U.K. expands powers to deport foreigners
Pakistan Times Monitoring Desk

LONDON (UK): The British government Wednesday substantially expanded its criteria for deporting or excluding foreign nationals it believes pose a threat to the national interest.

The British home secretary, Charles Clarke, outlined the new guidelines following a three-week consultation period with faith groups - which saw the government drop one of its more controversial definitions of unacceptable behaviour. That was a clause specifying views “which the government considers to be extreme and that conflict with the UK’s culture of tolerance”.

The list, which the Home Office says is “indicative rather than exhaustive”, will cover any foreign-born national “writing, producing, publishing or distributing material, public speaking including preaching, running a website; or using a position of responsibility such as teacher, community or youth leader to express views which foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence in furtherance of particular beliefs; seek to provoke others to terrorist acts; foment other serious criminal activity or seek to provoke others to serious criminal acts; or foster hatred which might lead to inter-community violence in the UK.”

Although the list does not give the home secretary more powers to deport extremists than he currently enjoys, it specifies behaviours which will define the basis of “not conducive to the public good.”A new wave of deportations - in addition to those already announced and the refusal to readmit the cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed to the UK - are expected to follow shortly.

Clarke said: “As I said when the consultation started, we recognise the sensitivities around the use of these powers and intend to use them in a measured and targeted way. These powers are not intended to stifle free speech or legitimate debate about religions or other issues. Britain is rightly proud of its openness and diversity and we must not allow those driven by extremism of any sort to destroy that tradition.”

The Behaviour Code

A database of those deemed to have breached the behaviour code anywhere around the world will be circulated to immigration officials at UK entry points, allowing them to bar admission to the UK to those on the list.Although the measures have been given a cautious welcome by both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, human rights lawyers have expressed concerns about deporting individuals to countries accused of human rights abuses.

The European convention on human rights - incorporated into UK law - forbids such deportations, something the government hopes to circumvent by bilateral “memorandums of understanding” with such states. However, Manfred Nowak, the UN special rapporteur on torture, said such assurances were “not an appropriate tool to eradicate this risk”. Gareth Crossman, the policy director of Liberty, today told the BBC that the civil rights group shared concerns about the assurances.

“Of course they can give assurances, but what we would like to see is that those assurances are corroborated by some independent international body, such as Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch or indeed the UN, which has its own committee against torture,” he said.

Home Office defends

A Home Office spokesman defended the policy, saying: “We believe a memorandum of understanding is a good example of the sort of international cooperation necessary to confront and defeat terrorism.”

David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said the Conservatives had been calling for the measures for a long time. He called on Mr Clarke to use them “robustly and effectively”.

The Liberal Democrates’ home affairs spokesman, Mark Oaten, said: “We broadly welcome the use of powers to deport people, as long as the individuals involved have a right to appeal and the case for deportation is reasonable.”It would have been unacceptable to deport people on the basis of a lack of general commitment to UK values or to remove the right of appeal, both ideas that were suggested by the Prime Minister.”

The London mayor, Ken Livingstone, however, warned of the dangers of banning controversial clerics, such as Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who has defended Palestinian suicide bombers, and whom he invited to the capital last year.He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that if the new measures were applied against people like him, “there will be very few Muslim scholars or leaders that will ever be admitted to Britain because the vast majority of Muslims identify with the struggle of the Palestinian people”.

IHRC Reax

The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) said it was “alarmed” at the Home Office list.It warned that the new grounds for deportation amounted to the “criminalisation of thought, conscience and belief”.It said that the plan was based on the “fallacy” that foreign preachers who could not speak English were responsible for radicalising British youths who spoke only English.

The IHRC chairman, Massoud Shadjareh, said: “The fact that Mr Clarke’s final list is almost identical to his initial proposals, despite numerous objections from interested parties, makes a total mockery of the consultation process.”

The Muslim Council of Britain on Wednesday said the list of unacceptable behaviours announced by the British Home Secretary as grounds for exclusion of foreign nationals from the UK was “too wide and unclear.”

It called for “a full and proper consultation before these are finalised,” adding the objective of such policy should be to protect national security.”

“But it needs to be done in a way that is in accord with international legitimacy as enshrined in the UN Charter and resolutions and international instruments with regard to the inalienable rights of the peoples. Above all, these should be practical and capable of being successfully implemented, and not merely sweep under the carpet contrary and uncomfortable opinions, “ said its statement here today.

It said the fair objective of the order should be to exclude those who, for example, “incite hatred or advocate violence, support acts of violence in the UK, or in some way violate any UK law.

“On the other hand, neither do we not want to be on the side of those who violate UN resolutions and defy international legality, “ it said.

Banning Entry in age of Global Communications

In an age of global communications, banning entry or deportations may not achieve the intended results. Moreover, such “actions against those expressing support for any of the liberation movements anywhere in the world, would be viewed as oppressive.”

“It would be more prudent to bring persons who threaten the peace and security of the realm, whether resident or visiting, to trial under our own laws.

Sending them out may turn them into unwanted heroes who may then be free to export their vile thoughts, if such be the case, from exile. We do not want this, “ said MCB. Sir Iqbal Sacranie, Secretary General of the MCB in his reaction said “We need more thought and consultation for any precipitate action might only add to the burden of our already overstretched security services.”

Blair on Law-abiding British Muslims

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Tony Blair once again reassured British Muslims that new anti-terror measures were not aimed against the law abiding Muslims who abhorred actions of extremists as they did not represent Islam.

“These measures are not aimed at decent law-abiding British Muslims or Britons of any other faith. We know that this fringe of extremism does not truly represent Islam,” Blair said in an article for the Muslim press, according to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office sources.

Blair said British Muslims had “made abundantly clear how they abhor the actions of the extremists and how they fear that the good name of the community will be contaminated by the words and actions of these fanatics.”

He said many Muslims had made Britain their home and like all other faiths they had “ the complete freedom to worship and to make a better life for their families.”
“Their children have been born here. British Muslims make a huge and welcome contribution to our national life,” he said.

But he made it clear that the new measures would be “directed against extremism and extremism only whatever form it takes, and whichever faith it claims to represent.”

“In some cases, I suspect there will be surprise abroad that they are not already in place. So we will seek new powers to deport or exclude foreign nationals who foster hatred, advocate violence or justify such violence. This will include clerics associated with extremism, “ said the Prime Minister.

Blair said British Muslims themselves had been calling for action against such clerics and added “with the help of the community, we will now draw up a list of foreign-born clerics who will not be allowed to preach in the UK and who can be excluded. For British citizens, we will bring in a new offence of condoning or glorifying terrorism in the UK and abroad.”

He said Britain was “proud of its global and deserved reputation as a tolerant, multi-cultural society where people of all nationalities, backgrounds and faiths live in peace and friendship.”

Referring to the London bombings of July-7 which killed people of all faiths, Blair said “the unified and calm response of the British people” indicated the values of tolerance and strength of the British society.

“While there have been isolated and completely unacceptable acts of religious and racial hatred, the overwhelming response of our population was that these attacks were the work of a few fanatics, not of any section of our society. If a goal of these attacks was to turn our citizens against each other, they failed, “ said the Prime Minister.●