Abu Hamza's lieutenant cannot be sent to America to face terror charges because it will breach his human rights

Haroon Aswat - Abu Hamza's sidekick - told today he can stay at Broadmoor

Strasbourg accepts he shouldn't leave Britain because he is a schizophrenic

Home Office unhappy as appeal against Human Rights Act decision fails



Extremist avoids going to 'Alcatraz of the Rockies' - America's toughest jail

Hate preacher Abu Hamza's most trusted lieutenant cannot be kicked out of Britain because being sent to America to face terror charges would breach his human rights, it emerged today.



European judges have ruled that terror suspect and Broadmoor patient Haroon Aswat cannot be deported because it would be bad for his mental health.

Aswat, who claims to be a schizophrenic, is wanted by the U.S. authorities for plotting to set up a jihadi training camp in Bly, Oregon.

The European Court of Human Rights has upheld its decision not to allow the extremist to leave the UK for America after a Home Office appeal failed.

Ruling: Haroon Aswat (right), pictured with radical cleric Abu Hamza al Masri, has been told today he will not be extradited from Britain to the United States

This was despite the Government getting assurances from U.S. officials that his mental health would be taken into account when considering if he can stand trial or where he would be held.

Unless his schizophrenia improves then he will stay in a British secure jail.

Aswat had claimed that the jail term he might face in America – up to 50 years without parole – breached Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which bans ‘inhuman or degrading treatment’.

Aswat had faced being sent to the Colorado Supermax prison, which is s urrounded by desert, and known as the 'Alcatraz of the Rockies'.

It is home to 400 of America's most dangerous convicts, where they live in a cramped cell measuring 12ft by 7ft.

European judges heard that Aswat has an 'enduring mental disorder', with 'auditory hallucinations, thought disorder, delusions of reference, grandeur and guarded and suspicious behaviour'.

The Home Office wanted the case to go Europe's top court, the Grand Chamber, but this was refused.



Claim: Aswat said up to 50 years without parole in the Supermax jail in Florence, Colorado - the Alcatraz of the Rockies - would breach his human rights

MP James Clappison, told the Daily Telegraph: 'The Government should at least have been given permission to take this to the Grand Chamber.



'It deserves much more consideration than the European Court of Human Rights has given it.'



Anger: Home Affairs Select Committee member James Clappison has criticised the decision

A Home Office spokesman added: 'We are disappointed by the panel's decision not to refer the case to the Grand Chamber.



'The Home Secretary does not believe extradition would breach Haroon Aswat's human rights and she will now consider what options are available in this case'.



Hamza and four other terror suspects were extradited last year after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rejected their appeal against the move - but Aswat's case was adjourned to allow judges more time to consider his mental health.

Aswat, who was born in 1974 and is being treated for schizophrenia, claims that if he is extradited and convicted in the US he would be at risk of ill-treatment inside the so-called supermax prison ADX Florence, in Colorado.



Last year, the ECHR ruled that five men including Hamza would not face ill treatment if they were extradited to the US.



Hamza, Babar Ahmad, Seyla Talha Ahsan, Adel Abdul Bary and Khaled Al-Fawwaz were all removed from the country.



Hamza, who was serving a seven-year sentence in Britain for soliciting to murder and inciting racial hatred when he was extradited, has denied 11 counts of criminal conduct related to the taking of 16 hostages in Yemen in 1998 and advocating violent jihad in Afghanistan in 2001.



He is also accused of conspiring to establish the Oregon-based jihad training camp between June 2000 and December 2001.



Aswat was indicted as Hamza's 'co-conspirator' but will now stay in Britain.