L

Lord Hacking (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 6 January 2026

Debate

Venezuela

Contribution

My Lords, as my noble friend will be aware, this is not the first occasion when the United States has invaded another country and taken the leader for trial in the United States of America. Manuel Noriega was a military dictator in Panama in the 1980s and, in 1990, following the United States invasion of Panama, he was arrested and brought to the USA for trial for racketeering, drug smuggling and money laundering. He was convicted before a US federal court and sentenced to 40 years imprisonment, of which he served 17 years. I have been a lawyer for a long time and, like the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, one of my areas of practice was international law. But unlike, as I understand it, the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, I have always had doubt about the veracity of international law on the sovereignty of states. When one country, particularly a neighbouring country—

More from Lord Hacking (Lab)

Other recent Hansard contributions by the same speaker.

About Hansard

Hansard is the official verbatim record of proceedings in the UK Parliament. Every word spoken in the Commons and Lords is recorded and published — this page is a single contribution from that record.

Partner sites