[JURIST] The appeals chamber of the European Court of Human Rights [official website] in Strasbourg ruled [ECHR press release; ruling text] Tuesday that eight years solitary confinement in a French prison for the convicted assassin and terrorist known popularly as Carlos the Jackal [Wikipedia profile] – Venezuelan-born Ilich Ramirez Sanchez – was not inhumane or otherwise violative of his rights. The Court upheld a January 2005 lower court decision [press release] in making its determination. It did, however, award Ramirez the equivalent of $12,800 damages for a ruling of a French administrative court that had originally refused to allow him to bring a petition objecting to his treatment.

The Court found that Ramirez had had a sufficiently large cell and facilities, books and a television, and the opportunity of two hours exercise every day plus access to a training room. He had also had regular visitors. Considered dangerous and at significant risk to attempt escape, he was held in solitary confinement from 1994, when he was brought from Sudan by French secret service agents, to 2002. He is currently held in general detention at the high security Clairvaux prison [Wikipedia profile]. AP has more.