MANAMA — A Bahraini man convicted of
"terrorism-related offences" has been extradited from Serbia
following an
Interpol Red Notice issued at Manama's request, the interior
ministry said Tuesday.
اضافة اعلان
According to the London-based
Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), Ahmed Jaffar Mohammed Ali was extradited Monday under the
international arrest request dating back to 2015, despite a European Court of
Human Rights ruling he not be sent home pending further investigation.
BIRD cited the Strasbourg-based court as saying Ali should
not be extradited before February 25 to give it time to examine "possible
risks of torture and/or ill-treatment that the applicant would face if
extradited to Bahrain".
Bahrain's interior ministry said the 49-year-old was
extradited "after coordination and communication with a friendly
country".
He has been handed three life sentences in absentia and an
additional 10 years in prison for "terrorism-related offences between 2012
and 2015, including murder, and manufacturing, and possessing explosives",
it said.
The ministry said Ali had previously been a
"fugitive" in Iran.
In 2011, during the Arab Spring, a mainly Shiite protest
movement took to the streets of Bahrain to demand an elected government,
briefly threatening the Sunni monarchy's grip on power before a deadly
Saudi-backed crackdown.
Bahrain rejects accusations of human rights violations and
denies any discrimination against its Shiite citizens.
Bahrain has claimed Shiite heavyweight Iran trained and
backed the demonstrators in an effort to topple the Manama government — an
accusation Tehran denies.
"This scandalous extradition by the Serbian government
that condemns someone to torture and life imprisonment is utterly
devastating," said Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, director of BIRD.
"Ahmed, the victim of sham trials, has already suffered
torture at the hands of Bahraini officials and now fears violent interrogation
and abuse," he added.
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