Website: www.j4nw10.org
Petition

Join the Campaign Picket – at the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London - where the “Special Immigration Appeals Commission” will be conducting secret bail hearings for the Pakistan students who remain in detention without charge following unspecified and unsubstantiated claims by Gordon Brown that a “major terror plot has been foiled”:

Monday 27th July, Tuesday 28th July (and onwards depending if the hearings continue) - from 12-3pm each day.

Background

12 Muslim students were arrested on April 8th in Liverpool and Manchester. All were released without charge and the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police said they were innocent. However 10 were immediately detained with a view to deportation. They were held as Category A prisoners, with no contact with their families, facing a “Special” immigration court where neither they nor their legal representatives can hear any “evidence” against them. The only reason given by the Home Office is that they are suspected of “Islamist extremism” (whatever that may be). They have been torn away from their studies which their families saved money to send them here to undertake.

One has returned to Pakistan, rather than endure 18 months in top security prison while undergoing the appeal process. He has therefore lost his appeal opportunity – and was “debriefed” on return by the Pakistan security services.

Two more have however been released on bail by the Home Office (July 17th). They are subject to reporting restrictions and face “administrative removal” for alleged entry clearance problems – but this is a huge climb-down by the Government. Basically this is an admission that there wasn’t a “conspiracy” and that the “terror plot” was no more than a possible student visa scam.

Justice For The North West 10 calls on the UK Government to

• release ALL the students immediately
• apologise unreservedly to ALL those arrested
• make provision for them to catch up with their studies
• completely clear their names
• end secret immigration procedures and terror raids and stop the criminalisation of Muslims and their communities

The campaign urges everyone to write to Gordon Brown and demand that he personally apologises for his claim that a “major terror plot was foiled”. His position is surely untenable. The students have experienced over 3 months in harsh detention. This was unjustified and cannot be brushed under the carpet.

Legal Background

1. They are innocent. They were arrested under the Terrorism legislation but were never charged. They were “released” (that is, from the criminal jurisdiction) after 14 days of interrogation (fewer than the 28 permitted) with no suggestion of a charge put to them in interviews. The police said that they were innocent. This is not a “technicality” as the Home Office and the Judge in the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) suggested. It is the basis of our legal system. If you are not proven guilty, you are innocent. They are innocent.

2. They were immediately re-detained under Immigration powers. They await deportation. Their presence here is “not conducive” to the public good. No shred of evidence has been put to them to support this. They have been generally stated to be at risk of engaging in “Islamic extremist activity” (whatever that may be). There is no legal definition of this term. But the SIAC has said that the appeal process could take 18 months – and they expect to be in prison for all that time, as Category A (top risk) security prisoners. This is a massively unfair choice - whether to go home “voluntarily” (as one has now done) unable to clear their names and at risk from the Pakistan security, or to stay here, in prison, for 18 months, to see their appeals through.

3. The court is secret. They are not told of any case against them. The Home Office tells the Judge what evidence they have got, in secret. The prisoners and their legal representatives will not hear any of this. Preparing an appeal is almost impossible, as they don’t know what they are appealing against. Other countries (such as Pakistan) assume the British legal system is the best and that only their countries suffer dubious legal practices. The reality is that British justice is no justice.

4. Bail has been refused. Even people convicted of terrorist offences have got bail (usually a “control order” prison-at-home). The 10 are in an unprecedented situation. They have not been convicted of anything. There are no charges. There is a suggestion from the Home Office that there is an ongoing investigation (into whom? or what?) but this would not constitute a reason for lawfully detaining them. The presumption in this country is liberty – everyone should be free unless the state can show otherwise. In reality, it is the other way round for them. They are imprisoned on the basis of secret evidence that is said to outweigh anything they can say in their own defence. They are studying. They have attended classes and passed exams. They play cricket. Some of them eat together sometimes and have even been to curry restaurants in Manchester. It isn’t a crime to play cricket or go to Manchester. The real secret about the secret evidence may be … that there isn’t any.

Update

The bail hearings were on May 11-12th. All who applied were refused bail. The Judge made clear that they could always apply again – but the court wouldn’t hear the applications until the end of July. Further hearings now take place in the week beginning July 27th.

The Home Office was directed to release whatever “open” evidence it is going to rely upon, by July 6th. Also it was told to say whether it has gained any assurances from the Pakistan Government that they would be safe if returned. Pakistan was supposed to give these assurances by May 20th, according to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office statement at the hearing on May 12th.

Nothing was produced by the Home Office or FCO by May 20th. When Tariq ul Rehman returned “voluntarily” on June 4th, the Home Office made clear to his solicitors that there were no assurances from Pakistan. The latter “debriefed” him for 4 hours before letting him go at the airport. The basis of deportation to Pakistan is that they will be safe if they return there. Pakistan has not said so.

If this country does not drop the terrorist innuendo, Pakistan’s involvement with the US and UK “war on terror” forces it to treat them as terrorists too.

So there is no evidence against any of the 10. The release of Janus Khan and Sultan Sher means that there wasn’t any “conspiracy” or “network”. They didn’t all know each other and they weren’t involved in a “plot”. But there are no assurances as to their safety if they return to Pakistan. Their detention is surely not lawful. They should all go free – NOW.