The Independent (UK) yesterday commented on the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in the Abu Qatada case. Excerpts:
There can be no disputing that Abu Qatada is a poisonous figure. He has made a career of spewing out inflammatory nonsense about the West, despite living for many years under its protection. So it is understandable that the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights yesterday, that the government should pay such an individual £2,500 in compensation, should have provoked public distaste. And yet the responsibility for this shambles lies not with the courts but with the government, which saw fit to lock up Abu Qatada, along with other foreign terror suspects, without charge in Belmarsh Prison following the terror attacks on the US in 2001. Unpleasant as Abu Qatada is, there was no evidence that he had broken the law since arriving in Britain in 1993. The government’s response to this lack of proof was to lock him up indefinitely under the authority of a secret immigration tribunal, thus undermining the principle that everyone in Britain should receive a fair and open trial before being imprisoned. This £2,500 payout is a small price to pay if it helps to preserve our civil liberties from the assaults of a government that seems unable to comprehend the very concept.
