Lithuania: ICJ and AI intervene in case of complicity in US-led rendition before European Court of Human Rights

Europe and Central Asia
Issue: Global Security
Document Type: Legal Submission
Date: 2019

The ICJ and Amnesty International presented today a third party intervention in the case of al-Hawsawi v. Lithuania before the European Court of Human Rights.

The interveners made submissions to the Court in this case on complicity with the US-led rendition, secret detention and interrogation programme on:

  • knowledge imputable to Contracting Parties, in particular, Lithuania, at the relevant times;
  • enforced disappearance as a violation of Article 3 of the Convention;
  • non-refoulement obligations;
  • and post-transfer obligations under the Convention.

Mustafa al Hawsawi, a Saudi Arabian national currently detained at Guantanamo, was arrested in Pakistan in 2003 and subjected to rendition and secret detention. He was one of the many “high-level” persons subjected to torture following his rendition.

He was subject to treatment that could “easily approximate waterboarding”. He arrived in Guantánamo on 6 September 2006.

He is currently subject to proceedings before a military commission together with four other defendants; they are all charged with being involved in the 9/11 attacks.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that his right to liberty and to a fair trial had been violated and that the US has a duty to release him and provide him with compensation.

Several UN Special Rapporteurs raised serious concerns at the denial of medical treatment for Mr al Hawsawi, leading to a deterioration in his health, and the inhumane detention conditions.

The full intervention can be downloaded here: Al-Hawsawi-submission-2019-ENG

Translate »