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| Britain |
| Panel Backs Britain on Terror Suspects |
| 2004-01-27 |
| EFL: A special commission upheld the British government’s decision to keep a terror suspect jailed without charge or trial, and said Tuesday it also would back the government in the case of radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatadah. The cleric and another suspect, identified only as "M" because of a reporting restriction order, were being held under controversial British anti-terror laws passed after the Sept. 11 attacks. The suspects had appealed their detention before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, whose president, Justice Sir Andrew Collins, announced the rejections, according to the Department for Constitutional Affairs. The government claims Abu Qutadah, a Jordanian of Palestinian descent, had "extensive contacts with senior terrorists worldwide." Friend of the turbaned automatic weapons crowd. The department said Abu Qutadah’s appeal was heard in December and a formal decision will be handed down at an unspecified later date. And when the Brits say formal, they mean wigs and black robes formal. Earlier, Home Secretary David Blunkett welcomed the commission’s ruling upholding his decision to detain "M" under the controversial Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act. "These powers are used extremely sparingly and only in the most serious circumstances in order to protect the public from the activities of foreign nationals we believe to be international terrorists, but who we cannot deport for a variety of reasons," Blunkett said. And those reasons are? The powers apply only to terror suspects who are not British citizens and whose lives would be endangered if they were deported. The government only has to prove it has "reasonable grounds to suspect" the detainees have links to terrorism - a far lower requirement than the standard of proof required to convict them in a criminal court. At least somebody else sees the difference The detainees under the British internment rules have the option to leave Britain if they are willing to return to their home countries or can find a third country prepared to take them in. Sixteen people - all men - have been detained under the act as suspected international terrorists. Two of them have left Britain. Just read that again. They can get out of internment if they can go back home or find anyone willing to take them in. And fourteen out of sixteen can’t. That says something right there, doesn’t it? The Department for Constitutional Affairs refused to say on what grounds "M" and Abu Qutadah appealed against their detention or how long they had been detained. "Her Majesty’s government can say no more" Abu Qutadah was convicted in absentia in Jordan on charges of conspiring to attack American and Israeli interests and in 1993 began living in Britain, where he was granted refugee status. He reportedly slipped past heavy surveillance and disappeared in late 2001, but was arrested in October 2002. Abu Qutadah has been in investigators’ sights for years. He was named in a Spanish indictment as "supreme leader at the European level of the mujahedeen," or Islamic fighters. Spanish anti-terrorism Judge Baltasar Garzon reportedly called him Osama bin Laden’s "ambassador in Europe." A really big fish, interesting he can’t find anyone to take him in. Or he doesn’t want to be taken in. Blunkett said "M’"s case would be reviewed in six months and every three months thereafter. Overall, this is good news for Tony and us. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 Dial M for murder....I guess. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-1-27 4:39:29 PM |
| #1 Maybe "M" can get some special goodies from "Q"... |
| Posted by: mojo 2004-1-27 3:55:16 PM |