Abu Hamza keeps British citizenship
Abu Hamza, the extremist preacher, could be back on the streets of Britain next year after a court decided he could retain his British citizenship.
By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent
Published: 7:54PM GMT 05 Nov 2010
The Special Immigration Appeals Commission ruled that Hamza could not be made stateless and if he also succeeds in blocking his extradition to the US, he will be freed to live in Britain next October.
David Cameron was said to be "disappointed" with the decision but a Downing Street spokesman said it would not affect the extradition proceedings.
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The Home Office said they would consider it closely and added: "British nationality is a privilege and the Home Secretary has the ability to remove it from dual nationals when she believes it to be in the public good.”
The Special Immigration and Appeals Commission (SIAC) ruled that Hamza could not be stripped of his citizenship because the Egyptians had got there first.
The commission was told that Egypt acted after finding out that Britain wanted to take away Hamza’s passport in 2003, after passing a new law.
While the British case dragged on through the courts, the Egyptian authorities issued a decree behind closed doors.
An article appeared in an official Egyptian newspaper in May 2004 saying Hamza was no longer an Egyptian national but no government documents were produced for the commission and the Egyptian authorities refused to appear.
The case hinged on a sphinx-like response from the Egyptian authorities when asked by the British embassy in Cairo for confirmation that Hamza retained his Egyptian nationality.
They told the diplomats “I have the honour to inform you that the relevant Egyptian authorities have advised that no conclusion was reached which could be provided to you on this matter”.
A former Egyptian official called General Afify told the commission the response had “no colour or taste or smell” but added that it meant Hamza’s nationality had been stripped.
The commission concluded that the general “has a very well-informed understanding of how the Egyptian Government works in immigration and nationality matters and has open to him channels of communication to serving officials to help inform his opinion.”
It said that “on balance of probabilities” a decree had been issued to deprive Hamza of his Egyptian nationality.
Hamza is currently serving a seven year sentence for incitement to murder, stirring up racial hatred and possessing a document useful for terrorism.
The preacher is wanted in the US in connection with a plot to kidnap western tourists in Yemen, helping recruits travel to Afghanistan, and set up a training camp in the US.
The European Court has ruled that if he faces life in jail without parole it will breach his human rights and is currently considering further submissions.
Hamza, real name Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, arrived in Britain in 1979 at the age of 21 on a six month Egyptian passport.
He bigamously married his first wife the following year, despite the fact she was already pregnant by another man and was still married to the man she had met when she was 16.
He was granted citizenship in May 1986, when he was studying civil engineering at Brighton polytechnic, on the basis that he had lived in Britain for more than five years.
SIAC heard that he successfully applied for an Egyptian passport in 1988 before he was involved with radical Islam, but that position had changed by 2004.
speechless really, that due to european liberalist legislation the uk cant get rid of this nauseating shitbag.
