LONDON: A retired British businessman accused of conspiring to sell missile parts to Iran was extradited to the United States on Friday, but branded his treatment a “disgrace”.

Speaking to reporters as he arrived at London Heathrow airport, where he was taken into custody by US marshals, Christopher Tappin protested his innocence and said he should have been tried in Britain.

US prosecutors accuse the 65-year-old of attempting to unlawfully export batteries for surface-to-air missiles, which were allegedly due to be shipped from the US to Tehran via The Netherlands.

Tappin fought a lengthy battle through the British courts against his transfer to the United States, where he could face 35 years in jail, but lost a final appeal to the European Court of Human Rights last week.

Accompanied to Heathrow by his tearful wife Elaine, Tappin said he was “not very confident at all” about the outcome of his case.

“If I wanted anything, it was to be tried in the UK, not in America, because the Americans have never had to produce one piece of evidence,” he said.—AFP