Principal facts
The applicants, Mohsen Abdolkhani and Hamid Karimnia, are two Iranian nationals who were born in 1973 and 1978 respectively and currently live in Sweden. Refugees under the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), they entered Turkey in June 2008 and, arrested at a gendarmerie road checkpoint as their passports were found to be false, were placed in detention at Hasköy police headquarters. They were subsequently transferred in September 2008 to Kırklareli Foreigners’ Admissions and Accommodation Centre.
The applicants were held in the basement of Hasköy Police Headquarters. According to them, it was damp, with insufficient natural light. They also submitted that because of overcrowding – 83 co-detainees in 70 m² during the first five weeks – they had to sleep on the floor. They further reported, among other things, dirty blankets infected with lice, dermatological diseases and infections with no medical assistance, as well as insufficient food. According to them, they also had to wear the same clothes for three months and communications were not allowed except for one visit from a UNHCR officer. The authorities refused the written complaints regarding those conditions sent by the applicants. The Turkish Government submitted that the new facility built in Hasköy provided adequate medical assistance, a garden, bathrooms, and food three times a day.
Following their request to the European Court of Human Rights, the applicants were granted interim measures (under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court) whereby the Court indicated to the Turkish Government that the applicants should not be deported to Iran or Iraq in the interests of the parties and the proper conduct of the proceedings.
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