By IRNA,
London : The British government has rejected an appeal led by the country’s longest-serving Muslim MP to prevent the deportation of 10 Pakistani students, who were released without charge after being detained originally under terrorism legislation for 13 days.
In an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons, Labour MP for Glasgow Mohammad Sarwar called on his fellow parliamentarians to urge the Home Office to intervene in their case as they remain in the custody of the UK Border Agency awaiting removal from the UK.
“These students were not charged and that as such the human rights of these individuals are being materially breached,” said Sarwar, who chairs the parliamentary Scottish Committee.
“The fundamental tenet and basis of the UK justice system is being innocent until proven guilty,” he said, calling for their immediate release to enable the students to resume their studies.
But in a letter to Sarwar, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith insisted that although the students, arrested among 12 people, were all freed without charge last month, it was only because of a lack of evidence.
“The reason we are taking deportation action is that we considered that there is sufficient evidence to believe the particular individuals concerned represent a threat to the national security of this country but against whom we’ve been advised that we can’t bring charges,” Smith said.
“We are able to seek deportation as the criteria we must meet are set at a lower threshold than those in a prosecution,” she said in a copy of the letter obtained by IRNA. The arrests were made on “credible intelligence to suggest there was an imminent threat.”
At the time of their arrests, Prime Minister Gordon Brown claimed that a “very big plot” had been uncovered, but Greater Manchester chief constable Peter Fahy was later reported saying that they were “innocent” before handing them over for deportation.
The decision to seek their deportation provoked a diplomatic row with Pakistan, highlighted when President Asif Ali Zardari pulled out of a joint press conference with Brown during a visit to Islamabad at the end of April.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has also criticised the decision as being “dishonourable” and accused Brown of making “prejudicial and premature remarks” about the arrests.
The students will have the option of appealing against the deportation decision to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, the country’s most secret court that was established after the government lost a case at the European Human Rights Court in 1996.
The whole arrests saga ia also being separately investigated by the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation Lord Carlile, whose findings are due in the next few weeks.