SARAJEVO, Jan 22 (Hina) - The Bosnian Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) maintains that last week's extradition of six Algerians suspected of terrorism to the U.S. authorities represented a grave breach of
Bosnian laws. The hand-over of the Algerians was carried out without regard to Bosnian laws and a ban by the House for Human Rights as the supreme judicial institution in question, office head Madeleine Rees said on Sarajevo. She added the stripping of the Algerians of Bosnian citizenship by the Interior Ministry of the Croat-Muslim entity without the right to appeal was also questionable. Rees reiterated High Commissioner Mary Robinson's statement that the jeopardising of human rights and freedoms under the guise of combating terrorism posed a big danger to democracy. Both the Bosnian and the United States authorities broke the law in this case, Rees said, adding a claim w
SARAJEVO, Jan 22 (Hina) - The Bosnian Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) maintains that last week's
extradition of six Algerians suspected of terrorism to the U.S.
authorities represented a grave breach of Bosnian laws.
The hand-over of the Algerians was carried out without regard to
Bosnian laws and a ban by the House for Human Rights as the supreme
judicial institution in question, office head Madeleine Rees said
on Sarajevo.
She added the stripping of the Algerians of Bosnian citizenship by
the Interior Ministry of the Croat-Muslim entity without the right
to appeal was also questionable.
Rees reiterated High Commissioner Mary Robinson's statement that
the jeopardising of human rights and freedoms under the guise of
combating terrorism posed a big danger to democracy.
Both the Bosnian and the United States authorities broke the law in
this case, Rees said, adding a claim would probably be filed with
the Bosnian House for Human Rights to establish who was
responsible.
Rees said there was no document proving the U.S. extradition demand
was legally founded, apart from an alleged confidential Pentagon
paper.
The spokeswoman for the international community's High
Representative in Bosnia, Alexandra Stiglmayer, declined to
comment on claims questioning the legality of the Bosnian
authorities' decision to extradite the Algerians, only saying that
Wolfgang Petritsch's Office supported the struggle against
terrorism.
The spokesman for the UN Mission to Bosnia, Stefo Lehmann, said the
UN did not participate in the deportation of the Algerians,
although the International Police Task Force supervised police
conduct in the case.
The spokesman for NATO's Stabilisation Force (SFOR), Mike Odom,
said the operation had been carried out by the Bosnian and U.S.
authorities, based on a bilateral agreement, without the SFOR's
participation.
There is no official statement as to where the Algerians have been
deported, although it is assumed they have been transferred to the
U.S. military base Guantanamo on Cuba, where they should be
interrogated.
(hina) ha