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| Britain |
| Backdoor deportations |
| 2009-06-02 |
| Last month, ten Pakistani students joined the latest Muslim victims arrested as terrorist suspects but then released without charge. The first detailed figures from the Home Office show that up until March last year less than 7% of 1,471 suspects arrested in Britain since 9/11 resulted in convictions under the country’s terrorism legislation. Two-thirds were freed without charge. Instead of being allowed to continue their studies, the students were handed over to the Border Agency, adding to the toll of 88 that ended up being transferred to immigration authorities. Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, has so far rejected appeals led by Labour MP Mohammad Sarwar for the students not to be deported, suggesting that charges were not made only because of a lack of evidence. “We are able to seek deportation as the criteria we must meet are set at a lower threshold than those in a prosecution,” Smith told Sarwar. The figures of successful prosecutions under the terrorism legislation are far from compelling. Of the 102 convictions over the 8-year period, the highest numbers are 22 for possession of an article for terrorism purposes and 15 for membership of a proscribed organisation. Others include 11 for collection of information useful for a terrorism act, 10 for fundraising, 9 for provision of information relating to a terrorism investigation and the same number for preparation for a terrorism act. None have been related to the 7/7 bombings. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |