Ali Aarrass, a Belgian citizen born in Melilla, Spain, was arrested in April 2008 on an international arrest warrant issued by Morocco. The warrant was issued because of his involvement with a terrorist group. He was extradited to Morocco in December 2010, despite the fact that, according to Amnesty International reports, this country systematically tortures terror suspects.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee issued an interim measure urging Spain to halt extradition proceedings until it had time to properly review Mr. Aarrass’s case, but Spain refused and went ahead with the extradition.

In a ruling (in Spanish) issued on August 28, 2014, the Human Rights Committee determined that Spanish authorities did not correctly evaluate the risk of torture to Mr. Aarrass, and by extraditing him, Spain violated article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which establishes that “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

Spain will have to compensate Mr. Aarrass and adopt measures in order to effectively monitor, in cooperation with Morocco, his detention.

A few months ago, the UN committee against Torture found Morocco guilty of torturing and mistreating Mr. Aarrass and determined that his conviction was the result of illegitimate evidence obtained through torture. Morocco has opened an investigation, but he has not yet been released. His case is part of Amnesty International’s global campaign “StopTorture.”