Tuesday, 25 March 2025: The European Court for Human Rights (ECtHR) unanimously ruled that Serbia unlawfully extradited Bahraini dissident Ahmed Jaafar despite the risk that he would face torture and ill-treatment in Bahrain and ordered Serbia to pay Jaafar EUR 9,800 in non-pecuniary damages.
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- In a judgment handed down earlier today – Ali v. Serbia (no. 4662/22) – the Court found that Serbia had violated Article 3 of the Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and failed to comply with its obligations under Article 34 of the Convention on the right to seek protection from the Court. It further stated that Serbia failed to comply with the interim measures issued on 21 January 2022, instructing Serbia to halt extradition until further review.
- According to a press release published by the Registrar of the Court today, Ahmed Jaafar’s lawyers argued that he “faced a real risk of being subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment; that his extradition exposed him to a sentence of life imprisonment with no prospect of release; and, that the Serbian authorities had not taken any of these issues into consideration in their decisions.”
- See the press release published by the Registrar of the Court and the full judgment here.
Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of Advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), commenting:
“These findings represent a profound tribute to the devastation Ahmed has endured as a result of the breaches committed by Serbia.
Since his extradition, Ahmed has been subjected to harrowing human rights abuses, including torture at the hands of the Bahraini regime, and he has not seen his family for more than three years.
While the European Court’s ruling is a step towards justice, Serbia cannot turn a blind eye to his ongoing suffering in Bahrain and must now push for his immediate release from prison.”
Ahmed Jaafar’s lawyer, Marko Štambuk, commented:
“Three years after the application was submitted to the European Court of Human Rights, we got the confirmation of what we claimed from the beginning of the procedure – that the Serbian competent authorities failed to examine the risks Mr Ali Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed was facing in his country of origin. Bearing in mind that Mr Ali is currently serving multiple life sentences and was, according to his family, ill-treated by the prison authorities in Bahrain, this judgement is just a moral victory for him and his legal team, but which would hopefully protect others from being subjected to similar violations of their rights.”
Rodney Dixon KC, who also represented Ahmed Jaafar, stated:
“It is a vital first step towards justice for Ahmed Jaafar Ali. He has been unlawfully imprisoned for too long and needs to be released and reunited with his family.”
Background
Arrest in Serbia: Ahmed Jaafar is a Bahraini dissident arrested on 3 November 2021 in Serbia, following a red notice issued by Interpol on Bahrain’s request. He had been convicted in absentia by a Bahraini court on 7 October 2013 and sentenced to life imprisonment, which Bahrain used as grounds to issue his “red notice” by the Interpol. While detained in Serbia, he sought political asylum over fear of being tortured in Bahrain.
Unlawful extradition: The European Court of Human Rights issued interim measures on 21 January 2022 ordering that Ahmed Jaafar “should not be extradited” from Serbia pending more information on his case, including understanding the “possible risks of torture and/or illtreatment that the applicant would face if extradited to Bahrain.” However, on 24 January 2022, he was extradited from Serbia on Emeriti RoyalJet.
Ongoing Persecution: Ahmed is currently serving multiple life sentences, totaling 64 years of imprisonment at the notorious Jau Prison. He has also been stripped of his Bahraini citizenship, rendering him stateless and subject to routinely degrading treatment, solitary confinement, and torture by the Bahraini police.
For further details on arrest and extradition proceedings in Serbia, see this timeline.
