Taghi's solitary confinement may breach human rights ban, court asks
The European Court of Human Rights has asked the Netherlands whether holding Ridouan Taghi in isolation in a high-security prison breaches the ban on inhuman or degrading treatment.
In an interim decision published on Monday 26 October, the European Court of Human Rights asks the Netherlands whether Ridouan Taghi's solitary confinement in the extra-secure prison (EBI) violates Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The questions follow 21 complaints Taghi has filed about his imprisonment.
The court also wants to know whether Taghi has enough opportunity to stay in contact with fellow prisoners and his family.
Taghi was placed in the EBI after Dubai handed him over to the Dutch authorities in December 2019. In 2024 he was sentenced to life for ordering five killings and a series of attempted killings. The EBI can impose heavy restrictions on contact with the outside world, and the minister must review a prisoner's placement every year.
The decision has no consequences for the criminal case against Taghi. His appeal is still pending and has been heavily delayed by the arrest of his former lawyer Inez Weski.
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EBI (Extra Beveiligde Inrichting)
The extra-secure prison unit (Extra Beveiligde Inrichting, EBI) is a high-security section of the Vught prison, the Netherlands' only unit of this kind. It holds detainees who are considered a serious risk of escape or of threatening the safety of others, mostly suspects and convicts in serious and organised crime cases. Detainees there are subject to stricter security measures and a more limited regime than in regular prisons.