LOC13:57
10:57 GMT
LONDON, Nov 5 (KUNA) -- Extremist preacher Abu Hamza has won his appeal
against the Government's attempts to strip him of his British passport, a
special tribunal ruled here Friday.
The radical cleric argued that such a move would render him "stateless" as
he had already been stripped of his Egyptian citizenship.
Delivering its 12-page ruling today, the Special Immigration Appeals
Commission (Siac) allowed his appeal.
In his ruling, the Judge said: "We are satisfied on balance of
probabilities that if a deprivation order were to be made, the appellant
(Hamza) would be made stateless.
"The conclusions which we have reached in the closed judgment supplement,
but do not contradict, that conclusion. "Accordingly, this appeal is allowed."
Hamza, 52, was jailed for seven years in February 2006 for inciting murder and
race hate.
He is in Belmarsh Prison, south London, as he challenges attempts to
extradite him to the US on terror charges.
That case was delayed by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg
in July, which called for further submissions over the length of his sentence
and the conditions he would experience if extradited to ADX Florence, a
so-called "supermax" prison in Fremont County, Colorado.
Attempts to take his passport away were launched in 2003 but delayed by
other legal actions against him.
At a three-day hearing in London last month, Hamza's lawyers argued he has
already been stripped of his Egyptian citizenship so cannot have his British
passport taken too, as that would render him "stateless".
But the Home Office said there was no documentation to prove he was no
longer an Egyptian national and though he was once denied an Egyptian
passport, he was later allowed one.
The commission heard Hamza may have had his Egyptian nationality revoked
but the country's government would not confirm whether he had or not.
The cleric came to Britain on a student visa and acquired a British
passport through marriage.
He was denied an Egyptian passport in 1982 because he had not undertaken
military service, the panel heard, but a decree in 1988 allowed him his
citizenship back. (end)
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KUNA 051357 Nov 10NNNN