A European court has ruled that hate cleric Haroon Aswat, 39, who’s accused by the United States of conspiring to build a jihad training camp in Oregon, can stay in the United Kingdom.
Extraditing him to the United States would violate his civil rights, the European Court of Human Rights ruled, as The Telegraph reported. Specifically, the court expressed concern that Mr. Aswat, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, would face inhuman or degrading treatment if extradited and placed in one of America’s supermax security prisons, The Guardian said.
U.S. authorities claim he partnered with other radicals in 2000 to set up jihad training in Bly, Ore.
The ruling, in part, reads: “In light of the medical evidence before it, the court found that there was a real risk that Mr. Aswat’s extradition to the U.S.A., a country to which he had no ties, and to a different, potentially more hostile prison environment, would result in a significant deterioration in his mental and physical health,” The Telegraph reported.
British authorities expressed disappointment with the ruling and said they would spend the next three months — the ruling takes that long to take effect — seeking legal strategies to overturn the decision, The Telegraph reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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