by bias. In his judgement, Lord Justice Parker decided that Mr Osman's arrest and
subsequent remands in custody were lawful, there had been no dishonesty abuse of process or impropriety and that all the charges faced by Mr Osman were relevant offences for the purpose of extradition although it was agreed to strike out a phrase objected to in the bribery charge. Furthermore in commenting on the circumstances surrounding the issue of a provisional warrant for Mr Osman's arrest where his forename Lorrain was mis-spelt with an 'e' and there were mistakes as to Mr Osman's sex, Lord Justice Parker stated that "The various slips certainly demonstrated what must be regarded as a regrettable lack of the care which ought to be exercised, but they go in my view no further than that". He added that "these proceedings have been marred by baseless allegations of