Terror suspects facing the boot
Emily Pennink - Manchester Evening News
MINISTERS have finalised agreements which could allow 10 terror suspects to be deported to countries with poor human rights records.
The suspects, including a radical preacher described as "al-Qaida's ambassador to Europe", were detained in a huge police swoop.
The move over the deportation agreements is unprecedented. However, an immigration expert warned that the process of deporting the 10 suspects could drag on for years.
Radical preacher Abu Qatada - described as "al-Qaida's ambassador to Europe" and "a truly dangerous individual" - was among those seized in the raids.
The Jordanian now faces being sent back to his homeland, where he has been convicted in his absence of terrorism.
The Home Office has signed a ground-breaking deal with Jordan designed to guarantee deportees will not be killed or tortured on their return.
Appeal
Chief executive of the Immigration Advisory Service, Keith Best, said the men could have lengthy rights of appeal to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac).
Mr Best said: "The process can drag on for months if not years." Once Siac has made its decision, the detainees can lodge further appeals to the Court of Appeal, the House of Lords and ultimately to the European Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg.
Thebid for deportation was the latest in a line of attempts to deal with some of the suspects, who have been deemed too dangerous to be loose on the streets.
Sources said at least half those detained were subject to control orders created by Home Secretary Charles Clarke in March to keep suspected terrorists in a loose form of house arrest.
Illegal
Previously, they were locked up without charge or trial for up to three years as the "Belmarsh detainees" until Law Lords ruled the measures illegal. Yesterday's detentions were part of a crackdown on terrorist suspects and their supporters in the wake of the suicide bombings of July 7.
The individuals, whom the Home Office refused to name, were held by immigration officials working with police in London, Luton in Bedfordshire, Leicestershire and the West Midlands.
Mr Clarke said: "The circumstances of our national security has changed. It is vital that we act against those who threaten it."
He added: "Following months of diplomatic work, we now have reason to believe that we can get the necessary assurances from the countries to which we will return the deportees, so that they will not be subject to torture or ill-treatment."
http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/m...g_the_boot.html
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12-08-2005, 13:20
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