Radical preacher faces deportation from UK after police raids
A radical preacher suspected of being al-Qaida’s ambassador in Europe is to be deported from Britain after a series of early morning raids today.
Abu Qatada was one of 10 foreigners deemed “a threat to national security” who were seized in London, Bedfordshire and the Midlands.
Sources said at least half those detained today were subject to control orders, created by Home Secretary Charles Clarke in March to keep suspected terrorists in a loose form of house arrest.
Jordanian national Qatada was described by a senior British judge as a “truly dangerous individual” when he was one of the so-called “Belmarsh detainees”.
It emerged that ministers had finalised the first in a series of unprecedented agreements which will allow the 10 to be deported.
The British Home Office said it signed a ground-breaking agreement yesterday with Jordan, which is designed to guarantee deportees will not be killed or tortured on their return, but human rights groups remain sceptical.
Today’s detentions under the Immigration Act 1971 are part of a crackdown on terrorists and their supporters in the UK in the wake of the suicide bombings of July 7.
The individuals, whom the British Home Office refused to name, were held by four police forces working with the Immigration Service.
Mr Clarke said: “The circumstances of our national security has changed. It is vital that we act against those who threaten it.”
He added: “In accordance with my powers to deport individuals whose presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good for reasons of national security, the Immigration Service has today detained 10 foreign nationals who I believe pose a threat to national security.
“They will be held in secure prison service accommodation and I shall not disclose their names.
“Following months of diplomatic work we now have got reason to believe that we can get the necessary assurances from the countries to which we will return the deportees, so that they will not be subject to torture or ill-treatment.”
The civil rights group Liberty expressed concern that some of those detained today could face torture in the countries they are sent to, despite the UK Government’s efforts.
The group also said it believed one of those detained today was Qatada.
Liberty was trying to establish if the other detainees were the remaining individuals held under control orders.
A spokesman said: “We are very concerned that some of the people detained may be deported to countries where they face torture. We need to have real assurances and not just pieces of paper from the government concerned.”
A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that officers from the Met this morning supported the Immigration Service as they served notices under the Immigration Act at a number of addresses across the capital.
“A number of individuals were detained by the Immigration Service and police assisted with the transfer of these individuals into the care of the Prison Service. Met officers have made no arrests and have not taken any individual into police custody.”
