Blair assistance sought in drug smuggling case

Date: 05/06/03

By Martin Banks

A CAMPAIGN group and an MEP say they face a "race against time" to prove the innocence of a UK citizen who faces a 15-year jail sentence for drug smuggling.

UK Liberal Sarah Ludford has now asked British premier Tony Blair to intervene in the case of Nick Baker who has been in prison in Tokyo for more than a year. Verdict and sentence are due to be delivered next Thursday (12 June).

Baker, who went to Japan for the 2002 World Cup, was found with ecstasy and cocaine in his bag. He claims he was duped into carrying it by a travelling companion but the Japanese court refused to call evidence from Belgium where the other man is due to stand trial for an unrelated offence.

Baroness Ludford, who was in Tokyo last week with Sabine Zanker, of UK-based Fair Trials Abroad, in a bid to generate public interest in the case, wants Blair to raise Baker's plight with the Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

"If he does not, we will have to conclude that he does not care enough to save a British citizen from human rights abuses," said Ludford.