[JURIST] The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] ruled [press release] Thursday that the UK government’s extradition of terror suspect Haroon Aswat to the US in October was lawful. Aswat was arrested in the UK at the request of US authorities in 2005 on terrorism charges relating to a 1999 trip to Oregon. The trip, commissioned by British preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri [BBC profile], was allegedly in order to set up an al Qaeda training camp. After he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Aswat’s extradition to the US to stand trial was blocked [JURIST report] by the ECHR in September 2013 while the court determined if such a move would violate Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights [text, PDF]. A year later, the UK High Court [official website] concluded [JURIST report], with assurances from US officials regarding Aswat’s treatment in the US, that his extradition would not violate his rights. In its recent ruling, the ECHR stated:

In light of the specific assurances and additional information received from the United States government, and the careful examination of the case by the High Court in the United Kingdom, the court found that it could not be said that there was a real risk that Mr. Aswat would be subjected to treatment contrary to Article 3 if extradited.

Aswat is not the only suspected terrorist controversially extradited from the UK recently. Earlier this month the US District Court for the Southern District of New York sentenced Abu Hamza al-Masri to life in prison [JURIST report] for supporting terrorism. Al-Masri pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] in October 2012 to all 11 of the charges he faced. His extradition was approved by the High Court of England and Wales earlier that month after being temporarily delayed [JURIST reports] by the same court the previous month. The court’s decision came a week after the ECHR gave its final approval of the extradition, which it had initially approved [JURIST reports] in April 2012. The ECHR’s recent decisions mark a change in position for the court from its position over two years ago, when it stayed the extradition [JURIST report] of four terrorism suspects to the US, holding that potential punishment could violate European Convention on Human Rights provisions on the prohibition of torture and inhumane or degrading treatment. The UK High Court approved the extradition [JURIST report] of two of the terrorism suspects to the US in 2006.