LONDON, 12 August 2005 — British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s war on the extremists became a reality yesterday when 10 foreign Muslim radicals were arrested in dawn raids in London, Leicester, Luton and Birmingham, prior to them being deported from the UK.
The men include 44-year-old Jordanian firebrand cleric, Abu Qatada, a father of five who has lived in Britain for 11 years after arriving here in 1994 on a fake passport and given refugee status. Abu Qatada, who is currently subject to a control order at his London house, is widely regarded as Al-Qaeda’s “ambassador in Europe”.
Control orders were imposed last year after the government’s policy of detaining foreign terror suspects without charge was ruled unlawful by the Law Lords.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke announced the detentions but refused to reveal the names of the detainees. “The immigration service has today detained 10 foreign nationals who I believe pose a threat to national security,” he explained.
Some of the other people detained are also subject to control order, and mainly come from Jordan, Algeria and Lebanon.
The detentions come in the wake of the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Jordan on Wednesday under which Amman gave assurances that deportees would not be tortured or executed on their return. The British government claims that the agreement has certain safeguards which include regular inspections to ascertain whether the deportees have been tortured.
Yesterday, Hazel Blears, Home Office minister, also confirmed that the government was on the verge of reaching similar agreements with several other countries, widely believed to be Algeria, Lebanon and Morocco. Britain, under the Human Rights Act 2000, cannot deport anyone to a country where they may face persecution or the death penalty.
Yesterday’s detentions are a direct challenge to this ruling, which has dismayed both the government and the Conservative opposition. The government maintains that Britain has a right to deport foreign nationals considered a threat to national security. As such deporting the detainees with the assurances from their governments that they would not be tortured would meet both the requirements of the Law Lords ruling and the desire to protect Britain’s national interest.
Abu Qatada is said to have inspired several terrorists, including some of the 9/11 hijackers; the so-called “20th hijacker” Zacarias Moussaoui, now in US custody; and the shoe-bomber Richard Reid. Abu Qatada was arrested in October 2002 and detained in the high-security Belmarsh prison.
He fought off an extradition request from the United States and has been convicted in absentia in Jordan for involvement in a series of bomb explosions there.
Jordanian authorities said they had not yet asked for the extradition of Abu Qatada. “We have learned of his arrest but have not been officially notified,” Interior Ministry spokesman Faisal Al-Qadi said in Amman.
Meanwhile, a British court yesterday refused bail to the wife and sister-in-law of London bombing suspect Osman Hussein because of concerns they may flee. The court also remanded in custody Haroon Rashid Aswat, accused by the United States of trying to set up an extremist training camp in the state of Oregon.
