Q COSTA RICA — A man with ties to Hamas will remain in custody in Costa Rica, awaiting extradition, after the Constitutional Chamber, known commonly in Costa Rica as Sala IV, on Friday rejected a petition for habeas corpus filed on his behalf and upheld that Abuawad Abuadeh’s arrest was carried out in strict accordance with national law and due process.
The case began when Costa Rica’s Immigration Police discovered that Abuawad Abuadeh was in the country as a tourist without having regularized his immigration status to work.
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When he refused to submit to biometric testing, authorities consulted international databases, which yielded a positive profile for him as a terrorist.
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The Sala IV determined that the arrest was not arbitrary, given that it was carried out by competent authorities in accordance with due process.
The habeas corpus petition had been filed on June 22 by a Costa Rican citizen. The possible deportation of the foreigner is currently being processed.
Abuawad Abuadeh was transferred to the Central Region Detention Center in Los Lagos de Heredia to begin the deportation process.
Hamas (an acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement) is a Palestinian political and paramilitary organization with a jihadist and nationalist ideology, founded in 1987. It has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007 and is widely designated as a terrorist organization by multiple countries and international institutions.
Previously, the Costa Rican government stated that it considered any group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States government to be a terrorist organization.