The Court of Appeal began hearing submissions Monday in the appeal brought by Louis Timoll, a 59-year-old Jamaican who is seeking to have his extradition order set aside.

He is is wanted in the United States to be sentenced for conspiracy to import marijuana.

Timoll, a fisherman and community leader of Old Harbour Bay, St. Catherine, had pleaded guilty in the United States (U.S.) in 1986 to drug charges. He was on bail and he fled to the island shortly after he pleaded guilty.

Timoll is asking the Court of Appeal to set aside his extradition order because, since he returned to Jamaica, he was not hiding and was always living an open life. He is asking the court to rule that it would be oppressive and unfair to extradite him after he has been living in Jamaica for so many years.

The U.S. government ordered his extradition in March 2003 and he was ordered extradited in June 2004.

Timoll is being represented by attorneys-at-law Earl Witter and Barrington Frankson.