2/8/2012 1:01 AM ET
(RTTNews) - The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has blocked Bosnia's deportation of a Syrian terror suspect following fears that he would be ill-treated in Syria.
In the case of Imad Al Husin, a Syrian who came to Bosnia as a fighter during the 1992-1995 war, v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, the ECHR ruled on Tuesday that he would be at risk of ill-treatment if returned to Syria because of widespread torture in detention there and the country's general security situation.
The court also found that his extended immigration detention in Bosnia at a time when the government was not taking active steps to deport him violated his right to liberty.
In a related case, the ECHR ruled that Iraqi former fighter Al Hamdani, who was stripped of his Bosnian nationality, would not be at risk of torture if returned to Iraq. However, the court said that his detention in 2009 and 2010 at a time when the Bosnian authorities were not taking steps to remove him violated his right to liberty. He was released from detention in April 2011.
Bosnian law permits the government to detain foreign terror suspects indefinitely without charge even when the authorities are not taking active steps to remove them from the country.
The court's ruling should force authorities to rethink that policy, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.
"The European Court's ruling makes clear the injustices in Bosnia's treatment of foreign terrorism suspects," said Benjamin Ward, Europe and Central Asia Deputy Director at the HRW. He demanded an immediate halt to any further efforts to deport suspects to countries where they risk torture.
The New York-based rights group intervened in the case, arguing for the importance of effective safeguards in cases involving deportation and detention of terror suspects, and reiterating the absolute prohibition on returning people to places where they would be at risk of torture and ill-treatment. The intervention also included information about Syria's abusive treatment of suspected Islamists.
During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995, Husin served in the al-Mujahidin unit of the Bosnian Army, consisting mostly of foreign volunteers from Muslim countries, and he later acquired Bosnian citizenship through marriage. His wife and their six children are Bosnian citizens.
His naturalization was revoked without a hearing in 2001, based on unspecified "national security" grounds. He was detained in October 2008 by Bosnian authorities in Sarajevo and held in the Lukavica immigration detention center, pending possible deportation to Syria. He has not been charged with a crime or formally accused of terrorist activity.
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