[JURIST] A Dutch judge on Friday blocked the extradition to the US of a Dutch-Pakistani terror suspect until US authorities agree to provide post traumatic stress disorder treatment equal to what he is currently receiving. The suspect, known under Dutch privacy laws only as Sabir K., is accused of plotting a suicide attack on an US military base in Afghanistan in 2010. In 2012, Sabir K. claimed [JURIST report] that his transfer to the US would be illegal under Article 3 [ECHR backgrounder, PDF] of the European Convention on Human Rights [text, PDF] because US authorities had allegedly tortured him following his arrest in Pakistan in 2011. The Supreme Court of the Netherlands [official website] ultimately rejected his arguments, concluding that no legal obstacles to extradition existed, and leaving the final decision to do so in the hands of the Netherlands Ministry of Security and Justice [official website]. Sabir K. was first arrested in Pakistan and later extradited to the Netherlands, where he has fought extradition [AP report] to the US ever since.

US attorney Loretta Lynch of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York [official website] issued a federal indictment against Sabir K. [AP report] in June 2011, shortly after he was originally extradited from Pakistan to the Netherlands in April. Sabir K. was arrested in 2011 in Pakistan based on suspicions of plotting a suicide attack against American soldiers in Afghanistan, possession of guns and “destructive material” during attacks on US troops, and also for allegedly aiding al Qaeda [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive] between 2004 and 2010.