Ten foreign nationals detained in security crackdown

Ten foreign nationals have been detained on the grounds that they pose a threat to national security in the UK, the Home Office has confirmed.

The ten were detained under the Immigration Act following raids in London, Bedfordshire, Leicestershire and the West Midlands and are understood to be facing deportation.

The detainees have not been named, but there have been numerous reports indicating that Jordanian cleric Abu Qatada is amongst them.

Abu Qatada was one of the detainees held in Belmarsh prison following the September 11 attacks. He was released under the new control orders earlier this year.

The radical cleric came to Britain in 1993. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in his absence in Jordan, in relation to a series of bomb plots.

There have also been reports that some of the other people detained on Thursday were also previous Belmarsh detainees.

However, the Home Office has not officially named any of those who have been detained. In a statement, Home Secretary Charles Clarke said: “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 ten 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.

“The circumstances of our national security have changed. It is vital that we act against those who threaten it.”

The announcement of the detentions follows the signing of a controversial deal between Britain and Jordan, guaranteeing that any deportees sent back to the country would not face ill treatment or torture.

Under international conventions, the UK cannot send people back to any country where they could face torture, mistreatment or the death penalty.

However, negotiations are now under way with ten countries, including Lebanon and Algeria to secure the safe return of deportees without the risk of torture or ill treatment.

Such agreements have been heavily criticised by human rights organisations Liberty and Amnesty International.

Director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, said: “What separates us from the terrorists is that we do not torture people or send them to be tortured. It should take more than self-serving assurances to demonstrate that countries with a human rights record such as Jordan’s are safe. Now is not the time for our judges to be cowed by the impudent warnings of populist politicians.

“It is far better for public safety that a terrorist suspect be tried than shuffled around the world.”

Amnesty International UK Media Director Mike Blakemore said: “The UK government must do its utmost to prevent any repeat of the recent London bombings and to bring those responsible to justice. But going soft on torture is not the answer to terrorism. We must remain steadfast in our opposition to this vile practice.

“Britain should not turn a blind to torture, wherever it occurs. The assurances of known torturers – many of whom deny the use of torture even when it is widely documented – are not worth the paper they are written on. We have seen no indication of any monitoring to ensure that these promises are honoured.”

It also emerged today that Islamic extremist cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed has been arrrested by security forces in Beiruit. The cleric had said that he intended to return to the UK after visiting relatives. It is not clear on what grounds he was detained in Lebanon where he holds dual Lebanese-Syrian citizenship.

(KMcA/SP)