Jordan Times
Thursday, July 21, 2005
UK strikes deportation deal with Jordan
LONDON (AFP) — Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday Britain was mulling an international conference on extremism following the London bombings, while at the same time forging accords with countries such as Jordan to make it easier to deport their citizens.
In the aftermath of the July 7 attacks, Blair
also emphasised his confidence in the country's security services following news
that Britain had lowered its threat assessment level as a result of a
confidential intelligence report just three weeks before the blasts.
The British leader said an international response was needed to confront
terrorism at its roots, which were deep and widespread.
He noted as a priority the need — shared, Blair said, by the government of
Pakistan — to crack down on hardline religious schools, or madrassas, which some
of the London bombers are thought to have attended.
"We are also looking at the possibility of holding a conference, which will
bring together some of the main countries who have various concerns and who have
been closely involved in the issues, in order to try and take concerted action
across the world to try to root out this type of extremist teaching," Blair said
during his weekly question session in parliament.
"Though the terrorists will use all sorts of issues to justify what they do, the
roots of it do go deep, they are often not found in this country alone therefore
international action is also necessary," he said.
Blair noted that about 26 countries had suffered Al Qaeda-linked attacks since
1993, adding: "There is obviously a huge well of support and understanding of
the problems that we face in this country."
Blair additionally said Britain had concluded an agreement with Amman to allow
it to deport Jordanians without fear of mistreatment, and was working on similar
deals with other countries.
Earlier, Blair's official spokesman said this included most notably north
African nations.
Under international law, Britain is prevented from sending even terrorism
suspects back to a country where they might face inhuman or degrading treatment
and has a policy of not returning people to face the death penalty.
The spokesman said a number of Jordanians may be subject to deportation
procedures once a detailed memorandum of understanding is signed, but refused to
disclose any further details.
One cleric who could now face deportation as a result of the agreement is
Jordanian-born Abu Qatada, who has been described as terror mastermind Osama Ben
Laden's "right-hand man in Europe."
Abu Qatada, who fled to Britain claiming persecution, was held in Belmarsh
prison in southeast London without charge as part of a government crackdown
following the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
Following a court ruling that such detention breached human rights obligations,
he and other foreign terror suspects are now subject to so-called "control
orders," which limit their movements.
Turning to the work of Britain's security services, Blair threw his full support
behind them, highlighting the tough task they face tracking international
terrorism.
"I am satisfied that they do everything that is possible in order to protect our
country," Blair said.
"Though of course it is terrible that these terrorist attacks took place in
London, nonetheless over the past few years our security services and our police
have done an immense amount to protect our country," he said.
The comments came in response to a question about a leaked report by Britain's
Joint Terrorist Analysis Centre that concluded there was no group with the
intent or capability to attack the country.