Britain detained 10 people today it deemed a threat to national security following last month's bomb attacks in London and said it planned to deport them.
Abu Qatada
Human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce said she understood Jordanian national Abu Qatada, accused by Spain's top judge of being the spiritual leader of al-Qaeda in Europe, was one of those detained.
Prime Minister Tony Blair has been under pressure to take tough action against foreign nationals who incite terrorism after four British Muslim bombers killed themselves and 52 other people in attacks on London's transport system on July 7th.
The government spelled out plans last week to expel hardline Islamists it believes are inciting or glorifying militant attacks and has signed agreements with some countries, including Jordan, to return them.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke said the presence of the 10 foreign nationals was "not conducive to the public good".
"We now have good reason to believe that we can get necessary assurances from the countries to which we will return the deportees so that they will not be subject to torture or ill-treatment," Mr Clarke said in a statement.
Human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce
The detentions came the same day 10 people appeared in court under anti-terrorism laws over a botched attempt to bomb London two weeks after the first attack.
All have been charged with keeping information from police hunting suspects.
Mr Clarke said the men were detained by immigration officers backed by the police under existing powers available to him under the United Kingdom's Immigration Act and would be held in prison.
Ms Peirce said the group included one man seized from a psychiatric hospital.
"People have been whisked off to prison and we are being denied access to them," she said. "Now it's suddenly fine to deport people who for years the government has said it was unsafe to do so. It's quite extraordinary."
In a separate court hearing today, Briton Haroon Rashid Aswat, held on a US extradition warrant and accused of plotting to set up a militant training camp in Oregon, was remanded in custody until September.
Britain has said in court papers that Qatada (44) is a "truly dangerous individual . . . at the centre in the United Kingdom of terrorist activities associated with al-Qaeda".
He was sentenced in Jordan to life imprisonment in absentia for involvement in terrorist attacks there in 1998.