A Bahraini political dissident has been deported from Serbia to his country, despite a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights ECHR rejecting his return and despite his application for asylum in Serbia in November 2021 due to being tortured and facing a risk of death in case of return to his country, as Ali had previously sentenced twice to life in prison in Bahrain in absentia
On Monday morning, January 25, 2022, Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed Ali was extradited based on an Interpol red notice request from Bahrain.
On Friday, the ECHR issued a ruling ordering the non-extradition of Ali to Bahrain until 25 February, due to “possible risks of torture and/or ill treatment that the applicant would face if extradited to Bahrain” while calling for finding other mechanisms “to have his life sentence reviewed in Bahrain”.
Bahrain received wide criticism over its decision to blatantly disregard its obligations under international law and favour strengthening its trade relationship with the Bahraini regime over human rights.
This incident is the first of its kind since the election of Ahmed Naser al-Raisi, inspector general of the Ministry of Interior in the UAE, as president of Interpol.
al-Raisi has been accused of overseeing many violations in Emirates, including torture, sexual abuse, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances.
