Pubdate: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer (Philippines) Copyright: 2014 Philippine Daily Inquirer Contact: http://www.inquirer.net/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1073 Author: Jerome Aning Page: A6 DON'T DEPORT BRITON THROUGH US, SAYS CA OF POT SEED DEALER THE COURT of Appeals (CA) has directed the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to proceed with the deportation of a British cannabis seed trader facing charges for money laundering and narcotics trafficking in Maine, USA. But the appellate court's Special 7th Division ordered that Gypsy Nirvana be deported directly to the United Kingdom and not be put on a flight that would pass through the United States. The court, in an 11-page decision dated June 25 but released last week, denied Nirvana's plea stopping his deportation, saying that his lawyers should have first appealed to the justice secretary and the Office of the President before seeking judicial intervention. The appellate justices, however, took cognizance of Nirvana's refusal to set foot on US soil for "fear of his life and/or safety." No procedural shortcuts "Expediency cannot justify a resort to procedural shortcuts. The end does not justify the means. A meritorious case cannot overshadow the condition that the means employed to pursue it must be in keeping with the rules," the court said in the decision written by Justice Agnes Reyes-Carpio. Division members Justices Marie Gonzales-Sison and Priscilla Baltazar-Padilla concurred in the ruling. The justices adopted what they called a "Solomonic decision" by ordering the BI to book Nirvana on a direct flight to the UK, or one that would not stop over on US territory. Law not heartless "[H]umanitarian consideration and due regard to the feelings of his family in the Philippines compel us to decree the Solomonic decision without interfering in the sound discretion of the Executive Branch [to deport him]. The law may be harsh, but it does not render us all heartless. Indeed the law is solicitous to everyone regardless of his station in life," the ruling said. Nirvana has resided in the Philippines since 2007 and has five children by his Filipino girlfriend. He was arrested in Olongapo City on Aug. 23 last year after the BI received information from the US Embassy in Manila about his indictment by a US District Court in Bangor, Maine. Online pot seed business The Briton, said to be the founder of the online International Cannagraphic magazine, was accused by US authorities of engaging in a UK-based marijuana seed auction business catering to customers in the US. The BI said Nirvana's transactions were done online or through mail and wire transfer. On his blog, Nirvana described the US charges as "ridiculous," saying his business of distributing and selling cannabis seeds was legal in the UK since the seeds do not contain any narcotic substance at all. "[T]he US says that cannabis seed is a narcotic, hence, my dilemma. I have been a resident of the Philippines since 2007 and have [five] children to support and care for. The last thing I want is to be deported from this country and then extradited to the US to have to face these ridiculous charges," he said. Petition filed While detained at the immigration jail in Taguig City, the BI's board of commissioners on Sept. 2, 2013, ordered his deportation. Nirvana filed a petition for habeas corpus in the Manila Regional Trial Court the following day, claiming, among other things, that his right to due process had been violated. The RTC judge issued a writ of habeas corpus the same day. It was recalled after the hearing held the following day, during which the RTC ruled that Nirvana should have first appealed his deportation to the secretary of justice and the Office of the President before going to court. Los Angeles, CA Nirvana was set to be deported on Sept. 7, 2013, on a Philippine Airlines flight to Los Angeles, California, where he was to take a connecting flight to London. The deportation did not push through after Nirvana became unruly at the airport and the airline ejected him from the flight. The Briton, according to the BI, said he did not want to transit US territory for fear of his life and safety. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom