india

Updated: Dec 10, 2018 09:52 IST

India will not allow gangster Abu Salem to be extradited to Portugal until he completes his 25-year sentence in Taloja jail at Navi Mumbai, the government has told a Portuguese administrative court.

The government was responding to an application Salem made in the Lisbon court, asking to be taken back to that country as India had violated his extradition terms. The government said it had already reduced Salem’s life imprisonment sentence to 25 years, and that he has been in jail for 16 of those years.

Salem’s lawyer in Portugal, Luis Manuel Ferreira, confirmed India’s response. He told Hindustan Times over the phone: “We made an application in the administrative court because, under Portuguese law, the extradition of Abu Salem was violated. The Indian government responded saying Abu Salem would only be able to return to Portugal after another nine years.” According to Ferreira, Salem had filed his application after he was attacked twice inside the Taloja jail, and feared he may be attacked a third time.

In November, the Lisbon court asked India if Salem could be sent back, to appear in court and testify in person about the allegations against him.

Salem first applied through a suit in the Portugal administrative court in 2014. He then filed a fresh application in May this year. Following Salem’s fresh application in the Portugal administrative court earlier this year, officers from the Portuguese embassy, along with a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official had visited him at Taloja jail in June. Salem told them the clauses of the extradition treaty were flouted, as the conditions inside the jail were not according to the treaty. The embassy officials, however, were not allowed to see the jail as they had not taken permission from the government.

After the visit, the embassy officials filed a report in the Portugal administrative court, and the court asked the Indian government if Salem could be sent back to testify.

Salem’s lawyer in India, Saba Quereishi, said numerous applications were filed before the authorities concerned, requesting them to execute the order in the highest court of Portugal. “Upon their failure to do so, Abu Salem approached the administrative court at Lisbon, seeking the necessary directions to the Indian government for the execution of the order.”