10 things about extradition

The Edward Snowden affair shows how complicated the international web of extradition treaties is. Here are 10 quirks of the system.

1. The world's oldest surviving written extradition agreement - and peace treaty - was made by Ramesses II of Egypt and the neighbouring Hittites in about 1259 BC. Sometimes known as the Treaty of Kadesh (following a battle there some years earlier), the agreement bound both sides to repatriate criminals and political refugees from the other side. The Egyptian version of the treaty is preserved at Karnak. Its counterpart was discovered at Hattusa - site of the Hittite royal palace - in Turkey in 1916. A copy of that version now hangs on the walls of the UN headquarters in New York.