Albanian people smugglers fight extradition over small jail cells

Albanian people smugglers are fighting extradition to Belgian jails under claims that the cells are so small and overcrowded they breach their human rights.

Sabah Zeka, an Albanian granted UK citizenship after claiming asylum, faces a 12-year prison sentence in Belgium after being convicted in absentia of belonging to a people smuggling gang.

Members of the group were caught red-handed transporting illegal migrants, including women and children, from Belgium to the UK, charging them £10,000 to sit in the front of the lorry and £6,000 to be in the back.

Their hands and feet were taped in plastic bags to avoid leaving any fingerprints or traces and those who failed to pay were held hostage until they did so.

Zeka, 41, acted as an organiser for the gang from his home in Bromley, south London, and has been fighting extradition since his conviction and arrest in May 2022 on a European warrant.

He has claimed that Belgian prisons are so overcrowded that he would have no more than three square metres of space in a cell intended for one person but accommodating up to three.

Overcrowding breaches ECHR

His lawyers argued the conditions would breach his article three rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which prohibits torture, inhuman treatment and degrading punishment.

Zeka’s case was heard alongside three other suspected criminals also seeking to avoid extradition to Belgium on the grounds of overcrowded prisons.

They included a Portuguese fraudster facing extradition for four offences of fraud and money laundering, a Romanian sentenced in absentia to three years and four months in jail for three burglaries and an alleged drug smuggler facing trial for membership of a crime gang and importing drugs.

It follows a series of cases revealed by The Telegraph in which migrants or convicted foreign criminals have won the right to remain in the UK or halt their deportations by citing breaches of the ECHR.

Two high court judges, Lord Justice Lewis and Mr Justice Griffiths, rejected their appeals on the basis that there was “no sufficient evidence” to rebut the presumption that Belgium would be able to comply with its obligation under Article 3 of the ECHR.

But the appeal has already delayed Zeka’s extradition by at least two years since he was first arrested in the UK on behalf of Belgian authorities.

Even if he does not appeal, a second Albanian people smuggler is also challenging his extradition to Belgium on the same grounds.

Adriatik Hysenlika is facing extradition to serve a 10-year prison sentence for raking in at least £1 million as the head of a trafficking gang. The group smuggled illegal immigrants into the UK in the back of lorries, with immigrants thought to have paid £23,000 to Hysenlika, of North London.

Following a request from Belgian authorities, who had charged Hysenlika with 60 immigration offences, he was arrested by the National Crime Agency in August 2024.

According to court documents, he was the “leader of a criminal organisation that is on a large scale and making use of a vast network”.

As well as the overcrowding, the 43-year-old argued that deportation would deny him access to his two-year-old son and therefore breach his article eight right to a family life under the ECHR.

Hysenlika arrived in Britain in 1998 after claiming he was being persecuted in Albania.

‘Obviously ridiculous claims’

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: “These are further absurd claims based on abusing the ECHR. How can Belgian cells possibly infringe alleged ECHR rights when Belgium itself is subject to the ECHR?

“These manifestly abusive claims have delayed extradition of criminals by years.

“Such obviously ridiculous claims should not even be heard, let alone lead to expensive litigation and endless court hearings.

“It is quite clear that criminals and illegal immigrants are being allowed to systemically abuse the ECHR and human rights laws.

“Fundamental change is needed to end this nonsense.”

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