Wednesday 24 April 2013

Abu Qatada and the Rule of Law


Another day, another statement from the Home Secretary. More time and column inches devoted to how our useless judiciary will not do the ‘decent thing’ and send this man back to Jordan. A reaction to the latest setback appeared in the Daily Hate comment section online. 

You don't need to write some BS treaty, you just need to grow a pair of balls for once, and not give a damn what your E.U. masters will say, or do. How hard is it to put him in chains, commandeer a Cessna and fly his ass off to Jordan. You'll be home in time for a pint and a bit of X-Factor, you can deal with the fallout in the morning, but at least you will regain a little bit of self respect.” 

And there, in a nutshell is why we need the Rule of Law. Qatada is a deeply unpleasant human being. He is difficult to defend. He espouses actions and values that are dangerous and inflammatory. Yet it is vital for our system of the Rule of Law that nasty pieces of work are covered by the safeguards of the law. He has also been in custody - without trial - for many, many years. This is disgraceful. Everyone has the right to know what their accusers say and have their moment in court to state their case. This has not happened. 

He is reported to have made speeches back in the 90’s which seem to break quite a few public order laws. Yet successive governments have chugged back and forth between various courts to get him sent to Jordan. Why has he not been charged here?

It seems that to do so would compromise ‘intelligence’  .........Mmmm. 

Whenever human rights are considered, it is the appalling human beings who test their application. Doesn’t make human rights less important - if anything, it makes the case for their retention even stronger, otherwise numpties who rant in the Daily Hate will set the agenda - and we will be back to locking people up because they look funny. 




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