Posted on 05/24/2002 5:11:53 PM PDT by dighton
A Pakistani cleric whose deportation was ordered four years ago because his alleged active support for a Kashmiri terrorist group represented “a danger to national security” is still living freely in Britain.
Shafique Ur Rehman, 30, has been accused of raising money and gathering recruits for Lashkar Tayyaba, one of the groups accused of attacking the Indian parliament in New Delhi last year.
In 1998 his deportation as “an undesirable” to Pakistan was ordered by Jack Straw, then Home Secretary. MI5 investigations into Rehman, 30, who is imam at a mosque in Oldham, Greater Manchester, found that “his activities directly support terrorism in the Indian subcontinent”.
He has never been prosecuted for his activities or detained under the emergency powers to intern terror suspects without trial. Rehman’s case is to be heard again by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, which overturned the Home Secretary’s original deportation order only to be overruled itself by the Appeal Court and the House of Lords.
Should Rehman, who denies involvement with terrorism, lose his case before the commission he would still have the option of an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. Amjad Malik, his solicitor, said the Government should abandon its attempt to deport his client.
“Rehman says the only reason for the case against him continuing is because he refused to work for MI5 and to preserve good relations with India,” said Mr Malik. “The original commission hearing, chaired by a High Court judge, found there was no evidence that Rehman was involved in fundraising or recruitment.”
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2002.
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