- (AFP) -- The US Supreme Court agreed to consider whether
federal agents have the right to enter foreign countries to arrest alleged
criminals to be put on trial in the United States.
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- The high court's move followed a decision by a lower
court to grant damages to a Mexican doctor picked up in his own country
by US agents who believed he was involved in the murder of a US agent in
1985.
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- US authorities say the doctor Humberto Alvarez-Machain
was in the residence where the US agent had been captured by drug traffickers
and then was killed.
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- In January a California court issued an arrest warrant
for Alvarez-Machain, accusing him of taking part in the torture and killing
of the US agent.
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- US authorities say that when Mexico declined to hand
over the physician, the FBI launched an operation to pick him up and bring
him back for trial.
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- The suspect, who spent two years in a US federal prison,
was not convicted in a US court and was granted damages and interest in
a decision contested by the US government.
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- If the high court finds in favor of US authorities the
decision could have an impact on the US fight against terror undertaken
by the Bush administration following the September 11, 2001 terror strikes
on US targets that left almost 3,000 people dead.
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- The United States in the past has said it would like
to bring al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden to the United States for trial.
The network claimed responsibility for the 9-11 attacks.
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