Paying to be insecure

A tribunal in the UK has ruled that suspected al-Qaeda terrorists Abid Naseer and Ahmad Faraz Khan, who allegedly plotted to bomb a packed shopping centre and continue to pose a threat to national security, cannot be deported to Pakistan because it would breach their human rights.

And the rights of the British people to feel safe in their own country? What’s more, they will have to pay not to be safe as the ruling means taxpayers will pick up a bill running into millions of pounds to keep the two men under control orders.

The two men were among 12 suspects arrested in Manchester, Liverpool and Lancashire last April following an intensive surveillance operation led by MI5. Justice Mitting, a High Court judge, accepted that the men were planning an ‘imminent’ attack and posed a ‘serious’ threat but ruled that returning them to Pakistan would be in breach of their human rights as they might face torture in that country.

The only possible mitigating circumstances could be that the suspects were never charged or convicted, although whether that would have made any difference to the tribunal decision remains to be seen.

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