European court upholds deportation of terror suspect
September 27, 2018
The deportation of a Tunisian terror suspect from Germany did not violate the European code on human rights, a European court ruled on Thursday.
The Tunisian, identified only as Haikel S. in accordance with German privacy laws, had appealed against his deportation from Germany. He argued that he faced death penalty in his native country and that deporting him would be a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.
But the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rejected his plea, saying Tunisia had not actually carried out any death sentences since 1991. The judges in Strasbourg also noted that Tunisia had provided diplomatic assurances that the suspect would not be executed if he was given capital punishment.
Read more: German deportation of Tunisian terror suspect sparks torture concerns
Long legal battle
The court essentially endorsed the arguments of Germany's administrative court, which in September last year had approved the deportation.
The 37-year-old Tunisian, who was suspected of planning to carry out an attack in Germany on behalf of the "Islamic State," was finally deported in May after Germany's Constitutional Court turned down his final plea.
Haikal S. was arrested in February last year during a raid against Islamists in the German state of Hesse. Tunisia later requested his deportation in connection with a 2015 attack on a museum in Tunis that killed 21 foreign tourists.
ap/kms (AFP, dpa, KNA)
Editor's note: Deutsche Welle follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and obliges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.