'Al-Qaeda ringleader' wins appeal against deportation
The alleged leader of an al-Qaeda plot to bomb targets in north-west England has won his appeal against deportation.
A special immigration court said Abid Naseer was an al-Qaeda operative - but could not be deported because he faced torture or death back home in Pakistan.
Mr Naseer, 23, was one of 10 Pakistani students arrested last April as part of a massive counter-terrorism operation in Liverpool and Manchester.
Another student, Ahmad Faraz Khan, also 23, won his appeal on similar grounds.
The security services believed the men were planning to attack within days of their arrest, but neither student was charged.
'Stigmatised for life'
The Home Secretary, Theresa May, said she would not be appealing against the ruling, handed down by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission.
She said: "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."
The lawyer for both men, Gareth Peirce, said the ruling was the "worst of all possible worlds" because they were flagged up as being involved in terrorism based on evidence "one is not told".
She said: "It's no victory even though the young men have won, in the sense that they have been stigmatised for life and put at risk or even further risk in their own country on the basis of the shocking phenomenon of secret evidence.
"It's no way to conduct justice. If people have committed a crime, put them on trial."
A third man, Shoaib Khan, 31, who is already back in Pakistan, was cleared of any involvement in terrorism.
The ruling effectively means that MI5's case against two of the men has been supported by the courts even though neither of them was ever charged with a criminal offence.
Two other men also arrested in the raids lost their deportation appeals. Abdul Wahab Khan, 27, and Tariq Ur Rehman, 38, had already returned to Pakistan.
In his judgement, Mr Justice Mitting said Mr Naseer was sending e-mails to a contact in Pakistan - and that the recipient was an "al-Qaeda operative".
The e-mails were said to be at the heart of the plot and culminated in a message sent to Pakistan in April 2009 in which Mr Naseer said he had set a date to marry, something MI5 said was code for an attack date.
"We are satisfied that Naseer was an al-Qaeda operative who posed and still poses a serious threat to the national security of the United Kingdom," the judgement said.
It added: "Subject to the issue of safety on return, it is conducive to the public good that he should be deported."
The judge said Ahmad Faraz Khan had become a "knowing party" to the plan because he had "undergone a radical change in view" between leaving home and studying in the UK.
'Committed Islamists'
But in both cases, Mr Justice Mitting said it was impossible to return the men to Pakistan.
"There is a long and well-documented history of disappearances, illegal detention and of the torture and ill-treatment of those detained, usually to produce information, a confession or compliance," said the judgement.
Turning to the three students who have already left the UK, Mr Justice Mitting said Abdul Wahab Khan and Tariq ur Rehman were committed Islamists who knew of Mr Naseer's plan.
The final student, Shoaib Khan, however, won his appeal, with the court saying there was no evidence of wrongdoing against him.
The controversial affair began last April when the Metropolitan Police's then head of counter-terrorism, Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, accidentally revealed details of the investigation.
Mr Quick resigned after he was photographed with clearly visible secret documents outside 10 Downing Street.
Police brought their operation forward and raided a series of locations across Liverpool, Manchester and Lancashire, eventually detaining 11 men.
Ten of them were students from Pakistan, who were all either close friends or loosely known to each other.
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown said at the time that the security services were "dealing with a very big terrorist plot".
But no explosives were found and all of the men were released without charge after two weeks.
They were immediately detained again under immigration laws after the then home secretary sought their deportation, saying they were still a threat to national security.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8688501.stm
Topic: 'Al-Qaeda ringleader' wins appeal against deportation