CHARLES CLARKE was criticised yesterday for talking tough on terrorism to the EU, but failing to order the deportation of extremist clerics from Britain.
The Home Secretary demanded tougher intelligence gathering powers within the EU to combat terrorism and said that laws preventing people being deported to places where they faced persecution might have to change.
He told the European Parliament that EU states should keep mobile telephone and e-mail records for longer, saying that without such measures the EU would be fighting terrorism “with both hands tied behind our backs”.
Mr Clarke said that telecommunications data proved valuable in the investigation of the London bombings. He also said that laws preventing suspects being deported to places where they faced persecution might have to change. The Home Secretary said that he wanted judges to be realistic about “circumstances in the modern world” when they involved with cases involving European human rights laws.
After the July 7 bombings, Tony Blair insisted that the “rules of the game” had changed and two weeks ago Mr Clarke announced new rules for deportations with a pledge that moves would take effect “very quickly. The next few days.” Since then no action has been taken against any extremist under those rules. Immigration officials and police were given a list of targets to arrest, but the first raids were called off at the last minute with no explanation.
The Home Office has asked lawyers to look again at the files of all the suspects, including some well-known dissidents meant to be the first to be picked up.
The original list of suspects has been cut drastically with only a dozen people believed to be facing expulsion. Officials will not say why the others were taken off the target list.
It is believed that Whitehall officials and lawyers are still studying the files on a number of extremists, their behaviour while in Britain and their immigration status to ensure that moves to deport them are legally watertight. By comparison, Italy and France have thrown out a number of imams since the July 7 bombings and have said that more will go. The Netherlands, Spain and Germany also announced that, after the London atrocities, they, too, had begun moves to deport radical Muslims who had praised terrorist attacks.
One Spanish source close to the investigation into the Madrid bombings said yesterday: “Britain is still the weak link when it comes to extremists. A dozen countries have asked for the extradition of suspects living in Britain, and not one has been handed over since the September 11 attacks.
“Talking tough is fine, but let’s see them do something.”
Even the militant Muslim leader Omar Bakri Mohammad mocked Mr Clarke yesterday, insisting that he had left Britain voluntarily to start up an Islamic school in Beirut. Mr Bakri, a 57-year-old Syrian preacher who founded alMuhajiroun group, said: “The Government wants to deport prominent Muslims to cover up their own failure to find who was behind the July 7 bombings. I myself walked away.”
Only when the cleric had flown to Lebanon did Mr Clarke impose a ban on his return, which Mr Bakri said he would not bother to challenge in the courts.
Britain’s neighbours insist that they are co-operating on moves to expel militants. The Interior Ministers of France and Spain met ten days ago to co-ordinate their crackdown on possible deportations. Italian police picked up Bourki Bouchta, an imam, at his home in Turin on Tuesday and drove him straight to Milan airport, where he was immediately put on an aircraft to Morocco.
Mr Bouchta was frequently seen on television condemning the role of Italy in Iraq and, despite his family’s protests, the Interior Ministry said that he would not be allowed back. Last week they expelled a Tunisian-born preacher and have sent back militants to Senegal and Algeria for allegedly making comments that incite violence.
France has deported four radical Islamists since July 7 and says that ten more will follow.
Mr Clarke last night asserted that Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials abroad were drawing up lists of people who may be excluded from entering Britain.
Speaking on the BBC Two programme Newsnight, Mr Clarke said that foreign embassies were, in some cases, consulting with governments on the security risk of between 50 and 100 people who could be entered on the “warnings index”.
Each individual’s case would be scrutinised to ensure fairness, he said.
CLARKE'S WAR
January 2005 Looks for deals with North African and Middle East states to deport extremists
July 2005 Promises new terror offences, including preparatory acts, incitement and visiting terror training camps
July 2005 Calls for EU deal to track lost or stolen explosives
August 2005 Ten extremists ordered to be deported on “national security” grounds. But a lengthy deportation battle is expected
August 2005 Promises new reasons to deport or exclude person from Britain. Introduces new reasons to deport radicals but no one has been held
