Serbia Risks Fines And Disrepute After Extraditing Bahraini National At Risk Of Torture

Serbia faces the prospect of fines and further damage to its reputation, after extraditing a Bahraini national despite an order by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) not to do so.

Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed Ali was deported from Serbia to Bahrain on 24 January, following an Interpol red notice request from Bahrain. The ECHR had previously issued an interim measure telling Serbia the extradition should not go ahead while it waited for more information on the risk of Ali being tortured in Bahrain.

The ECHR says it only grants interim measures in “exceptional circumstances” and only “where there is a serious risk of physical harm to the applicant.” It had said ignoring the interim measure could be a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights and asked Serbia to explain its actions. It has since received a submission from the Belgrade government, but the contents have not been made public. Serbia’s Ministry of Interior did not respond to a request for comment.

Lawyers and human rights activists say there have been a number of possible breaches of the Convention by Serbia.

Sonja Tošković, legal officer of the Belgrade Center for Human Rights (BCLJP), told the local N1 news channel that her organisation plans to seek a ruling that Serbia violated Article 3 of the Convention, which provides that no-one shall be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment.

The country may also have breached Article 34 of the Convention which guarantees an individual’s right to make an application to the ECHR.

“By becoming a party to the Convention, Serbia undertook not to hinder the effective exercise of rights under the Convention by an individual applicant such as Mr Ali,” said Ben Brandon, a partner at London law firm Mishcon de Reya. “By expelling Mr Ali from its territory, Serbia appears to have breached that undertaking. The court is likely to consider whether in doing so it has violated Article 34 of the Convention … Serbia can expect a highly critical judgment if such a finding is made, and the award of damages to Mr Ali.”

Reputational costs

While any award is likely to be of scant consolation to Ali, the costs may seem higher for Serbia. “In addition to the risk of an adverse finding and the award of costs against it, Serbia can expect censure from other Council of Europe institutions, as well as condemnation by international human rights organisations,” said Brandon.

There may be other reputational costs for the Serbian government. Kate Goold, a partner who specialises in extradition cases at London law firm Bindmans, said the decision to extradite Ali despite the ECHR interim measure meant the Belgrade government could find it more difficult to persuade other countries to extradite people to Serbia in the future. “It undermines confidence in Serbia and its willingness to exercise international law,” she said.

Ali is believed to have been seeking asylum in Serbia when he was extradited. Human Rights Watch said Ali has been tortured by the Bahrain authorities in the past and that two life sentences he had received followed “apparently unfair trials”. It has called on Bahrain to release or retry him before a court that observes international fair trial standards.

“Interpol and Serbian authorities have put a man who fled torture and life in a Bahraini prison and sought refuge in Europe at grave risk,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “It is terrifying and inexcusable that Serbia and Interpol collaborated to return a dissident to face life in prison despite the European Court of Human Rights order halting his extradition.”