15 February 2008 :

in Cyprus, the lawyers of an American doctor accused of poisoning his wife launched an appeal against his extradition to the US state of Ohio to face murder charges. The Cyprus Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling to extradite Yazeed Essa, 39. The appeal, on the grounds that Essa might face the death penalty, was submitted to a panel of five Supreme Court judges, one of his lawyers said. From there, it could go the European Court of Human rights.
Essa disappeared before his indictment on aggravated murder charges in Cuyahoga County, Ohio in the 2005 cyanide poisoning death of his wife, Rosemarie Essa, 38. She collapsed in her car and died near their home in Gates Mills, outside Cleveland.
The charges carry a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 20 years, but his Cypriot lawyers argued that prosecutors could amend the charge to one that carries the death penalty. Cypriot law bans extradition of suspects who face the death penalty.