Ten Pakistani men released without charge after an investigation into an alleged plot to bomb shopping centres in Manchester were part of an al-Qaeda network planning attacks in Britain and should be deported, a tribunal has heard.
Robin Tam QC for the Home Secretary told the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) in London: “All the applicants were members of a UK based network linked to al-Qaeda involved in attack planning. Each therefore poses a risk to national security and deportation would be considered in the national good.”
Three of the men, Abdul Wahab Khan, Shoaib Khan and Tariq ur-Rehman, waived their rights to anonymity at the hearing. The SIAC panel considered evidence behind closed doors before refusing bail for the three named men, along with a fourth, “XC.”
Sibghat Kadri QC for Abdul Wahab Khan, 26, said: “Other than what he was told upon arrest, that he was suspected to be a terrorist, he has never been informed of the substance of any allegations against him.” He added that despite the police seizing computers, a TV and clothing which were subjected to forensic examination, “not a shred of evidence was found.”
He added: “This case does not involve the liberty of the applicant but the wider question of trust that the community can repose in the security services in a multi-racial society and the subsequent faith in the Secretary of State to make a decision based on justice rather than fear of political failure.”
See also the Times, 13 May 2009