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ECHR Rejects Belgo-Moroccan Terror Suspect’s Claim Against Belgium for Lack of Consular Aid
Saturday 2 October 2021, by
The Belgo-Moroccan Ali Aarrass, detained for 12 years in Morocco for belonging to a terrorist group, filed a request in 2018 with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), in which he believes he did not have the necessary consular assistance throughout this period. The request was rejected.
It was unanimously that the seven judges of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled "inadmissible" Ali Aarrass’ complaint against Belgium, filed in March 2018. In a decision rendered on Thursday, September 30, the ECHR considers that the request is "unfounded". Ali Aarrass accuses the Belgian authorities of their silence in the face of the ill-treatment he allegedly suffered during his detention in Morocco for terrorism.
"The Court notes that the Belgian authorities did not remain passive or indifferent. On the contrary, they had, on several occasions and in particular on the order of the president of the court of first instance of Brussels, undertaken steps to intervene with the Moroccan authorities, either on a diplomatic basis or for humanitarian reasons, in order to improve the applicant’s situation," writes the ECHR, which emphasizes that despite their good faith, the Belgian authorities were confronted with Morocco’s refusal to "authorize consular assistance to a Moroccan detainee by a State of which this detainee would also have the nationality".
The legal troubles began in 2008 for Ali Aarrass. He had been arrested for illegal arms trafficking on behalf of a terrorist organization, but a Spanish court granted him a dismissal. He was caught up by Morocco the same year, after the dismantling of a terrorist cell that was planning attacks on Moroccan soil through arms trafficking from Belgium.
In 2011, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for "membership of a group intending to commit terrorist acts". A sentence that will be reduced to 12 years with the charges maintained after an appeal trial. Incarcerated in the Salé and then Tiflet prisons until his release in April 2020, Ali Aarrass has always denounced acts of torture committed against him. Accusations supported by the testimonies of his entourage, his lawyers, but also several Belgian or international human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International.