Months before his second major conviction in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case, gangster Abu Salem (48) petitioned the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for his return to Portugal.
BCCL
He has alleged his presence and trial in India have been rendered illegal following the termination of his extradition order as upheld in 2014 by Portugal's court of appeal.
While permitting his extradition in 2005, the Portugal court had said that Salem cannot be given the death sentence.
In 2014, a year before he was convicted in builder Pradip Jain's murder case, Lisbon court held that his 2003 extradition order stood terminated as Salem had pleaded he was being tried for charges that attract the death sentence.
But the court held that his return to Portugal is the responsibility of the Portuguese government.
Now, Salem has moved the ECHR against Portugal. He wants the ECHR to ensure that the Portugese government takes steps for his return to serve out his sentence there.
His January 2017 application to the ECHR is also an attempt to suspend the prosecution against him in India.
The ECHR sought a response from the Portugese government and it responded in March. The European court asked Salem to specify if he had made applications to any other courts and tribunals.
In response to ECHR in February, Salem's European lawyer outlined the instances as to why his return to Portugal be ordered.
PTI
Taraq Sayed, Salem's Mumbai-based advocate in the matter, said Salem's case before the ECHR is that despite termination of extradition order, no diplomatic efforts have been taken to implement the order which is "final and binding in his favour".
Earlier this month, ECHR sought a few additional documents regarding the charges he was facing in the 1993 blasts case. But following the guilty verdict in the case on Friday, Sayyed said, "We will now take steps to seek an early hearing."
Salem has continually appealed to both Indian and Portuguese courts to permit his return to Portugal. His latest application to the ECHR outlines that these applications had been rejected by the Indian court despite the Portuguese court terminating the extradition order.
The termination of extradition was first allowed by the high court of Lisbon after Salem challenged the violation of specialty rule in 2011.
He said his prosecution in Indian courts has been for additional charges, not included in the extradition order.
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PTI
Salem, who is housed in Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai, alleged that solitary confinement for long periods was nothing short of torture as described by the European Convention on Human Rights.
He said he has "avoided death several times in prison". In July 2010, in Mumbai Central prison, a co-inmate and co-accused Mustafa Dossa, a rival gang member, attacked him with a cutter. He cited two more attempts in 2011 and in 2013.
His application invokes Article 3 of ECHR by complaining that he has been subject to "inhuman conditions" during his incarceration. Salem said he has been kept "in a cell which doesn't have any source of natural light or air." The detention in isolation has affected his mental and physical health, it said.