Dutch Supreme Court rules in extradition case of Somali citizen to the United States

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The Dutch Supreme Court issued a judgment in the extradition case of Mahamud O, who is accused in the United States of providing material support to the Somali group Al Shabaab, which the US-government has designated as a terrorist group. The Supreme Court rejected the appeal without further explanation.

O. had challenged the extradition based on the argument that dual criminality, an essential concept in extradition law, was lacking. In the United States, any support of an organization listed as foreign terrorist organization is a criminal offense. In the Netherlands, the specific intent to support terrorist activities has to be proven before a person can be convicted. O. has argued that he had no such specific intent, given that his (alleged) support to Al Shabaab took place at a time that the organization was acting as a legitimate opposition to the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia. Only after the withdrawal of Ethipia, early 2009, did Al Shabaab engage in more overtly terrorist rhetoric and activities.

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Prakken d'Oliveira, formerly known as Böhler, is a law firm with expertise and experience in asylum and immigration law, European law, administrative law, international criminal law and human rights. Our lawyers provide advice and conduct procedures before the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND), the Dutch Review Committee on the Intelligence and Security Services (CTIVD), the District- and Appeals courts, the Administrative Law Division of the Dutch Council of State, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ), the Human Rights Treaty Bodies of the United Nations (UN), the International Criminal Court (ICC), and other international tribunals.