The Constitutional Court has granted protection to Ali Aarrass, a Moroccan citizen who was naturalized as Belgian in 1989, after he was extradited by Spain to Morocco in 2008, where he suffered severe torture, according to United Nations reports. The court has found that due to the extradition procedure, after being requested by Morocco as a suspected jihadist, and considering the consequences of his delivery, Aarrass suffered a violation of his fundamental rights, specifically for not having had effective judicial protection and instead having suffered torture and inhumane or degrading treatment, prohibited by the Spanish Constitution. The decision to grant this protection implies the annulment of several decisions by the ordinary jurisdiction in Spain, allowing the plaintiff to seek compensation of around three million euros from the State.
The appeal was successful with six votes in favor and five against (the justices Enrique Arnaldo, Concepción Espejel, Ricardo Enríquez, and César Tolosa from the conservative sector, and the magistrate Laura Díez from the progressive group). These justices argued that the UN reports were inconclusive or had not been considered binding for national authorities in previous occasions. In fact, two draft sentences were discussed in the court – one in favor of the appeal and the other against – because the subject is relatively new, referring to the legal effects of UN resolutions on cases of torture and inhumane or degrading treatment. In the case of Ali Aarrass, the UN Human Rights Committee had already warned of the risk he faced of receiving such treatment.
In 2008, Ali Aarrass was arrested again and extradited to Morocco in 2010 at the request of the authorities of that country. In December of that year, he reported being tortured in prison through electrocution, rape with objects, and suffocation, among other methods. The UN Human Rights Committee report in 2014 highlighted this complaint and that it had not been taken into consideration by the National Court. In 2011, Aarrass was sentenced in Morocco to 15 years in prison for belonging to a terrorist organization, a sentence reduced to 12 years two years later. In 2013, another UN Working Group report on Arbitrary Detention credited Aarrass’ complaints, requesting his release as his conviction was based on confessions obtained under torture.
All this led to the conclusion by the UN Human Rights Committee that Spain had not properly assessed the risk of Aarrass being subjected to torture when his extradition was agreed upon, therefore constituting a “violation” of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In view of all this data, the Constitutional Court has decided to grant protection, which includes the annulment of various decisions by the National Court and the Supreme Court that rejected Aarrass’ claims over the years. The ruling of the court of guarantees is for the process to return to the National Court to issue a resolution “respectful of the violated fundamental right,” in other words, in accordance with the right to effective judicial protection.
