Mourad Dhina finally free!

03 Jul 2012
The Paris court responsible for the consideration of the Algerian request for the extradition of Dr Mourad Dhina handed down its decision today.

The President of the trail chamber rejected the extradition request in a short deliberation, due to its lack of conformity with the 1964 extradition convention between Algeria and France and the French criminal procedure code.

This decision was expected by the majority of observers who had been present at the last hearing on 20 June, during which the inconsistencies in the case presented by Algeria, and the incoherence of its justice system were highlighted.

However, it is only after nearly six months in detention at the Santé prison in Paris, after several requests for bail were denied by the court, that the decision to release Dr Dhinas was granted. The public noted that during the same hearing, a Rwandan national suspected of crimes against humanity and genocide who was the object of a similar extradition to his home country appeared before the court without being maintained in detention.

 

Background

Dr Mourad Dhina, an Algerian opposition figure, co-founder of the Rachad movement and Executive Director of the Geneva-based NGO Alkarama has been living in Switzerland for close to 20 years. He was arrested by French police at Orly on 16 January 2012 at the request of the Algerian authorities. Following the arrest, he remained in detention in the Paris prison La Santé while his case was examined by the French courts. The Algerian leadership has in fact attempted to neutralize Dr. Dhina for many years now, accusing him of belonging to a terrorist group active in Switzerland to justify their extradition requests to Switzerland, which were never taken into account by the Swiss.