'Al-Qaeda ringleader' wins appeal against deportation

[Travis Bickle]

BBC News - 'Al-Qaeda ringleader' wins appeal against deportation

 

"The alleged leader of an al-Qaeda plot to bomb targets in north-west England has won his appeal against deportation.

 

A special immigration court said Abid Naseer was an al-Qaeda operative - but could not be deported because he faced torture or death back home in Pakistan.

 

Mr Naseer, 23, was one of 10 Pakistani students arrested last April as part of a massive counter-terrorism operation in Liverpool and Manchester.

 

Another student, Ahmad Faraz Khan, also 23, won his appeal on similar grounds.

 

The security services believed the men were planning to attack within days of their arrest, but neither student was charged.

 

'Stigmatised for life'

 

The Home Secretary, Theresa May, said she would not be appealing against the ruling, handed down by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission.

 

She said: "We are disappointed that the court has ruled that Abid Naseer and Ahmad Faraz Khan should not be deported to Pakistan, which we were seeking on national security grounds.

 

"As the court agreed, they are a security risk to the UK. We are now taking all possible measures to ensure they do not engage in terrorist activity."

 

The lawyer for both men, Gareth Peirce, said the ruling was the "worst of all possible worlds" because they were flagged up as being involved in terrorism based on evidence "one is not told".

 

She said: "It's no victory even though the young men have won, in the sense that they have been stigmatised for life and put at risk or even further risk in their own country on the basis of the shocking phenomenon of secret evidence.

 

"It's no way to conduct justice. If people have committed a crime, put them on trial."

 

A third man, Shoaib Khan, 31, who is already back in Pakistan, was cleared of any involvement in terrorism.

 

The ruling effectively means that MI5's case against two of the men has been supported by the courts even though neither of them was ever charged with a criminal offence.

 

Two other men also arrested in the raids lost their deportation appeals. Abdul Wahab Khan, 27, and Tariq Ur Rehman, 38, had already returned to Pakistan.

 

In his judgement, Mr Justice Mitting said Mr Naseer was sending e-mails to a contact in Pakistan - and that the recipient was an "al-Qaeda operative".

 

The e-mails were said to be at the heart of the plot and culminated in a message sent to Pakistan in April 2009 in which Mr Naseer said he had set a date to marry, something MI5 said was code for an attack date.

 

"We are satisfied that Naseer was an al-Qaeda operative who posed and still poses a serious threat to the national security of the United Kingdom," the judgement said.

 

It added: "Subject to the issue of safety on return, it is conducive to the public good that he should be deported."

 

The judge said Ahmad Faraz Khan had become a "knowing party" to the plan because he had "undergone a radical change in view" between leaving home and studying in the UK.

 

'Committed Islamists'

 

But in both cases, Mr Justice Mitting said it was impossible to return the men to Pakistan.

 

"There is a long and well-documented history of disappearances, illegal detention and of the torture and ill-treatment of those detained, usually to produce information, a confession or compliance," said the judgement.

Ahmad Faraz Khan

Neither Ahmad Faraz Khan nor Abid Naseer was present for the ruling

 

Turning to the three students who have already left the UK, Mr Justice Mitting said Abdul Wahab Khan and Tariq ur Rehman were committed Islamists who knew of Mr Naseer's plan.

 

The final student,Shoaib Khan, however, won his appeal, with the court saying there was no evidence of wrongdoing against him.

 

The controversial affair began last April when the Metropolitan Police's then head of counter-terrorism, Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, accidentally revealed details of the investigation.

 

Mr Quick resigned after he was photographed with clearly visible secret documents outside 10 Downing Street.

 

Police brought their operation forward and raided a series of locations across Liverpool, Manchester and Lancashire, eventually detaining 11 men.

 

Ten of them were students from Pakistan, who were all either close friends or loosely known to each other.

 

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown said at the time that the security services were "dealing with a very big terrorist plot".

 

But no explosives were found and all of the men were released without charge after two weeks.

 

They were immediately detained again under immigration laws after the then home secretary sought their deportation, saying they were still a threat to national security. "

[Strontium]

If they're going to be tortured or killed on being returned to Pakistan, then it's a no-brainer decision for the court to make.

 

Of course, there is also the small matter of them never having actually been convicted of anything!

[Travis Bickle]

Even if they are deemed a threat to our national security,they still shouldnt be deported?

[Fowlers God]

If it has been proven that they are criminals/terroists then they should be deported- Regardless of the situation in their home country.

 

If they havent been convicted of anything and their visa/credentials are all ok then they shouldnt be deported.

 

End thread.

[Strontium]

Even if they are deemed a threat to our national security,they still shouldnt be deported?

 

 

We don't sentence people to death here.

[Red Mist]

That's what the UK has become, a haven for terrorists. He's not the only terrorist we are unable to deport because of these insane laws we've adopted. After Afghanistan and Pakistan, the UK harbours the largest number of Islamic terrorists in the world.

Even the Saudi Arabian authorities don't tolerate terrorists in their midsts.

[migs]

On one hand...

 

Assuming they really are in danger if they return to Pakistan, then it means they have also attracted the attention of the ISI. No smoke without fire etc.

 

But on the other hand...

 

If they really are a threat to national security, why haven't they even so much as been charged with anything?

[Rex Banner]

Britain is so wrapped up in Political correctness bullshit, we've deported a few ring leaders over here.

 

Deportation of sheikh puts Australia at odds with the UN

RICK FENELEY

May 18, 2010

 

 

AUSTRALIA has defied a United Nations request by ordering the deportation an Iranian Muslim cleric on security grounds before the UN assesses the alleged denial of his human rights.

 

Sheikh Mansour Leghaei lost a 13-year legal battle to stay in Australia yesterday when the Immigration Minister, Chris Evans, refused to intervene against ASIO's adverse security assessment of the moderate preacher, who has raised his four children in Sydney.

 

Dr Leghaei, who has never been told why ASIO suspects him, has been given six weeks to leave the country, angering the 1200 members of his congregation at his Islamic centre at Earlwood, which faces closure without him.

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''I hope God forgives him because he does not know any better,'' Dr Leghaei said of Senator Evans at the University of Sydney. Here the sheikh was flanked by one of his many Christian supporters, the Anglican priest Dave Smith, and Ben Saul, one of the human rights barristers who sent a petition to the UN a month ago.

 

A week later, on April 21, the UN's Human Rights Committee asked the Australian government not to deport Dr Leghaei while it considered his case, a process that could take a year.

 

ASIO had accused Dr Leghaei of undisclosed ''acts of foreign interference'' but, because he is a non-citizen, Australian law entitles him to no explanation - a position confirmed by the High Court. But Associate Professor Saul, the co-director of the university's centre for international law, said Australia was in violation of six articles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

 

''In other countries, like Britain and in Europe, affected persons are given an opportunity to see at least a summary of the evidence against them. In the sheikh's case, he's been given access to nothing whatsoever.''

 

Insisting he was no spy or terrorist, Dr Leghaei said: ''I think my 16 years of peaceful life in Australia is my best evidence.''

 

Senator Evans decided not to deport Dr Leghaei's wife, Marzieh, and 20-year-old Ali, the only one of their children who is not a citizen. But Dr Leghaei said it was an effective deportation of his 14-year-old Australian-born daughter, Fatima, because she would need her parents.

 

He addressed hundreds from his congregation last night.

 

Senator Evans said national security must be paramount. ''Many people have expressed their support for Dr Leghaei and I understand that my decision will disappoint his friends and members of his local community. The fact remains that he is the subject of an adverse security assessment.''

 

In 1995, authorities at Sydney Airport secretly photocopied Dr Leghaei's exercise book containing notes on scholars' explanations of jihad. But the Federal Court later accepted his translation, not ASIO's which, he says, added inflammatory material about the killing of infidels

[Elmyn Noos]

"Abid Naseer" and "Ahmad Faraz Khan". That's all I need to know. Guilty as fuck terrorist scum.

[Red Mist]

Well done Australia. No wonder so many Brits are fleeing this country and going down under. At least some common sense prevails there.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

That's what the UK has become, a haven for terrorists. He's not the only terrorist we are unable to deport because of these insane laws we've adopted. After Afghanistan and Pakistan, the UK harbours the largest number of Islamic terrorists in the world.

Even the Saudi Arabian authorities don't tolerate terrorists in their midsts.

 

 

[Elmyn Noos]

If they're going to be tortured or killed on being returned to Pakistan, then it's a no-brainer decision for the court to make.

 

Of course, there is also the small matter of them never having actually been convicted of anything!

 

Err sorry Cameron Dog, but that post smacks of not having been compromised and signed off by even the most tolerant of Conservatives, and is therefore invalid. What your post-coalition self should have posted is..

 

If they're going to tortured or killed on being returned to Pakistan, then that is free-market forces at work. Tough on crime, tough on suspicion of crime, tougher still on uneducated asians.

[Strontium]

Britain is so wrapped up in Political correctness bullshit, we've deported a few ring leaders over here.

 

 

Yeah, who needs evidence and fair trials, eh?

[Rex Banner]

That's exactly what I was saying. I was talking in general not so much this specific case. You negged me hahah, oh noes. Bloody bleeding heart Liberals aye, back in my day we'd deport anyone with a tan.

[Uncle_Meat]

Red Mist, pictured yesterday.

 

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Red Mist, pictured yesterday.

 

 

Red Mist is a proto-fascist. Well, I'm not sure about the 'proto' part.

[Stu Monty]

They don't seem to have been convicted of anything by trial but then on the other hand they are smelly ragheads and the police don't ever lie.

 

It's a tough one isn't it?

[Elmyn Noos]

They don't seem to have been convicted of anything by trial but then on the other hand they are smelly ragheads and the police don't ever lie.

 

It's a tough one isn't it?

 

I don't think their guilt is in question at all Monty, just what we should do with them by way of making them pay dearly for what we know they were thinking about doing.

 

I despair about the asian youth population of today, and their apparent rejection of the values of the generations that preceded them. I mean what is wrong with driving taxis?

[aws]

Where's Jack Bauer when you need him?

[Hermes]

Think of his civil liberties.

[Red Mist]

Why should they stay here though? They're foreign students, surely we should send them home? I mean, what right do they have to remain? I'm sure we can get guarantees from the Pakistan government that these lads won't be mutilated upon their return. That will be good enough for me. Send them back ffs, why keep dangerous people in this country who do not belong here? This is what happens when liberalism runs amok, all common sense is thrown out the window. It's fucking madness keeping them here, madness I tell ya.

[Anubis]

Well done Australia. No wonder so many Brits are fleeing this country and going down under. At least some common sense prevails there.

 

When are you going, and do you need a lift to the airport? :whistle:

[Stu Monty]

A man who likes capital punishment and isn't that bothered about trials...if you look a bit foreign.

 

A true visionary.

 

The same sort of dick that would read a headline about The Truth and start carping on about throwing away the key and stringing them up.

 

"What do we want?"

 

"Justice"

 

"Who do we want it for?"

 

"Just my lot"

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Why should they stay here though?

 

Because they've not been convicted of any wrongdoing (other than being different from you, that is) and there is a a good chance to torture or capital punishment awaiting them. Not only is it illegal for us to send them back into that, it wouldn't be moral or responsible for a civilised country to do it. That's why they should stay here.

 

I'm sure we can get guarantees from the Pakistan government that these lads won't be mutilated upon their return. That will be good enough for me.

 

I'd say a lower standard of assurance would be good enough for you, Mist. In fact, I'd wager that you wouldn't give a fuckstick what happened to them when they got back, just as long as you would have less chance of passing them on a street.

 

Send them back ffs

 

Can I take a guess at what sort of transportation you want them to use? Is it a boat? The same one 'they all' came in on?

 

This is what happens when liberalism runs amok

 

You're right. I finally agree with you on something. This is what happens. We act compassionately to those that have not been convicted of a crime and don't 'sent them back' to a country where they have a high risk of being tortured or killed.

[Stu Monty]

"Geneva convention? Load of PC bollocks!"