British businessman extradited to US

A retired British businessman was flown to the United States in handcuffs to face charges of selling missile parts to Iran. Before his departure Friday, Christopher Tappin, 65, denounced Prime Minister David Cameron for failing to change the extradition treaty between Britain and the United States, The Daily Telegraph reported. "The Conservative government, while in opposition, promised to reform the law and they failed to do so and they've let me down, they've let you down, they've let the whole country down," he said. Karen Todner, Tappin's British lawyer, said he could expect to be in custody during the weekend after his arrival in El Paso, Texas. She said his U.S. lawyer will request bail at a hearing in federal court Monday. Tappin, who lives in South London, is a former president of the Kent Golf Union. He retired from his import-export business to care for his wife, who suffers from a chronic illness. He says he was set up by U.S. investigators who used a dummy company to snare unwitting businessmen. While the European Court of Human Rights blocked the extradition of Abu Qatada to Jordan, where he was convicted in absentia of terrorism, the court refused to hear Tappin's appeal. "I have no rights," Tappin said. "Abu Qatada is walking the streets of London today and we cannot extradite him. He has more rights than I have." Critics say the current U.S. extradition treaty, negotiated when Tony Blair was prime minister, gives the United States too much power to get British citizens to its territory for trial