European Court Questions Dutch Treatment of Ridouan Taghi After 21 Complaints
The European Court of Human Rights has asked the Netherlands to justify the conditions in which Ridouan Taghi is being held at the high-security prison in Vught, where he has been incarcerated since December 2019. The length of his solitary confinement and his contact with the outside world are at the heart of the new proceedings.
Judges in Strasbourg want to know whether the restrictions imposed on Ridouan Taghi amount to prolonged solitary confinement in breach of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits inhuman or degrading treatment. According to Dutch media outlet Crimesite, which has seen the Court’s communication, 21 applications from the prisoner have been sent to the Dutch government for observations.
The review concerns his opportunities to meet other prisoners, call his family and correspond with his loved ones. The Court has also asked the authorities to justify his placement in Vught’s maximum-security unit, as well as the decisions that extended the restrictions.
The 48-year-old Dutchman of Moroccan origin has been held there since his transfer from Dubai in December 2019. Sentenced to life in prison in February 2024 in the Marengo trial, he is still appealing the decision. The European proceedings concern his prison regime, not his criminal conviction.
Masked guards and minimal contact
The case brings earlier findings back into focus. In a report published in June 2023, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture described a prisoner kept alone in a separate wing of Vught for more than eight months.
In 2021, for two months, masked guards allegedly spoke to him only in writing. His television and reading materials were also taken away. The report did not name the prisoner; Crimesite links the description to Taghi’s case.
The committee warned of the lack of human contact and called for restrictions to remain necessary and proportionate. The Dutch authorities, for their part, cite the risk that Taghi could pass instructions to his criminal network from his cell. In 2025, they also tightened monitoring of communications at Vught.
The prisoner’s lawyer, Sjoerd van Berge Henegouwen, believes the questions from Europe challenge the legal basis for the Dutch decisions. The government must now present its arguments. A possible ruling in Strasbourg could affect future extensions of his placement and his contact with family.
