People trafficker loses fight against extradition to France over prison conditions

Mohammed Esmaili tried to bring eight Iraqis to the UK in his hired truck in 2016.

People traffickers have shifted their operations from trucks to small boat crossings from France to the UK in recent times. AFP

A delivery driver who was caught with eight Iraqis hidden in his lorry has lost an appeal in the UK against being returned to France to serve a prison sentence for people smuggling.

A French court sentenced Mohammed Esmaili to 15 months in prison in 2017 but he had already fled back to the UK to join his family.

Iranian-born Esmaili, 54, was arrested in the UK but fought against extradition, saying prison conditions in France meant he would be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment that would breach his human rights.

He claimed that Rennes-Vezin prison in northern France, where he was initially due to be sent, was overcrowded and cramped.

But two High Court judges on Friday rejected his appeal along with a cannabis smuggler identified only as “A” who was also wanted by France.

Esmaili’s extradition hearing in 2019 heard that he was with his daughter, 9, when his lorry was stopped at the French port of Dieppe as he was preparing to board a ferry to the UK.

French officials discovered eight Iraqis ― including two children — hiding beneath wood and tyres inside his lorry.

The court heard Esmaili lied about driving the lorry for an employer — he had hired it himself — and about where he had gone.

He was also found to have lied about not knowing that the migrants had gone on board when he went off with someone for a few hours and left the lorry unattended.

“There would have been a red light on the dashboard such that he could not ignore it, which would show the rear door had been opened,” a magistrate said during a 2019 extradition hearing in London.

He spent four nights in custody in France before being released and then fleeing to the UK, where his wife and three children lived. He then ignored official letters calling him to stand trial in 2017.