ECtHR rules that return of a US army interpreter to Afghanistan would not amount to torture or inhuman treatment

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that the return to Afghanistan of a former interpreter of the US armed forces and a UN driver would not infringe upon Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR, prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment). The judgment is not yet final.

The two applicants, whose asylum claims had been rejected by the British authorities, argued that the return to Afghanistan would put their lives at risk of retaliation by the Taliban and the Afghan authorities owing to their previous work. The Court found that there was no evidence that the Taliban would pursue low level collaborators of international institutions in Kabul, or that they would even be able to identify them there as they had worked in other provinces. The Court concluded that the cases had been properly examined by the British authorities and that the applicants had not been able to prove their allegations of torture or inhuman treatment upon return.