Lisbon court dismisses Abu Salem’s petition

New Delhi: A Lisbon court has rejected a petition filed by 1993 Mumbai blasts’ case convict Abu Salem alleging violation of terms and conditions of the extradition agreement between Portugal and India, officials said on Friday.

Dismissing Salem’s plea, the Lisbon Administrative Court 5 Organic Unit said it “lacks jurisdiction in the matter as the subject is political and diplomatic in nature”.

The officials said the Lisbon court observed that the “contentions of Salem are not acts of administrative nature instead they are political and diplomatic in nature falling under the international law and not under administrative law”.

“Hence the petition was dismissed by the said administrative court,” said the officials.

Salem was extradited from Portugal in 2005 and has been sentenced to 25 years in prison in India.

Salem had earlier challenged the framing of the sixth charge on the ground that his extradition was not permitted for this offence before the trial court and thereafter filed a petition before the Supreme Court of India.

The apex court in its order dated September 10, 2010 ruled that there has been no violation of rules of speciality; thereafter Salem raised the same issue in a Portugal court and finally the court observed that it was a matter to be dealt with at “political and diplomatic level of two sovereign states”, said the officials.

The officials said Salem agitated the issue before the Supreme Court of India which again upheld on August 5, 2013 that there has been no violation of rules of speciality.

Thereafter Salem had petitioned before the Lisbon court praying for his extradition to Portugal on the ground that the principals of speciality were violated by India as he was tried for a few other cases though the extradition was specifically for the Bombay blasts case.

IANS

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