Serbia’s Reply to the European Court of Human Rights Concerning the Extradition of Bahraini National Despite the Court’s Interim Measure

Serbia responds to the request of the European Court of Human Rights to provide it with information about the extradition of Bahraini national

The letter, signed by Serbia’s State Agent before the European Court of Human Rights, notified the ECtHR that Mr. Ali Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed was extradited to Bahrain on Monday, 24 January 2022, in the early morning hours. The letter said that the State received the ECtHR’s decision on the interim measure on Friday, 21 January 2022, at 19:57h, but that it did not comply with the interim measure because of the short period of time between the issuance of the ECtHR’s decision and the extradition. The letter said that Mr. Mohamed had not applied for asylum in Serbia and that Serbia has always complied with the ECtHR’s interim measures to date.

BCHR underlines that 57 hours, i.e. more than two days, passed from the moment the Serbian authorities received the ECtHR’s letter indicating it refrain from extraditing Mr. Mohamed to the moment of his extradition. ECHR interim measure require immediate action precisely to prevent the occurrence of irreparable harm, in this case the extradition of Mr. Mohamed to the state where he is at risk of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.

Mr. Ali Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed did not apply for asylum formally because the extradition authorities ignored his written requests in December 2021 to enable him access to the asylum provedure. BCHR, as his legal representative, made the same request to the Asylum Office on Friday, 21 January 2022.

Given that Serbia is a Council of Europe member, that it signed the European Convention on Human Rights and recognised the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights, the relevant Serbian authorities were under the obligation to comply with the ECtHR’s legally binding interim measure, wherefore the State’s reply can only be qualified as unacceptable.

BCHR’s legal team will file an application with the ECtHR complaining of this manifest violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is an integral part of Serbia’s legal order.

BCHR recalls that this is not the first time Serbia disregarded an interim measure indicated by the ECtHR. It did so also in 2016 (in the case of Antić v. Serbia).

Mr. Ali Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed written requests to Serbian authorities from December 2021 are here in Serbian.