Terror suspect wins battle to leave Britain
Palestinian refugee 'driven to despair and suicide attempts'
Digg
del.icio.us
Facebook
Reddit
Google
Stumble Upon
Fark
Newsvine
YahooBuzz
Bebo
Twitter
Independent Minds
enlarge
A terror suspect who has spent the past eight years first in jail and then under a control order that prevented him leading a normal life has won his battle to be allowed to leave Britain.
Mahmoud Abu Rideh, who says he has never been shown any of the evidence against him, was yesterday offered a "certificate of travel" by the Home Office which will enable him to move abroad.
His wife, Dina al-Jnidi, and their six children moved to Jordan in May to live with her parents. Writing in The Independent yesterday, she described how the family had been torn apart by her husband's treatment. His lawyers took his case to the High Court, accusing the Home Office of "irrationally" refusing to issue him with travel documents because of his alleged terrorist connections.
Mr Abu Rideh, who came to the UK as a Palestinian refugee, was among 17 men detained without charge shortly after the 11 September attacks in 2001. He spent four years in prison, and then four more subject to a control order.
Under the terms of this order, he has had to stay inside his home for 12 hours a day, and phone a monitoring company three times a day. Any visitors must be approved by the Home Office, and he is not allowed to have an internet connection. Last year he went on hunger strike in protest.
His lawyers say he has been driven to despair and repeated suicide attempts by the restrictions on his freedom and wants to leave the country. Mr Abu Rideh has said: "I am alone. I don't have friends. Everyone is scared to see me."
After a morning of legal discussion between the two sides yesterday, the court heard that the Home Office was now offering him a certificate of travel. The judge ordered that his legal challenge should be stayed while he considers whether to accept the offer.
Last night, Amnesty International UK, which has led the campaign over his treatment, welcomed the Government's concession. Sarah Macneice, its counter-terrorism campaigner, said: "Mahmoud Abu Rideh will now be able to leave the UK and seek entry to a safe country, and will no longer be subjected to the repressive measures of his Control Order, which have driven him to utter desperation.
She added: "The Home Office should issue this document to him promptly, rather than subjecting him to yet more delays."
Gareth Peirce, Mr Abu Rideh's solicitor, said the document is likely to be issued within two weeks at most.
In 2001, the then Home Secretary David Blunkett described him as "an active supporter of various international terrorist groups, including those with links to Osama bin Laden's networks"; but Mr Abu Rideh has never been tried in court.
After Belmarsh top security prison, he was transferred for a while to Broadmoor secure psychiatric hospital because of his fragile mental health.
View all comments that have been posted about this article.
Offensive or abusive comments will be removed and your IP logged and may be used to prevent further submission. In submitting a comment to the site, you agree to be bound by the Independent Minds Terms of Service.
- Print Article
- Email Article
-
Click here for copyright permissions
Copyright 2009 Independent News and Media Limited
Comments
The British defeated German and Italian Fascism in the 1940's only to install it in Britain in the 2000's. This treatment of a British Resident is beyond the pall. Britain's moral decadence is now covering a very wide area. The fact that Rideh is a foreigner and Islamic is no reason to excuse or condone or to ignore the uncondonable. British MP's and voters who ignore this kind of thing are in breach of their responsibilities, and should be held accountable.
National Security is an excuse for the persecution of the innocent by the ignorant.
Mr Alex Weir, Gaborone and Harare
If this man was guilty of the activities that David Blunkett described in 2001, why was he never charged? Innocent until proven guilty used to be the cornerstone of British justice. Lose that, and we lose a big part of what this country used to stand for.
As a nation, I think this story shames us all. I wish this man and his family a better life in Jordan. It's obvious that those coming here for sanctuary from oppression, as this man did, will get no sympathy here, only suspicion. I'm appalled.
democracy by violating it.
At least, for the time being, newspapers like the Independent are permitted to tell us a little bit about what is going on.
For a start, Israel bombs the sh*t out of the Palestinians (who by the way are all terrorists similar to the subject of this article, according to MOSSAD, GWB, TB et al). I would have that he left Palestine to give a better, brighter and more importantly safe future for his children. But it was not to be.
The Star Chamber is alive and well in the UK today and makes the country open to charges of double standards when Gordon Brown talks about political prisoners in other countries but retains the right to do the same here.
As cures go, this one is very much worse than the fever. The government that ordered this has deeply shamed the nation.
As for repton4: until he tells the truth, nobody will believe him. But if he tells the truth then he cannot support Israel. Zionists have always portrayed the Israelis as victims, but nobody believes it anymore.
The figures speak for themselves. In the three years after the withdrawal from Gaza, 11 Israelis were killed by rocket fire. On the other hand, in 2005-7 alone, the IDF killed 1,290 Palestinians in Gaza, including 222 children.
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/07/gaz
As for repton4: until he tells the truth, nobody will believe him. But if he tells the truth then he cannot support Israel. Zionists have always portrayed the Israelis as victims, but nobody believes it anymore.
The figures speak for themselves. In the three years after the withdrawal from Gaza, 11 Israelis were killed by rocket fire. On the other hand, in 2005-7 alone, the IDF killed 1,290 Palestinians in Gaza, including 222 children.
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/07/gaz
Whatever the rights or wrongs of the case at least be consistent
Many people in UK spend most of their time in their home and do not have internet but they are not driven to despair or suicide. What I do not understand is that people are usually complaining about it being next to impossible to deport people and here we have a man who really wants to leave and can't.
Bit like G: Bay actually
He seems to think he will be more free in Palestine or some mid east country, I hope he will find the freedom he wants but not to blow people up! I hope he will convey to others that UK is not a soft option! Though I doubt it.
The Israelis gave up Gaza against the wishes of many Jews and as a result got a takeover by extremists, who murdered their Fatah rivals and imposed a repressive regime on their people. The Israeli response was perhaps too severe but its critics easily forget or choose to forget, that terrorists have been killing Israelis for decades indiscriminately with suicide bombers (even female and children) and rockets which are not toys as one writer suggests, they still kill innocent people. Not to mention the plane highjackings and massacres of earlier times.
The stories of how Israeli doctors often treat sick Palestinian children are rarely reported. The Israelis can hardly be blamed for intransigence when they are faced with an enemy equally intransigent and devious. As far back as Suez Arab soldiers were using the civilian population as shields, ask any soldier who fought there. Of course it is God's work to destroy the Infidel so anything goes.
Whatever the rights or wrongs of the case at least be consistent"
Ok, let's try being consistent:
1)It wasn't the headline. 2)If you want you may read the relevant part of the sentence correctly. Here it is: "A terror suspect who has spent the past eight years first in jail and then under a control order that prevented him leading a normal life has won (etc.) 3) You hope he will not "blow people up" ? I would hope that about anyone in the world, including you and me, but here you are taking a step further than even the British government by insinuating he might, since it is worth recalling they NEVER ACCUSED HIM OF ANYTHING.
I find your ideas about a "soft touch"(sic) unworthy of the human race.
I thank you,
Chanch.
All these bombs going off in poverty stricken places like Iraq, beggars the question who has the knowledge the expertise and the equipment to make such bombs, when most Iraqis are unable to go down the street without there being the presence of foreign troops and police, then where are these bombs coming from?
It is the same in the mental health, first they put you on drugs and then you develop symptoms, that were not apparant until after the drugs were administered, and then they show you the problem. Whereas with Iraq they are promoting their war on terror, by showing all these what are assumed suicide attacks, when they instigated them in the first place.
Out of all the things they know, the Iraqis seem to be able to make bombs from nothing.
DECEPTION that is what it is, just deception and lies. Decieiving is a Devil attribute, so be warn of this Masonic power mad group.
You can report me to the MI5 tell them whatever, they wont do a thing, I'm sure of it, it is just deception this war on terror.
God bless this man and his family.What has Britain become?
It'll clear a little room for our own, and stop the Taxpayer funding him, his very large family, and no doubt a small army of Civil Servants and Lawyers.
A palestinian should never have been granted asylum in the UK - it's hardly the first safe country near the Middle East !