The former Chilean dictator, Gen Augusto Pinochet, is due to make his first court appearance in London tomorrow following the decision by the British Home Secretary that the Spanish request for his extradition should proceed.
Chile's ambassador to London, Mr Mario Artaza, was withdrawn last night in protest at the decision by Mr Jack Straw, which means the former dictator could eventually stand trial in Spain on charges of murder, kidnapping and torture.
Opinion in Britain was polarised by Mr Straw's decision, announced two days in advance of tomorrow's deadline. While ministers remained silent about Mr Straw's "quasi-judicial" judgment, Labour MPs reacted with relief and delight.
Mr Jeremy Corbyn MP hailed the decision as "a wonderful day for justice", and Mr Clive Soley, chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, said: "The right decision has been taken. I think the message is clear to all dictators that you can assume the rule of law will now be applied."
The former prime minister, Baroness Thatcher, led a concerted Tory attack on Mr Straw, branding his decision "a grave mistake". Neither Mr Straw nor the government, she said, could hide behind legal posturing.
The shadow Home Secretary, Sir Norman Fowler, said: "I think the decision will be damaging for Britain . . . and it will damage the situation in Chile itself."
Signalling the start of a protracted legal battle expected to last many months, possibly ending up back in the House of Lords and on Mr Straw's desk for final decision, lawyers for Gen Pinochet were last night considering whether to seek a judicial review.
The British Home Office last night confirmed the magistrates would sit tomorrow at Woolwich Crown Court at Belmarsh, in the £31 million top-security courts complex designed to handle cases involving dangerous criminal and terrorist suspects.
Some legal experts supporting Gen Pinochet's return to Chile were already looking to the end of the extradition process, at which point they believed Mr Straw would enjoy "wider discretion" than was available to him in yesterday's decision following the ruling by the law lords that the former dictator did not enjoy sovereign immunity.
Mr Straw gave his decision in a six-page written parliamentary answer. There was a slight cheer for Gen Pinochet as Mr Straw decided that the formal extradition request did not substantiate allegations of genocide in accordance with the definition of an extradition crime under the 1989 Act.
Mr Straw otherwise rejected the representations made by Gen Pinochet's lawyers, specifically that he enjoyed immunity and the notion that the offences alleged against him were "of a political character".
He also rejected representations on grounds of the time lapsed since the alleged offences. Having considered representations about the general's age and health, Mr Straw concluded "that in all the circumstances it would not be unjust or oppressive for him to stand trial in relation to the offences with which he is charged".
Attention last night was also focusing on Mr Straw's assertion that, while the Chilean government argued that Gen Pinochet should be returned to Chile where he could stand trial, "there is no extradition request from the Chilean government which the Secretary of State could consider under. . . the Act".
The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, yesterday welcomed the decision to allow the extradition request against Gen Pinochet.
Ruling `an affront to sovereignty': page 11; Pinochet's legal team may win him long stay in UK: page 16