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Feel good story of the day /sarc
An Al Qaeda operative arrested in a high profile terror swoop won the right to stay in Britain today because he would be in danger if he returned to his native Pakistan.Abid Naseer, the alleged ringleader of an alleged plot to bomb Manchester, won an appeal against deportation alongside fellow Pakistani national Ahmad Faraz Khan despite a court accepting that both are a threat to the country. Mr Justice Mitting, in a written ruling, said: For the reasons stated, we are satisfied that Naseer was an al-Qaeda operative who posed and still poses a serious threat to the national security of the UK and that... it is conducive to the public good that he should be deported.' He added that the Special Immigration Appeals Commission in London was allowing the appeal because the issue of safety on return' made it impossible to deport Mr Naseer to Pakistan. Mr Justice Mitting said that Mr Faraz Khan could safely be taken to have been willing to participate' in Mr Naseer's plans but that his appeal too was being allowed on the grounds of his safety on return. They are being held at immigration removal centres but are expected to be released later today. A third man detained in the raids, Shoaib Khan, 31, who has gone back to Pakistan, won his appeal against exclusion. He can now apply to return to the UK. Two other men who have returned to Pakistan, Abdul Wahab Khan, 27, and Tariq Ur Rehman, 38, had their appeals against exclusion rejected. Mr Naseer, 24, and Mr Faraz Khan, 26, were arrested in April last year in North West England in a counter-terror raid known as Operation Pathway. They were never charged with an offence. The Home Office is not to appeal against today's ruling as it can do so only on a point of law and none exists. Teresa May, the Home Secretary, said: Protecting the public is the Government's top priority. We are disappointed that the court has ruled that Abid Naseer and Ahmad Faraz Khan should not be deported to Pakistan, which we were seeking on national security grounds. As the court agreed, they are a security risk to the UK. We are now taking all possible measures to ensure they do not engage in terrorist activity.' Posted by: tipper 2010-05-18 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=297049 |