UK Border Agency slams decision on child rapist deportation

The UK Border Agency has reacted with fury to a court ruling allowing a Sudanese asylum seeker who raped a 12-year-old girl to remain in Britain.

Sani Adil Ali, 28, originally from Darfur and part of a threatened tribe, originally came to Britain in 2003 and was awarded refugee status in February 2005, it was reported.

But only a few months later he was arrested at his home in Middlesbrough and later admitted one count of raping the girl, who was Hungarian.

Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to take action on the legislation that helps foreign criminals stay in the UK.

Ali was reportedly jailed for three years at Sheffield Crown Court and released in 2008, when the Home Office ordered that he return to Sudan and he was locked up in an immigration removal centre.

But he appealed to an immigration court and though a judge rejected his bid, he mounted a fresh appeal to the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber, the Mail on Sunday reported.

He was allowed to stay because deporting him, the court ruling showed, would be contrary to the United Kingdom's obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.

A UK Border Agency spokesman said: "We are extremely disappointed with the court's decision.

"We do not believe this individual needs or deserves refuge in this country."

In a letter published in the Sunday Times, Mr Cameron struck out at the legislation.

He said he took "a profoundly different view from most Liberal Democrats on the European Convention on Human Rights".

He added: "I want to do whatever it takes to keep our country safe, restoring the ability to deport dangerous criminals and terrorists even if it means radical action in this area."

The court ruling reportedly stated that deporting Ali, a member of the Zaghawa tribe who are at risk of persecution in Darfur, would breach his rights under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits torture or inhumane punishment.

PA