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Abu
Qatada
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LONDON,
October 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The British government
Friday, October 25, won a legal appeal confirming its powers to
indefinitely detain foreign terror suspects under a law introduced
following the September 11 attacks in the United States. This came
shortly after the arrest of a Muslim scholar suspected of links with
Osama Bin Laden, under the much-criticized anti-terror law.
A
panel of appeal judges overturned an earlier court decision which
ruled that keeping such suspects in custody for an unlimited period
was unlawful, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
A
spokesman for the Home Office said after the new judgment was handed
down: "The government's paramount responsibility is to ensure
public safety and national security.
"A responsible government must be honest about the threats we
face and must strike a balance to protect both our freedoms and our
safety."
In London Wednesday, October 23, the authorities arrested a man of
Palestinian origin, wanted by the U.S. for (alleged) links with the
al-Qaeda network, according to the Islamic Observatory Centre, a
London-based Islamic group.
Omar
Mahmoud Abu Omar, aka Abu Qatada, who had disappeared shortly before
the laws came into force in December, is on a U.N. list of suspected
terrorists with links to Bin Laden.
Home
Secretary David Blunkett announced on Thursday October 24, that a
suspect had been held under emergency terrorism powers, reported
BBC’s online news service.
He
refused to identify the detainee, but it is understood to be Qatada -
a Jordanian-born Palestinian who was granted asylum in Britain in
1994.
Abu
Qatada is wanted in Jordan, where he was convicted and sentenced to
life imprisonment in absentia for alleged involvement in a number of
explosions in 1998.
U.S.
and Spanish investigators described him as "Osama Bin Laden's
ambassador in Europe".
He
is alleged to have links with shoe-bomber Richard Reid and Zacharias
Moussaoui, who is being held under suspicion of involvement in
planning the 11 September attacks.
Abu
Qatada is one of 12 people arrested in Britain under the
Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act, which came into force in
November 2001.
Ten of these suspects remain under arrest, while two have left Britain
voluntarily, as anyone detained under the anti-terrorism act is
entitled to do.
Friday's
legal decision overturned an earlier judgment that the act was
discriminatory as it did not apply equally to British nationals
suspected of terrorist links and was therefore contrary to the
European Convention on Human Rights.
Human rights lawyer Shami Chakrabarti, condemned the ruling as an
"embarrassment".
In
a report published in September, Amnesty International attacked the
power given to the Home Secretary, currently David Blunkett.
It
said it was "inconsistent with the right to liberty and
security" guaranteed in the European Convention for the
Protection of Human Rights.
It
also said the Act effectively created "a shadow criminal justice
system" devoid of a number of crucial safeguards present in the
ordinary criminal justice system.
Chakrabarti,
a lawyer for pressure group Liberty, told the BBC: "I have never
been more embarrassed to be a lawyer or to stand in front of the royal
courts of justice.
"Last
week, the Lord Chief Justice gave an incredibly eloquent speech about
the importance of the judiciary standing up to the government in
difficult times.
"He
said the temporary unpopularity of the judiciary was a price worth
paying in defense of democracy and the rule of law.
"I'm
afraid I don't think that promise was honored today."
The
judgment was a unanimous ruling by three law lords.
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