Suspects detained in Britain
LONDON – British authorities staged raids across England on Thursday, detaining and announcing plans to deport 10 foreigners suspected of posing a threat to national security – including a radical Muslim cleric described as Osama bin Laden’s “spiritual ambassador in Europe.”
The detentions, only days after Prime Minister Tony Blair announced tough new proposals to deal with Islamic extremists, were another indication of the dramatic impact of last month’s deadly bombings in a country once regarded as somewhat of a safe haven for radicals.
“The circumstances of our national security have changed; it is vital that we act against those who threaten it,” Home Secretary Charles Clarke said.
A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, confirmed that Omar Mahmoud Othman Abu Omar, also known as Abu Qatada, was among the 10 foreigners in custody. The government declined to name them.
The 44-year-old Palestinian cleric, who carries a Jordanian passport, was granted political asylum in Britain in 1993. He has been in jail or under close supervision here since 2002. He faces deportation to Jordan, where authorities convicted him in absentia in 1998 and again in 2000 for involvement in a series of explosions and terror plots.
British authorities believe Abu Qatada inspired the lead Sept. 11 hijacker, Mohamed Atta, and he is suspected of having links with radical groups across Europe. He has been named in a Spanish indictment as “supreme leader at the European level of the mujahedeen,” or Islamic fighters.
Eighteen videotapes of Abu Qatada’s sermons were found in a Hamburg, Germany, apartment used by three of the Sept. 11 hijackers, according to the British government.
Weeks after the attacks, Abu Qatada railed publicly against “corrupt” Western governments and spoke of his “respect” for bin Laden. The U.S. Treasury Department named him as a terrorist supporter and froze his assets.
The cleric’s lawyer, Gareth Peirce, condemned the detentions. Her firm said the detainees had not been allowed to see their attorneys.
Like Abu Qatada, some of the foreigners detained Thursday had spent up to three years in jail without trial under sweeping anti-terror legislation until their release in March after Britain’s highest court ruled it unlawful. Since then, they have been supervised under so-called control orders, such as curfew or house arrest, and banned from using the telephone or Internet.
The Home Office said the detainees had five working days to appeal deportation – a process that could drag on for months. A spokeswoman stressed they would not be deported until the British government gained assurances from the countries to which they will be sent that they will not be treated inhumanely.
As a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, Britain is not allowed to deport people to countries where they may face torture of mistreatment. The government has been trying to sign agreements guaranteeing humane treatment of deportees with 10 countries, including Algeria, Lebanon, Egypt and Tunisia. The first such memorandum of understanding was signed with Jordan on Wednesday.
Civil rights campaigners and the U.N. special envoy on torture, Manfred Nowak, have warned, however, that such assurances have no weight in international law and would not sufficiently protect the deportees.
“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,” said Mike Blakemore, a spokesman for Amnesty International.
Shami Chakrabarti of the human rights group Liberty called on Britain’s judiciary to oppose the deportations.