Principal facts
The applicant, A.A., is a Palestinian national who was born in 1978 and lives in Chania (Crete, Greece). After fleeing the refugee camp where he had been living in Lebanon, he entered Greek territorial waters, where he was arrested by the maritime police while his boat was sinking.
The Samos police authorities took him into custody and on 9 May 2007 the public prosecutor ordered the applicant’s return to his country of origin. According to A.A., during his arrest he was kicked nine times in the ribs by an officer wearing military boots.
The applicant also complained about the squalid conditions in which he was held at the Samos detention centre: dirt-encrusted floor on which the detainees would eat and, in most cases, sleep; piles of rubbish in the corridors; insufficient food prepared in unhygienic conditions; lice and skin diseases; windows barred by wooden planks; combined toilet and shower with no hot water; access to a small courtyard only at the whim of the guards; impossibility of making telephone calls; and, overcrowding (the centre catered for 100 but housed 140-190).
In addition, the lawyer who visited the centre a few hours a week could see only a limited number of detainees and give but little advice. As to the social worker and doctor, they could not communicate with the detainees given the lack of interpretation, the overcrowding and other conditions in the centre. The transfer of A. A. to hospital – which would not otherwise have been possible given the lack of personnel – was apparently arranged in July 2007 through the efforts of a non-governmental organisation (NGO). The medical certificate issued by the hospital on that occasion indicated that A. A. had haemoptysis, weakness, headaches and skin problems.
On 12 June 2007 A. A.’s application for political asylum was registered after two unsuccessful attempts, the first of which he had made on the day of his arrest. On 30 July a stay of execution of his removal was ordered pending the adoption of a final decision on his asylum application. He was ultimately released on 6 August 2007 having reached the statutory three-month time-limit for detention. In December 2008 his asylum application was dismissed on the ground that he had not provided evidence to prove a risk of proceedings against him in his country for reasons of religion, nationality or political opinions. The applicant’s appeal against that decision is still pending.
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