SARAJEVO, Oct 11 (Hina) - The House for Human Rights in Bosnia-Herzegovina on Friday ruled that the basic human rights of four former citizens of this country, who arrived from Algeria, had been violated when local judicial
authorities extradited them to the United States on suspicion that they were involved in preparations for terrorist actions masterminded by radical Islamic organisations.
SARAJEVO, Oct 11 (Hina) - The House for Human Rights in Bosnia-
Herzegovina on Friday ruled that the basic human rights of four
former citizens of this country, who arrived from Algeria, had been
violated when local judicial authorities extradited them to the
United States on suspicion that they were involved in preparations
for terrorist actions masterminded by radical Islamic
organisations. #L#
The ruling, made by the House as the supreme judicial body in Bosnia
for the protection of human rights, reads that the fundamental
human rights of the four naturalised Bosnians, who were stripped of
their Bosnian citizenship prior to their extradition, were
seriously infringed given that they were handed over to a country
where capital punishment was still in force. By the act of the
extradition, Bosnia violated commitments it had assumed when it
signed the European Human Rights Convention.
The ruling says that the authorities in the Croat-Muslim entity
(the Bosnian Federation) and the Bosnian state authorities should
pay damages worth 10,000 convertible marks to each of the four
Algerians, and in case that they were not released until November
2003, this amount should be paid to their families.
Hajj Boudellaa, Boumediene Lakhdar, Mohamed Nechle and Saber
Lahmar were nabbed in Bosnia in October 2001 on suspicion that they
were planning terrorist attacks on the embassies of the United
States and Great Britain in Sarajevo.
On 17 January this year, the Federation's Supreme Court ruled that
the four men should be set free, as no incriminating evidence was
found.
A day later, however, Bosnian authorities handed over them to U.S.
officials, and the suspects were transferred to the Guantanamo
military base where they are still being detained along with a
number of members of the Al-Quaida.
The House for Human Rights concluded that the extradition of the
four men was not disputable, but what is disputable that Bosnian
authorities failed to ask for guarantees that they would not be
given death sentences.
The Bosnian authorities are also asked to establish consular
contacts with their former citizens and ensure that they will not
face the death penalty.
(hina) ms sb