Mexican judge temporarily suspends Chapo extradition to US

MEXICO CITY: A judge temporarily blocked the extradition of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States Tuesday after his lawyers filed appeals against the transfer.
The Mexican judge granted the temporary stay of Guzman's extradition – to face US charges of drug trafficking and homicide – after agreeing to examine the appeals, a process that could last several months, a judiciary source told AFP.
"The extradition requests from Texas and California lack sufficient evidence under Mexican law to extend the extradition period," Refugio Rodriguez, one of Guzman's lawyers, told AFP.
Lawyers Andres Granados and Carlos Castillo submitted the documents Monday evening.
The Mexican government had given the green light to extradite the infamous head of the Sinaloa drug cartel after the United States guaranteed he would not face the death penalty, a punishment outlawed in Mexico.
The United States still expects extradition by the end of the year, a US official told AFP, which would be a relatively short period for this type of procedure.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto had previously opposed Guzman's extradition, preferring to try the country's most notorious prisoner in Mexico.
But after the kingpin's brazen escape in July 2015 – his second jailbreak – through an elaborate tunnel under his cell's shower embarrassed the government, Pena Nieto requested the attorney general to expedite the extradition process.
"El Chapo" is currently incarcerated in a federal prison in Ciudad Juarez, a northern Mexican city that borders the United States. — AFP