LONDON, 4 October 2005 — Britain’s war on extremism continues with the arrest yesterday of another five suspected foreign Islamic extremists, who were detained using Home Secretary Charles Clarke’s powers to deport those whose presence in the UK is deemed “not conducive to the public good” and against national interest.
This brings to 22 the number of such detentions since July 2005 under the Immigration Act 1971 as part of a crackdown on terrorists and their supporters in the wake of 7/7 suicide bombings and the failed 21/7 attacks on the London transport system.
The five suspected extremists have been held after dawn raids on three premises in the West Midlands, one in London and one in Cardiff. The British Home Office confirmed “that the Immigration Service detained five individuals in accordance with the Home Secretary’s powers to deport individuals whose presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good for reasons of national security. The Immigration Act 1971 gives powers to deport individuals, and to detain them pending deportation. They will be held in secure prison service accommodation and we will not disclose their names.”
On Aug. 11, the Immigration Services accompanied by anti-terrorist branch officers similarly detained ten men including Abu Qatada, the firebrand Jordanian cleric who is regarded by the security services as Al-Qaeda’s ambassador in Europe. Another seven foreign nationals were detained on Sept. 15 in similar dawn raids in Manchester, London, and South Wales. Most of the detainees are Algerians, some of whom were acquitted earlier this year in the High Court in London of involvement in a plot to use ricin in London Underground.
In a twist of irony, the ten men detained on Aug. 11 in the wake of the 7/7 bombings in London have initiated appeals against their deportations, and have applied for bail from the Special Immigration Appeals Commission in a hearing which began last Monday and will continue today.
Clarke in August the defined the extended criteria under which foreigners considered to be promoting, glorifying or encouraging terrorism can be deported from the UK. He in fact published a list of “unacceptable behaviors” to which those who indirectly or directly threaten public order, national security, or the rule of law, will be benchmarked for possible deportation.
Gareth Peirce, the lawyer representing some of the seven Algerians detained in August and September on national security grounds pending deportation to Algeria, has warned that they could be tortured and that the North African country could not be relied upon to respect international agreements including human rights conventions.
The government is currently blocked by the European Convention on Human Rights from sending extremists back to such states. But the British government is pursuing changes to protocol which would allow people to be deported to such countries.
