The Hague district court on Friday halted the extradition of terror suspect Sabir K to the US because there is no guarantee he will get the correct psychiatric care.
After a lengthy legal battle, justice minister Ivo Opstelten said in February the extradition could go ahead if America guaranteed K would receive proper treatment. Medical experts say the 26-year-old is suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome and depression.
The federal prisons bureau later confirmed K could get treatment, but not the same EMDR therapy as he has been receiving in the Netherlands. According to the US authorities, EMDR is not ‘universally used or accepted’ and not offered in US prisons.
This claim, said The Hague court in a statement, is not correct. The court went on to say the Dutch state cannot extradite K ‘as long as the US cannot guarantee that K will be given EMDR treatment from the moment he arrives in the US.’
K is wanted in the US in connection with a conspiracy to attack US military personnel in Afghanistan. The 26-year-old was arrested in Pakistan in 2010 and sent back to the Netherlands, where he was arrested on arrival.
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