Haroon Aswat US extradition rejected by court

 

Haroon Aswat US extradition rejected by court

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22165302

 

 

 

    Profiles: UK-held terror suspects

    Abu Hamza health 'deteriorating'

    Judges back Abu Hamza extradition

 

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled a terrorism suspect should not

be extradited from the UK to the US due to his mental health problems.

 

Haroon Aswat allegedly tried to establish a training camp in Oregon with the

radical cleric Abu Hamza, who was extradited to the US last year.

 

But Mr Aswat said conditions in a 'supermax' jail could exacerbate his

paranoid schizophrenia.

 

The Home Office has expressed disappointment at the court ruling.

 

Tuesday's judgement does not become final for three months to allow time for

people to appeal against it.

'Significant deterioration'

 

In 2008, Mr Aswat, a British citizen, was transferred from prison to

Broadmoor high security psychiatric hospital, where he is currently on

anti-psychotic medication.

 

Haroon Aswat is the last man on a long list of major terrorism suspects in

the UK wanted by the United States.

 

In each of the other cases, the suspects were put on a plane to face the

American courts.

 

The job of the Strasbourg judges is to balance security and human rights.

And in this particular and unusual case, Aswat's poor health has been the

single and deciding factor.

 

Campaigners have long argued that the solitary confinement regime at ADX

Florence, a US supermax jail used for terrorism suspects, breaches all

decent standards of treatment.

 

But European judges don't agree because last year they sanctioned the

extradition of other men, including Talha Ahsan who has Aspergers Syndrome.

 

What happens now? Unless the court's block on Aswat's deportation can be

overturned in the Grand Chamber, the UK government will no longer be able to

detain him pending extradition.

 

He was arrested in the UK in 2005 following a request for his arrest and

extradition from US authorities, after allegedly plotting to set up a terror

training camp in Bly, Oregon with Abu Hamza.

 

In October 2012, fellow terror suspects Abu Hamza, Babar Ahmad, Syed Talha

Ahsan, Adel Abdul Bary and Khaled al-Fawwaz were extradited to the US.

 

But on Tuesday the court decided unanimously that extradition - possibly to

the ADX 'supermax' prison in Florence, Colorado - would breach Mr Aswat's

human rights, specifically Article 3 of the European Convention on Human

Rights which prohibits inhuman or degrading treatment.

 

It said: "In light of the medical evidence before it, the Court found that

there was a real risk that Mr Aswat's extradition to the USA, a country to

which he has no ties, and to a different potentially more hostile

environment, would result in a significant deterioration in his mental and

physical health."

 

The judges argued that Mr Aswat's case to avoid extradition was different

from Baba Ahmad's - which was thrown out last year - due to the severity of

Mr Aswat's mental health problems.

 

They also said that while Mr Aswat, if convicted, would have access to

mental health services regardless of which prison he was in, he would be

facing "an uncertain future in an as yet undetermined institution, and

possibly be subjected to the highly restrictive regime in ADX Florence"

which would violate Article 3 of the Convention.

 

A Home Office spokesman said of the ruling that it would "consider as a

matter of urgency all the legal options which are available to us.

 

"This includes whether we request a referral of the case to the Court's

Grand Chamber".

 

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