KARLSRUHE (Germany), July 18: Germany’s top court blocked the extradition of a suspected Al Qaeda financier to Spain, ruling on Monday that a key instrument in the European Union’s fight against terrorism breached the constitution. The Federal Constitutional Court ordered the release of Mamoun Darkazanli, a German-Syrian fighting his handover under an EU arrest warrant, a new instrument the court said Germany had not implemented correctly.

In doing so, the court upheld an article of the post-war constitution preventing the state from extraditing its citizens, with only limited exceptions.

The ruling could undermine the warrant, one of the bloc’s most significant security initiatives since the Sept 11 attacks in 2001 and introduced last year to speed up the handover of suspects and boost cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries said the court’s decision was a setback for the battle against international terrorism.

The European Commission urged Berlin to address the problems and try again to implement the EU arrest warrant in full.

Zypries said a new law could be ready within four to six weeks, although an expected German general election in September could stall the warrant’s re-launch for months.

Konrad Freiberg, the head of the German police union, urged rival politicians not to let the issue become an electoral battleground.

Darkazanli, a businessman with dual Syrian and German nationality, has been in custody in Hamburg since last October.—Reuters