European Human Rights court rulings making UK ’safe heaven’ for foreign terrorists’

LONDON - Human Rights rulings have made Britain a ’safe haven’ for foreign terrorists, the independent reviewer of anti-terror laws has warned.

The Daily Mail quoted Lord Carlile as saying that the European Court of Human Rights had undermined efforts to deport dangerous individuals who are determined to harm the UK and its citizens.

Carlile said the rejection of the Government’s argument that the risk of ill-treatment of foreign nationals deported on suspicion of being involved in terrorism needed to be balanced against the threat they posed if they were to remain, has caused problems for the UK, the paper said.

“The effect of the court’s rulings is to make the UK a safe haven for some individuals whose determination is to damage the UK and its citizens - hardly a satisfactory situation save for the purist,” he said.

His comments are expected to boost the Conservative MPs who are already openly revolting against plans to give thousands of prisoners the right to vote after a court agreed that prisoners must have access to the ballot box.

The paper quoted Dominic Raab, Tory MP for Esher and Walton, as saying that European judges’ law making was ‘out of control’.

“It is not the job of an international court to re-write British laws on deportation, parental discipline or prisoner voting. It is high time we drew a line in the sand,” he added.

Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects individuals against torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, and also allows foreign terror suspects to fight deportation on the grounds that they would be tortured in their home countries if returned. The European convention has been incorporated into British law in the Human Rights Act, the paper said.

The UK, however, has claimed that a lot of terrorists take advantage of the clause and therefore, the courts should be allowed to consider the risks posed to its citizens while making its judgements, the paper added. (ANI)