LONDON (Reuters) -A man convicted of terrorism offences won a legal challenge against the British government on Tuesday for being unlawfully held in segregation for 22 hours a day after prison guards were attacked by another terrorism inmate.
Sahayb Abu, who is serving a minimum 19-year prison term for planning an attack in Britain, took legal action against the Ministry of Justice.
He was one of several prisoners who were segregated after Hashem Abedi, the brother of a man who detonated a suicide bomb after an Ariana Grande concert in Britain in 2017, attacked prison guards in April at Frankland prison in northern England.
In response, Abu – who had previously been put in a separation centre over concerns he could radicalise fellow inmates – and other people convicted of terrorism charges were relocated and put under strict segregation measures for staff safety.
Abu, who had pre-existing mental health issues, was locked in his cell for more than 22 hours per day and not permitted to associate with any other prisoner for more than four months, his lawyers told London’s High Court.
They said Abu’s segregation was severely detrimental to his mental health, triggering panic attacks and acts of self-harm, and that his segregation was unlawful.
Judge Clive Sheldon ruled that officials unlawfully failed to obtain information about Abu’s mental health condition, when they were aware segregation could make it worse.
The judge also ruled that Abu’s human right to freedom from inhuman or degrading treatment had been breached from mid-August, when he wrote to say that he would self-harm.
Sheldon said the segregation measures could have been lessened “without unduly compromising the safety of the staff”, though he added he might not have found a breach of the human rights of a prisoner “with an ordinary level of resilience”.
The Ministry of Justice did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin;Editing by Alison Williams)
