Netherlands condemned by rights court over Eritrean deserter

STRASBOURG, July 5 (AFP) — The European Human Rights Court Tuesday condemned the Netherlands for refusing asylum to an Eritrean deserter who fled his country to escape punishment for criticising the military authorities and faced harsh treatment if sent back home.

Mahmoud Mohammed Said, who is still resident in the Netherlands, said he was locked in a cell for five months from December 2000 after being accused of encouraging fellow soldiers to speak out against their conditions.

Although the war with Ethiopia had ended in June of that year troops were not demobilised as the Eritrean government feared further incursions, the court said.

While in detention he was not questioned, charged or taken before a court. In April 2001 he managed to escape while being transferred to another, unknown destination. He made his way to Sudan and eventually to Breda in the Netherlands in May 2001.

His request for political asylum was rejected shortly afterwards by the Dutch justice ministry on the grounds that his account was implausible in the absence of any documentary evidence.

His appeal was turned down.

The court quoted reports from Amnesty International and the Dutch foreign ministry to back its conclusion that deserters were subjected to “inhuman treatment” ranging from “incommunicado detention, to prolonged sun exposure at high temperatures and the tying of hands and feet in painful positions.”

The court held unanimously that the applicant’s expulsion to Eritrea would be in violation of article 3 which prohibits torture or inhuman or degrading treatment, of the European Convention on Human Rights.