The Paris court responsible for the consideration of the Algerian request for the extradition of Dr Mourad Dhina handed down its decision today.

The President of the trail chamber rejected the extradition request in a short deliberation, due to its lack of conformity with the 1964 extradition convention between Algeria and France and the French criminal procedure code.

Mr Matri was initially arrested in May 2010, the day before he was supposed to return home to France, alongside his business partner Cherif Al Karoui.

According to the Convention against Torture, ratified by Lebanon in 2000, the term "torture" means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having

On 17 January 2012, Alkarama submitted to the UN Special Procedures information regarding the arrest of Dr. Mourad Dhina and the extradition request made by the Algerian authorities, and asked them to urgently intervene with the French authorities. The four Special Rapporteurs who made an urgent appeal to the Permanent Mission of France in Geneva have received a response from the French authorities which aims to be "reassuring".

Hajib was arrested 17 February 2010 at Casablanca airport, after having been detained in Pakistan for six months. On 24 June 2010, following a rushed trial, he was sentenced to ten years in prison under the accusation of "creating a criminal group" and "financing terrorism". After appeal, his sentence was reduced to five years on January 9, 2012.