Algerian terror-suspect wins 21-year legal battle to remain in the UK

An Algerian terror suspect has won a 21-year legal battle to live in the UK in a latest blow to the government’s questionable anti-terror legislation.

Referred to only as “G”, the Algerian national repeatedly defeated attempts to deport him by the Home Office on accusations of helping to send young British Muslims to terror training camps abroad amongst other charges.

A judge ruled that the threat of deportation has had an immense impact on his mental health and subsequently quashed the Home Office’s refusal to grant him indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

The judge’s decision also overturned the government’s restrictions on the suspect including house arrest where “G” was required to stay at his home address and report to a police station once a month on his daily activities.

The decision will now allow “G” to study Algebraic Thinking at an Open University.

“G” came to the UK after claiming asylum in August 1995. However in 2001, the Home Office underwent a process to deport him after evidence emerged that he was an active supporter of the Algerian terrorist group Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) “which has links to Osama Bin Laden’s terrorist network”.

“G” is alleged to have raised funds for fighters in Chechnya and to have sponsored “young Muslims in the UK to go to Afghanistan to train for Jihad.”

During his 21-year long legal battle “G” has lost two appeals against his deportation which the government was not permitted to enforce due to human rights laws preventing his removal to Algeria.

A ruling by Justice Collins, on 16 December by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, stated that “G” no longer poses a risk to national security and that limiting his right to live in the UK threatened his mental health.

“I am satisfied as is shown by the history that there is now no reasonable need for limited leave. The possibility of removal is remote in the extreme. It follows that the decision letter must be quashed and reconsideration must be given to the claimant’s application having regard to what I have said in this judgment.”

“The condition restricting his ability to leave his address for the named period is unlawful, but I doubt that that unlawfulness carries with it a claim for damages,” Collins further explained.

The case is another blow for the Home Secretary Amber Rudd who has lost a series of court cases involving the deportation of terror suspects last year.