SECOND SECTION
Application no. 40077/11
Obaid Abdullah Obaid AL OTAIBI against Turkey
lodged on 30 June 2011
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicant, Mr Obaid Abdullah Obaid Al Otaibi, is a Saudi Arabian national who was born in 1987 and is currently detained at the Adana Foreigners’ Removal Centre. He is represented before the Court by Mr S. Karahan, a lawyer practising in Istanbul.
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
The applicant was charged with membership of al-Qaeda and tried before the Adana Assize Court.
On 3 May 2011 the Assize Court acquitted the applicant of the charges against him.
In the meantime, on an unspecified date the Saudi Arabian authorities sought the applicant’s extradition, claiming that he was a wanted terrorist using a fake identity.
On 3 May 2011 the Assize Court ordered the applicant’s release pending the extradition proceedings, as the Turkish authorities were waiting for a photograph and fingerprints of the applicant to be sent by the Saudi authorities. However, despite the court’s order the applicant was not released, and was taken into police custody at the Adana F‑type prison. On the same day the applicant was placed in the Adana Foreigners’ Removal Centre.
Meanwhile, the applicant applied for refugee status both to the domestic authorities and to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (“the UNHCR”).
The applicant’s asylum application was refused by the Ministry of the Interior. The applicant lodged an appeal against that decision with the administrative court.
No extradition or expulsion order has yet been issued by the Turkish authorities (March 2012).
According to the information in the case file, the applicant is still detained in the Adana Foreigners’ Removal Centre, the case before the administrative court is pending and the applicant’s asylum request is being considered by the UNHCR.
COMPLAINTS
The applicant complains under Article 3 of the Convention that while he was in detention he was threatened by certain officers that he would be sent back to his country.
The applicant alleges under Articles 5, 6 and 7 of the Convention that his detention was unlawful, as he was detained without any judicial order.
He finally complains under Article 5 and 13 of the Convention that he was refused permission by the authorities to meet an officer from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
QUESTION
Does the applicant’s detention comply with the requirements of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention? In particular, does the deprivation of liberty fall within paragraph (f) of this provision?
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