UK judge grants bail to eight Al-Qaeda suspects
Pakistan Times Monitoring Report
pakistantimes.net
LONDON (UK): A British judge granted bail Friday to a total of eight foreign terrorism suspects, including Muslim cleric Abu Qatada who has been dubbed Al-Qaeda’s “spiritual head” in Europe.
Judge Duncan Ouseley at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) awarded bail first to six suspects, including Abu Qatada, and then another two people held without charge under anti-terrorism measures expiring Monday.
The men were set to leave custody under strict conditions—including a 12-hour evening curfew, and restrictions on who they can meet and on their access to mobile telephones and the Internet.
Abu Qatada, a Palestinian cleric detained since October 2002, will also be prevented from preaching at mosques or leading prayers as part of the conditions for his release.
Abu Qatada has been described by a British judge as a “truly dangerous individual” and according to reports has been linked by Spanish authorities to those behind the bomb attacks in Madrid a year ago Friday.
He and the other suspects, who were not named, had been held under a tough anti-terrorism law that was ruled unlawful by Britain’s highest court last December.
The law, adopted after the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, expires on Monday, and Britain’s parliament was Friday still debating a controversial bill that would replace it by creating a new set of restrictions for terror suspects including electronic tagging and house arrest.
SIAC, which was set up to hear the cases of the detained foreign terrorism suspects, placed an Algerian identified only as “A” under surveillance with an electronic tag, house curfew and other restrictions.
The releases coincide with a fierce political battle in parliament over the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which would impose similar restrictions, called “control orders”, on foreign and British terror suspects.
The government of Prime Minister Tony Blair has locked horns with members of the House of Lords, parliament’s unelected upper chamber, which is trying to water down the anti-terror measures, notably by making the bill expire automatically within a year if it is not renewed.
The government desperately wants passage of the new law before the existing legislation expires Monday, and both Blair and the political opposition want to be seen as tough on terrorism ahead of a general election expected in May.? |
