Mistreatment in a secret prison in Romania: the case of Al-Nashiri

Al-Nashiri v Romania (Application No 33234/12)

Briefed on 6th September 2021 and 20 May 2019

Documents from the September 2021 briefing:

Presentation by OSJI on the case (September 2021)

DH-DD(2021)777, Communication from an NGO (Open Society Justice Initiative) (27/07/2021) in the case of Al Nashiri v. Romania (Application No. 33234/12).

Documents from the May 2019 briefing:

Action Plan from the Romanian authorities (April 2019)

Rule 9.2 submission by OSJI on the case (May 2019)

The case concerns violations of a number of Convention rights on account of the fact that the applicant was the victim of an “extraordinary rendition” operation. The European Court found it established beyond reasonable doubt that Romania hosted a CIA detention site code-named “Detention Site Black”, which operated from 22 September 2003 to 5 November 2005, and that the applicant was secretly detained there from 12 April 2004 to 6 October 2005, or, at the latest, to 5 November 2005. He was subjected to inhuman treatment, on account of an extremely harsh detention regime. He was subsequently transferred by the CIA out of Romania to another of its detention facilities.

The European Court of Human Rights held that this violated his fundamental rights, as did the failure to properly investigate. It was a landmark ruling.  

Ms Amrit Singh, Counsel for Mr Al-Nashiri, and Director, Accountability, Liberty and Transparency Division at the Open Society Justice Initiative, set out why the case was still not being properly implemented and made recommendations to the Committee of Ministers.