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Judge: Extradite alleged honeymoon killer

LONDON, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- A British judge ruled Wednesday that Shrien Dewani should be extradited to South Africa to face charges of arranging his wife's killing.

The final decision is in the hands of Immigration Minister Damien Green, The Independent reported.

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Dewani's lawyers argued their client would be subject to violence in a South African prison. But Senior Judge Howard Riddle, handing down his decision in Belmarsh Magistrate's Court in London, said he believes South Africa can protect Dewani.

Anni Dewani, 28, and her husband of two weeks were on their honeymoon in South Africa in November, after being married in India, when she was kidnapped and killed. Dewani said they had made a detour through a black township outside Cape Town to see "the real South Africa" when a hijacker forced him and his driver out of the car and took off with his wife.

But a man charged with the killing said Dewani had set it up.

Riddle said Anni Dewani's family deserves to have the facts determined at a trial.

"Either Mr. Dewani arranged for his new bride to be brutally murdered, or he has been the victim himself of the most terrible tragedy," he said. "I have complete confidence in the South African judicial system to provide a fair trial."

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