Richard Ford, Home Correspondent
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Two terror suspects labelled a danger to Britain’s security will be freed from jail within days after a judge ruled that they could be tortured or subjected to a show trial if sent back home to Libya.
The ruling also disclosed that a map marked with the flightpath of Birmingham International Airport had been found in a car parked at the home of one of the men.
The landmark judgment deals a blow to Tony Blair’s Memorandum of Understanding with North African and Middle Eastern states, which allowed the Government to deport suspected terrorists without breaching human rights laws. A third of the terror suspects the Government plans to deport are Libyan.
The men, known only as DD and AS, will be released on bail next week while John Reid, the Home Secretary, seeks permission to appeal against the decision by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission.
Thirteen stringent conditions, including a 12-hour curfew, ban on access to the internet and mobile phones, will be imposed on both men.
Yesterday’s ruling said that the markings on the map of Birmingham airport “might have been for reconnaissance purposes but might have a wholly innocent explanation”. It pointed out that DD had made no comment on the map.
Mr Justice Ouseley, chairman of the commission, said that there was a real risk that the European Convention on Human Rights would be breached if the two men were returned to Libya. He said that the ruling regime might not be able to resist the temptation of interrogating the men and that assurances of a fair trial could not be taken at face value.
However, the ruling did identify the men as a threat to national security. It revealed that DD, 32, was the brother-in-law of two terrorists: Serhane Fakhet, the suspected mastermind of the 2004 Madrid train bombings in which 191 people died; and Mustapha Maymouni, who was jailed for 18 years for his part in the 2003 Casablanca bombings in which 45 people died.
“DD’s links to Maymouni and Fakhet are not mere misfortune or coincidence. We believe from experience that such family relationships with like-minded people add to contacts, cover and security,” it said. “We are entirely satisfied that DD is a real and direct threat to the national security of the UK.”
A website discovered on a DVD at DD’s home included reference to “martyrs”, “jihad” and “virtuous warriors” and a song entitled “I am a terrorist”.
DD, who came to Britain with his wife in January 2004, was also a leading member of the al-Qaeda-linked group Libyan Islamic Fighting, which had attempted to overthrow Colonel Gaddafi, the Libyan leader. He has been held in detention since October 2005.
The ruling said that AS, who is thought to be 27, was an Islamic extremist. He was involved with a “serious terrorist group” based in Milan that referred to a “football game” as a code for their terror plot. In September 2002 one member of the group was recorded saying: “The game is ready . . . We will win, always victorious.”
According to his asylum claim, AS fled Libya into Egypt in 1997, and then travelled to Saudi Arabia and Syria before being smuggled into Britain in 2002. The Home Office rejects parts of his story and says he spent time in Italy and the Netherlands and travelled to Britain on a false passport. He was arrested in May 2002.
The Home Office said that it was “very disappointed” with the ruling and opposed giving the men bail on the grounds that they would abscond. Mr Justice Mitting said that keeping them in detention after they had won their appeal against deportation was “on the cusp of legality”. He also thought that the chances of a successful appeal were slim.
Memorandums of Understanding are a key part of the Government’s strategy to deal with foreign terror suspects who cannot be prosecuted in British courts.
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