Monday, July 4th, the 37th High Criminal Court of Istanbul, unanimously rejected the extradition of the Jordanian businessman Samir Handal sought by the Haitian justice for his alleged complicity in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, judging that "the reasons given for his extradition were not sufficient" and ordered his release.

Let's recall that Samir Handal in addition to being Haitian and American, also holds Jordanian and Palestinian nationalities through his parents, under arrest warrant from the Port-au-Prince Prosecutor's Office subject to an INTERPOL red notice, had been arrested in Turkey on November 15, 2021 upon arrival on a Turkish Airlines flight from Miami.

He is accused of having rented his house in Florida to Dr. Christian Emmanuel Sanon (63, native of the town of Marigot), a Haitian doctor who has been living in Florida for twenty years and who is later suspected by the Haitian justice of to be one of the intellectual authors of the commando operation which led to the assassination of President Moïse. https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34210-haiti-flash-arrest-of-one-of-the-intellectual-authors-of-the-assassination-of-president-moise-and-an-attempted-coup.html . It would be in this house that meetings of a political nature related to the plot against the President of Haiti would have been held.

Samir Handal, who has never ceased to proclaim his innocence, declared that he rented this house to Dr. Sanon to establish a medical practice there and affirmed that he had never attended any meeting in this house nor ever heard of a plot except after the assassination of President Moïse in the media.

But if the Istanbul High Criminal Court speaks of "insufficient grounds", its judgment probably took into account the arguments and evidence put forward by Handal's lawyers.

Sould be noted that no extradition treaty has been signed between Haiti and Turkey. However, a 1973 United Nations convention to which Haiti and Turkey are signatories gives the Haitian authorities the possibility of requesting the extradition of this alleged assassin. However, the weakness of this Convention is found in Article 9, which stipulates that the requesting country "must prove that the extradited person will be treated and judged fairly", which Haiti has probably never been able to demonstrate.

It is this article that Samir Handal's lawyers have exploited, reminding the Court that the evidence presented proves unequivocally that if Samir Handal were extradited to Haiti, he would be tried unfairly, without a fair trial and that his life would be in danger. Handal's lawyers, by filing several official national and international reports, have demonstrated beyond any doubt the lamentable state and the dangers of the prison system in Haiti (overcrowding, subhuman living conditions, lack of food, disease, absence of care, violence , unlimited pre-trial detention, corruption, etc...) In addition, they reminded the Court that INTERPOL's Red Notice had been lifted since April 20, 2022.

Reacting to this news, the President of the Senate Joseph Lambert, described as "a great disappointment the release of Samir Handal by a Turkish court" and also expressed his concerns about the handling of the case of the assassination of Jovenel Moïse by the American court...

For the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Claude Joseph "The alleged involvement of Samir Handal in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse is well documented in the report of the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police, the result of impeccable work by our investigators". For Joesph "Samir Handal is freed simply because the government of Ariel Henry deliberately produced a botched extradition request that had no chance of succeeding. What could we expect from a government headed by a Prime Minister indexed in the assassination of Jovenel Moïse ?"

Read also about the Samir Handal case :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36795-haiti-assassination-of-the-president-the-extradition-of-turkey-of-samir-handal-stalls.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36457-haiti-assassination-of-the-president-postponement-of-the-extradition-hearing-of-samir-handal-in-turkey.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35261-haiti-assassination-of-the-president-haitian-businessman-samir-handal-in-prison-in-istanbul-for-40-days.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35541-haiti-assassination-of-the-president-the-eventual-transfer-of-samir-handal-from-turkey-may-take-a-long-time.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35253-haiti-flash-samir-handal-suspect-in-the-assassination-of-president-moise-arrested-in-turkey.html

Read also about the assassination of President Moïse :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34162-haiti-flash-president-jovenel-moise-assassinated-by-mercenaries-official-updated-7am-+-video.html

SL/ HaitiLibre