Downing Street Says

Asked if the Prime Minister was still committed to the pledge he gave 3 months ago, which was that by the end of next year, the number of removals of asylum seekers should exceed the number of unplanned applications, and also whether the Prime Minister was frustrated about a case mentioned the "The Guardian" which detailed the return of Egyptian terrorists to Egypt, the PMOS replied that the answer to the first question was yes, he was still committed and the answer to the second was we have cooperated with the court, but it would be wrong to comment on communications the Prime Minister had with his colleagues.

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For those who haven’t seen the Guardian piece referred to, it’s here:
<a href="http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,11538,1352185,00.html">http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,11538,1352185,00.html</a>

Basically Blair was very enthusiastic about deporting some Egyptian asylum seekers who were alleged by MI5 to be "involved in terrorism". It was pointed out that these people wouldn’t get a fair trial in Egypt, and might be tortured and/or killed. The British embassy in Cairo asked for assurances from the Egyptian government that the men "would get a fair trial, and that if found guilty of links to Egyptian Islamic Jihad they would not be executed"; the Egyptians refused to give any such assurance.

Nevertheless, Tony Blair continued to press for the deportations, writing in response to this advice from the FCO,

"This is a bit much. Why do we need all these things?"

"All these things" being the guarantees of fair treatment.

Blair then went on to argue that the FCO should try to relax the conditions under which the victims could be deported to a simple assurance by the Egyptian government that they would not be tortured. This also was not forthcoming, and so nothing came of it.

So in summary, Tony Blair intervened in the legal process to try to deport some people to a country where they would probably be tortured, given an unfair trial, and perhaps executed. Thankfully the courts would have slapped him down if he’d actually managed it, but nevertheless this is completely scandalous.

I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for an apology from the PM for his behaviour.
Comment by Chris Lightfoot — 17 Nov 2004 on 12:12 pm | Link

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» Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Asylum

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