CEDH · PRESS;HEARINGS;ENG — 30 novembre 2006

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s40F41F73 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .s76CF415B { page-break-before:always; clear:both } .s69BE285C { margin-top:0pt; margin-left:85.05pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:-85.05pt } .s9A223E1B { width:11.03pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s595A57E4 { width:85.05pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .sA8C2B9B0 { width:20.37pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .sC7EAD8B { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:underline } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS   735 30.11.2006   Press release issued by the Registrar   CHAMBER HEARING RIAD v. BELGIUM IDIAB v. BELGIUM   The European Court of Human Rights is holding a Chamber hearing today 30 November 2006 at 9:00 a.m., on the merits in the cases of Riad v. Belgium (application no. 29787/03) and Idiab v. Belgium (no. 29810/03).   The applicants   The applicants, Mohamad Riad and Abdelhadi Idiab, are Palestinian nationals who were born in 1980 and 1981 respectively and live in Lebanon.   Summary of the facts   The applications concern in particular the conditions in which the applicants were detained in the transit zone of Brussels-National airport following their unlawful entry into Belgian territory.   The applicants both arrived in Belgium at Brussels-National airport on flights from Freetown (Sierra Leone), Mr Riad on 27 December 2002 and Mr Idiab on 24 December of the same year. They declared that they had left Lebanon, where their lives were in danger, had travelled via the Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone, and wished to go on to the United Kingdom where they intended to seek political asylum.   As neither applicant possessed a visa, they were refused entry into Belgium and as a result each of them was placed on the day of arrival in “Centre 127”. They submitted applications for asylum, which were refused by the Aliens Office in decisions which were subsequently upheld by the Commissioner for Refugees and Stateless Persons.   Following an attempted collective break-out from Centre 127, the applicants were transferred on 22 January 2003 to the Closed Detention Centre for Illegal Aliens in Bruges. In the meantime the applicants’ lawyer had lodged an application for their release, which the chambre du conseil of the Brussels Court of First Instance allowed on 20 January 2003. However, the applicants’ detention continued pending their repatriation. The orders for their release were upheld on appeal, on 30 January 2003 in Mr Riad’s case and on 3 February 2003 in Mr Idiab’s case. In both cases the applicants were transferred on the very same day to the transit zone of Brussels-National airport pending their removal from Belgium.   The applicants complain of the conditions in which they were detained in the transit zone. They assert that it does not have bedrooms or beds and that they were housed in the mosque which is located there; that they went several days without being given anything to eat or drink and received food only from the cleaning staff or the company which ran the airport; that they were not able to wash themselves or launder their clothes; that they were repeatedly subjected to security checks by the airport police; that on a number of occasions they were taken to the cells and left there for several hours without being given anything to eat or drink, in an attempt to force them to leave the country voluntarily, before being taken back to the transit zone; and, that they were violently struck and beaten inside the mosque by certain members of the federal police.   On 14 February 2003, on an application by the applicants, the President of the Brussels Court of First Instance ordered the Belgian State to permit the applicants to leave the transit zone freely and without restriction, subject to a coercive fine of EUR 1,000 per hour of default, commencing with service of the order. On the following day the Aliens Office received the instruction to permit the applicants to leave the transit zone.   They accordingly left the transit zone on 15 February 2003, but, following an identity check soon after they were served with an order to leave Belgian territory and were taken in handcuffs to the Merksplas Detention Centre for Illegal Aliens.   Mr Idiab and Mr Riad were repatriated under police escort on 5 and 8 March 2003 respectively, on flights to Beirut via Moscow; their hands remained bound with cloth restraints until embarkation.   Complaints   Relying on Articles 3 (prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment) and 8 (right to respect for private and family life), the applicants complain of the way they were treated in the transit zone and while being deported. They further complain, under Article 5 (right to liberty and security), of their detention in the transit zone after the judgments of 30 January and 3 February 2003 and at Merksplas after the order of 14 February 2003.   Procedure   The applications were lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 6 August 2003 and declared admissible on 21   September   2006.   Composition of the Court   The cases will be heard by a Chamber composed as follows:   Christos Rozakis (Greek), President , Loukis Loucaides (Cypriot), Elisabeth Steiner (Austrian), Khanlar Hajiyev (Azerbaijani), Dean Spielmann (Luxemburger), Sverre Erik Jebens (Norwegian), judges , Paul Martens (Belgian) , ad hoc judge , Anatoli Kovler (Russian), substitute judge, and also Santiago Quesada , Deputy Section Registrar .   Representatives of the parties   Government :   Claude Debrulle , Agent ,   Elisabeth Derriks , Virginie Rolin , Counsel ,   Chantal Gallant , Nancy Bracke , Thérèse Michaux , Advisers ;   Applicants :   Sylvie Sarolea , Marie-Christine Warlop , Counsel .     ***   After the hearing the Court will begin its deliberations, which are held in private. Judgment will be delivered at a later date.   Press contacts Emma Hellyer (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15) Stéphanie Klein (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54) Beverley Jacobs (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 54 21)   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights.