THE BRITISH Home Secretary, Mr Michael Howard, was instructed by an appeal court judge yesterday to reconsider his decision to deport a leading Saudi Arabian dissident in order to protect Britain's commercial considerations, Rachel Borrill writes from London.
Judge David Pearl ruled that Mr Howard had not fully established whether Prof Muhammad alMass'ari, the leader of the fundamentalist committee for the Defence of Legitimate Rights, would be safe if he was deported to the Caribbean island of Dominica and ordered the case to be reconsidered.
Prof al Massari (49), who has waged a relentless campaign against Saudi Arabia since his arrival in Britain last year, hailed the ruling as a "great victory" and said he was now confident that he would not be deported.
"I could not have asked for any thing better. It has put the Home Secretary under enormous judicial, ethical and humanitarian pressure," he added.
The Home Office immediately announced that it would consider an appeal against Judge Pearl's ruling. Mr Howard argued that the importance of commercial links between the two countries was a valid ground for deporting Prof al Massari.
Sir Ivan Lawrence QC, the chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said "The idea we should be obliged to give house room to someone who is making himself a nuisance to one of our strongest allies and trading partners when he made a false claim for asylum is too ridiculous for words."
Judge Pearl rejected reassurances from the Saudi ambassador that Prof al Massari was not a target for Saudi agents.
Instead he accepted that the British government had attempted to circumvent the UN Convention on Refugees for "diplomatic and trade reasons".
Judge Pearl also agreed that the British government's attempts to deport the dissident to Dominica could leave him at risk of potential violence from Saudi Arabia and in danger of being deported back to the Middle East.
Judge Pearl further embarrassed Mr Howard by demanding that he reconsider the case "as expeditiously as possible and within one month".