"Although the Court did not render its final decision on Rachid's extradition request, its decision to release him gives a clear indication of its appreciation of the situation, and we expect the Court to make a final decision in the near future," stated Mourad Dhina, Alkarama's Executive Director.

In its release order, the Court found that, although the Ministry of Justice had asked Algeria to promptly send the missing information in order to reach a decision on Me Mesli's extradition, the information presented to the Court portrayed him as an individual having "a range of activities aimed at the protection of human rights, hardly compatible with an accusation of terrorism."

Moreover, the Court noted that the information received from Algeria was "unclear" and led them to question "the very existence of conditions supporting a ruling favourable to the extradition, which would be in stark contrast with the main principles of the Italian legal system." In particular, the Court observed that the procedure that had led to Me Mesli's sentence to 20 years imprisonment – on which the international arrest warrant is based – had not been respected, as the decision had been handed down in absentia of the accused and without the presence of a lawyer.

As a consequence, Me Mesli was notified this morning that he was free to leave Italy after signing the notification at the police station of Aosta. Speaking to Alkarama on his way back to Geneva, Me Mesli stated that "the lesson to be drawn from my case in particular, and for us as human rights defenders in general, is that we must call on all democracies around the world to refrain from collaborating with the dictatorships, which use the international community's resources to violate human rights." Me Mesli also called on all States that have ratified the UN Convention against Torture to refuse to compromise with countries that torture and blatantly violate human rights.

Alkarama would like to warmly thank all NGOs, institutions and various personalities who supported Me Mesli in this ordeal.

For more information or an interview, please contact Alkarama's Media Coordinator, Colombe Vergès, on Dir: +41 22 734 1008 - Mob: +41 79 129 79 15 (c.verges@alkarama.org).