Commentary on Sections Part 2: Arrest and Delivery of Persons Section 2: Request for arrest and surrender
14.This section sets out the procedure to be followed when the Government receives a request from the ICC for the arrest and surrender of an individual. This could be someone suspected of having committed an ICC crime or someone who has already been convicted by the ICC but has escaped custody in another country.
15.Subsection (1) requires the Secretary of State to transmit the request and the accompanying documents to an appropriate judicial officer (as defined in section 26). Subsection (3) requires the judicial officer to endorse an arrest warrant provided he is satisfied that it appears to have been issued by the ICC. Under Article 91.3 of the Statute, an ICC request for the arrest and surrender of a person already convicted may or may not contain an arrest warrant. If a request is received without an arrest warrant but is accompanied by the other documents specified in Article 91.3, subsection (4) requires the judicial officer to issue an arrest warrant himself.
16.An arrest warrant endorsed or issued under this section is termed “a section 2 warrant” and may be executed in any part of the UK (see section 14).