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UK loses appeal to send Palestinian leader back to prison

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, July 28, IRNA -- The UK government has pledged to keep the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel under surveillance after losing permission to appeal against the release of Sheikh Raed Salah on bail to fight being deported.

“We are very disappointed with the court's decision and will monitor Salah’s activities extremely closely. We are still seeking to deport him,” a Home Office spokesman said.

The Palestinian leader, who was arrested in London last month amid claims that he was subjected to an exclusion order three days after being allowed into the UK, welcomed the Court of Appeal's refusal on Wednesday but criticised the attempt to send him back to prison.

“We are concerned that the Home Secretary sought to have our client returned to custody, despite the carefully reasoned decision of the High Court to release him,” his solicitor, Tayab Ali, said.

“We trust that, following today's decision, the Home Secretary will accept that her approach to Sheikh Salah's case has been misconceived and counter-productive,” Ali said in a statement obtained by IRNA.

“We are confident that Sheikh Salah will be vindicated and that he will be permitted to speak freely about the struggle of his people for freedom and self-determination.,” his statement said.

The Palestinian leader, who is not facing any charges, is contesting the delayed issuing of a travel ban based on “absolutely unfounded” allegations to discredit him after a “pro-Israeli website circulated a catalogue of lies and fabrications about him which he has refuted for years.”

He was reported to have entered Britain legally using his Israeli passport as he has previously done and attended several meetings including with MPs in parliament before he was arrested in the UK, claiming he was subject to an exclusion order and should have been stopped at the border.

He was granted bail at a second attempt on July 15 after being in prison for almost three weeks ahead of his deportation case, which is not expected to be heard until September.

Sarah Colborne, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in London, has said she was appalled by the decision to detain Salah, who he has been elected mayor of his hometown, Um al-Fahm, three times and has never been convicted of anti-semitism in Israel.

“This is a legitimate organisation which Israel has never moved to ban. Raed Salah regularly speaks at venues across Israel where he has considerable support amongst the Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up a fifth of the population,' Colborne said.

'The attempt to remove Sheikh Raed Salah from this country while he is taking legal action against those who have been defaming him is an obstruction of the course of justice,' she said.