Haroon Aswat US extradition opposed by court

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22165302

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The European Court of Human Rights has ruled a terrorism suspect should not be extradited from the UK to the US due to his mental health problems.

Haroon Aswat allegedly tried to establish a training camp in Oregon with the radical cleric Abu Hamza, who was extradited to the US last year.

But Mr Aswat said conditions in a 'supermax' jail could exacerbate his paranoid schizophrenia.

The Home Office has expressed disappointment at the court ruling.

Tuesday's judgement does not become final for three months.

Mr Aswat, who is a British citizen, has been detained at Broadmoor high security psychiatric hospital since 2008, after being transferred from prison.

He was arrested in the UK in 2005 following a request for his arrest and extradition from US authorities - they accuse him of plotting to set up a terror training camp in the US state of Oregon with Abu Hamza.

In October 2012, fellow terror suspects Abu Hamza, Babar Ahmad, Syed Talha Ahsan, Adel Abdul Bary and Khaled al-Fawwaz were extradited to the US.

But on Tuesday the court decided unanimously that the extradition would violate Mr Aswat's human rights.

It said: "In light of the medical evidence before it, the Court found that there was a real risk that Mr Aswat's extradition to the USA, a country to which he has no ties, and to a different potentially more hostile environment, would result in a significant deterioration in his mental and physical health."

A Home Office spokesman said of the ruling that it would "consider as a matter of urgency all the legal options which are available to us.

"This includes whether we request a referral of the case to the Court's Grand Chamber".