We can imagine that Theresa May shares many of the feelings which Henry II felt towards St Thomas Becket, although those of Henry II were unworthy. But we can reasonably support all those British politicians who have had to deal with Abu Qatada and who have asked “Who will rid us of this turbulent Imam?”
The attempts to deport him as a risk to our national security have been ongoing since 2002 when he was first arrested. But he had already come to the attention of the international security community for his activities in support of Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. Over the last decade he has been able to make use of all manner of stalling techniques and legal technicalities to prevent his extradition to Jordan on terrorism charges. In 2013 it has finally become clear that the human rights legislation to which successive Governments have submitted the UK legal system will not allow Abu Qatada to be removed from Britain under any circumstances. It is no longer a question of Abu Qatada requiring safeguards against personal ill treatment. It is no longer a question of Abu Qatada not being able to expect a fair trial from from abuse and torture. It is now clear that the human rights circus considers that even the barest possibility that any evidence at all might have been obtained from abusive means, even if this evidence were to be ruled inadmissible by a Jordanian court, is enough to ensure that he is able to escape justice.
What does this mean? It surely indicates that if Abu Qatada were to pose such a risk to national security that he could murder every British person simply by willing it, he could not be removed from the UK since his own personal access to justice entirely free from the violent abuse he wishes on others could never be absolutely guaranteed under any system that could be imagined. Abu Qatada’s rights to absolute guarantees that cannot ever be made is shown to have more weight than the safety of the entire British people. Imagine some other equally impossible scenario, such as the Special Immigration Appeals Commission deciding that Abu Qatada could not be released to Jordanian jurisdiction unless they could absolutely and without any possible doubt prevent Qatada ever being harmed by a meteor? This would be a tiny risk for sure, but it would also be impossible for the Jordanian or British Governments to offer such an absolute guarantee. It seems that this is, however, the standard which is being required of the Jordanian legal system, which has already taken major steps to provide justice for Abu Qatada of a Western standard.
This seems to be a political game that none of Theresa May’s predecessors, or successors can hope to win. It has already been determined by those who think that they hold the balance of justice in Europe that Abu Qatada will never be removed from the UK, and there will be a continuing insistence that he is treated as a free resident, liable to all manner of benefits. The Daily Telegraph has calculated that his residence has already cost the British people £3 million.
So what could Theresa May do? Well France provides a number of recent examples in their handling of similar situations. She could place Abu Qatada on a plane to Jordan tomorrow morning. She could weather the storm of fabricated outrage. She could even send an observer to Jordan every now and again to check on Qatada’s wellbeing. But if she will not act on the basis of natural and national justice – and the Law Lords have already agreed that he should go – then she will never be allowed to act because of the political agenda of those purporting to stand for human rights.
We have rights too. And among them are the right to be governed by a Government which acts for our national security, and which does not subvert the security of all for the fabricated rights of one who wishes us great harm. Let us see of Jordan will stand by the commitments it has made in this case. As for Abu Qatada, it is already clear where his commitments lie, and he stands accused and sentenced in Jordan because of them.
This offence to humanity only remains on British soil because of cowardice by politicians of every hue. Frankly, it is the ultimate racism to decry the standards of other nations in this way if we are not prepared to adopt cultural relativity.
The courts refuse to deport him but, as far as I am aware, they have not yet ordered Plod to waste money on protecting him, nor the security services to expend effort monitoring him. Surely, if all this security was removed, he would either remove himself from the UK very swiftly or some right-minded person would remove him!
“I am giving a warning which is very clear and which must be heard. Anyone who makes comments contrary to the values of the French Republic will be instantly removed from French territory. There will be no exceptions, there will be no indulgence.” Nicolas Sarkozy
Sarko was as good as his word and no European court has yet indicted him or the French government over their many deportations. I’m not sure that our politicians possess the balls or even the desire for such actions when their seat on the Westminster Bisto Express is at stake. We should call their bluff.
eg. If Theresa May really wanted rid of this problem she should seek backing from the Cabinet and then stick Abo Retarda, and others like him, on the next plane outbound and let the UK judiciary and European court go f*ck themselves. If she really thought that this issue was important she could get the law changed. If she really thought that this was important and couldn’t get the backing of the cabinet for getting the law changed then she could always resign on principle and then mount a leadership challenge.
http://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/312750/If-France-can-throw-them-out-why-can-t-we
EC@April 18th, 2013 – 08:40
Better still, send him to the hague then not let him back into the UK. The euro judges want him, they can have him.
In the good old days he would have suffered some sort of accident, like falling down prison stairs or a car accident. But we cant do that anymore. WTF are MI5 for anyway if they cant rid us of these tw@ts?
“Over the last decade he has been able to make use of all manner of stalling techniques and legal technicalities to prevent his extradition”
In this he is far from being alone there are a myriad others who have thumbed their noses at British justice by using the stupid human rights laws and our far too generous legal aid system to run rings round our criminal courts.
We all know what is wrong and we all know what the solution to that wrong is but we have not got a single politician with the balls to do anything about it.
It would be comforting to hear Nigel Farage state categorically that he would deport any radical, inimical to the security of our nation back to their nation of origin, were he to succeed in finding his way into No. 10.
Nigel Farage has said…
“British justice and our ability to decide who should, and who should not, be deported from this country is a cruel farce. We deport the innocent, and keep the guilty.
“Through the European Arrest Warrant we are forced to send young men like Andrew Symeou to Greece. But via the ECHR, which is now a fully fledged part of our membership of the European Union, we cannot deport somebody who has made it his life’s work to attack us, our civilisation and our interests, and to do so liberally funded by the British taxpayer.
“The Government has to admit that it has handed British justice, bound and gagged to interests not in tune with our own.
“For it to stop these travesties it must allow the people of this country the opportunity to vote. Only by leaving the European Union and the pernicious effects of its lack of justice system will we be able to make decisions like these for ourselves.”