Published 8 May 2023 at 10.02
Law & Justice. Patrick Bijan Balahan, an Iranian with American citizenship, will remain in custody pending a decision on extradition to the United States.
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Patrick Bijan Balahan , 29, is charged in the United States with torturing one of his victims with a knife. The person had to be stitched up with over 40 stitches.
Already ten years ago he was arrested after exposing himself to a young woman.
He has now been in custody for almost two years in Sweden, awaiting notification of extradition to the United States. The question in the case has been whether the arrest was proportionate or whether the man should be released.
Bijan Balahan has referred to the so-called “three strikes” system and that he risks life imprisonment if he is extradited. . He states that he has HIV which, according to him, means that he runs a significant risk of developing AIDS in an American prison due to a lack of anti-inflammatory drugs. Because he is also a registered sex offender, he claims that he is at risk of being killed by guards or other inmates in an American prison.
The government decided in February 2022 that one Patrick Bijan Balahan would be extradited to the United States for crimes which, according to Swedish law, amount to extremely serious assault and fraud. He then reported Sweden to the European Court of Justice and claimed that the government's decision was against the European Convention. The government has subsequently, at the request of the European Court, decided that the extradition may not be carried out for the time being.
The man has been in custody since May 2021 in the extradition case. He requested to be set free, mainly citing that it is not proportionate that he should be detained for such a long time.
However, the Supreme Court considers that the detention, despite the long time that the deprivation of liberty lasted, is still acceptable. The court took into account, among other things, that the extradition concerned “very serious crime”, that the European Court has so far handled the case with the speed and efficiency that can be expected in an international court and that, according to the European Court, the case may soon be decided.