Irish court backs extradition to U.S. of `facilitator of child porn'
Source: Reuters
US | Wed Dec 16, 2015 11:30am EST
Irish court backs extradition to U.S. of `facilitator of child porn'
DUBLIN
Ireland's High Court on Wednesday cleared the way for the extradition to the United States of a man the Federal Bureau of Investigation has described as the world's biggest facilitator of child pornography.
The U.S. Attorney General in 2013 asked Ireland to extradite Eric Marques to face four charges of advertising and distributing child pornography as owner and administrator of an anonymous hosting site known as Freedom Hosting.
Marques is accused of using encryption technology to offer an anonymous hosting service for websites with a total of more than 1 million pornographic pictures, including images of rape and torture of pre-pubescent children, an FBI agent told an earlier hearing.
The agent described Marques as "the largest facilitator of child pornography on the planet".
Lawyers for Marques, who has been in custody since his arrest in August 2013, told the court in December he would plead guilty to charges if they were brought against him in Ireland. But Ireland's director of public prosecutions told the court it did not intend to bring proceedings against him.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ireland-usa-extradition-idUSKBN0TZ2BH20151216