Palestinian Sheikh Salah wins UK deportation appeal
Sheikh Raed Salah has been cleared of all wrong doingA prominent Palestinian activist detained on a visit to the UK has won his appeal against attempts to deport him.
Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheikh Raed Salah, 53, was held and given a deportation order after he flew into the UK in June.
In June 28 last year, Home Secretary, Theresa May, banned Salah on the grounds that he had allegedly made anti-Semitic statements. He was then arrested and detained in London after it emerged he had entered Britain despite the exclusion order being issued against him.
According to witnesses who testified in court for the Home Office, the main source for the decision to ban Salah was a report compiled by the Jewish Community Security Trust (CST), a charity established to ensure the security of the Jews in the UK.
The Upper Immigration Tribunal ruled on April 8 that his appeal had succeeded “on all grounds.”
The Immigration court not only overturned the original deportation order, but also the banning order itself which was the original justification for the treatment of Salah.
In his judgement, Justice Ockelton, Senior Immigration judge and Vice President of the Upper Tribunal, said that May “was misled” and: “There is no evidence that the danger perceived by the Secretary of State is perceived by any of the other countries where the appellant has been, nor, save for the very tardy indictment, is there any evidence that even Israel sees the danger that the Secretary of State sees.”
The CST rejected the accusation that it misled the Home Secretary insisting they “had done more than anybody else to ensure that the most accurate information possible was available for the Government, and the Immigration Appeal Tribunal, to use in making their decisions.”
However, Salah’s solicitor, Tayab Ali, called for an investigation into the relationship between the CST and the Home Office adding it was “wholly inappropriate that the Secretary of State should base such an important decision on a narrow single source, such as the Community Security Trust.”
A Home Office spokesperson told The Muslim News they were “disappointed the Upper Tier Tribunal has reversed the decision of the First Tier and allowed Salah’s appeal.
“We are considering the detailed judgement and, if we can appeal, we will.”
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) said the Upper Immigration Tribunal’s letter to Sheikh Salah said that the decision to detain him appeared to have been “entirely unnecessary”.
PSC Director, Sarah Colborne, said the ruling was “very important day for British justice.”
“By arresting, imprisoning and attempting to deport Sheikh Raed Salah on what the judge has determined as a ‘misapprehension of the facts’, the British Government have acted in a shameful way,” she said.
“I trust that there will be a serious attempt by the British Government to rely in the future on accurate evidence rather than inaccurate anti-Palestinian propaganda against someone who has a history of opposing Israel’s crimes and violations of international law.”
In September, the High Court ruled in a damages claim that Salah had been wrongly detained for two days, during which he was not told the reason for his arrest.
Justice Nicol said in his judgement that although the Home Office had notbroken the rules over its reasons for his detention, the detention had been conducted incorrectly. He said Salah “was not given proper and sufficient reasons” for his arrest for the first two days of his 21-day detention.
The Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, Manuel Hassassian, told The Muslim News the verdict is “a victory for Palestine”, and further stated that the courts acted in a fair way.
“This has not only restored dignity and credibility to a man who has campaigned for the Palestinian cause, but has symbolised victory for the Palestinians in their struggle for freedom, liberty and human rights.”
Saleh retuned to Israel on April 16.
