Terror suspect allowed to stay in Britain 'because deporting him would be unfair on his children'

An Algerian terror suspect who fought deportation for five years has now been allowed to remain in Britain because his children have become settled.

Immigration judges have ruled that attempts to remove the man, who can not be named, have taken so long that it would now be unfair on his four children to deport him.

The 39-year-old man, known as 'T', has links with al-Qaeda suspect Abu Doha and attended the same training camp as the British shoe bombers Richard Reid and Saajid Badat.

Legal ruling: Attempts by the Home Office to deport a terror suspect have taken so long that his children have become settled and should not be forced to leave the country, judges have declared

According to the Telegraph, the Home Office has tried to deport the Algerian since 2005 when it ruled him a threat to national security.

But the man has fought lengthy appeals against attempts to remove him and his wife and their four British-born children, aged eight, six, three and one.

Despite accepting that the Government was justified in wanting to deport T, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission has ruled that doing so would be unfair on his children.

The SIAC also warned that further legal battles against his deportation could drag out for another two years, by which time his children 'will each have become even more settled in England.'

It admitted the man's appeal against his deportation would have been rejected if not for the children.

However the commission ruled that T 'no longer poses a risk to national security.'
T first arrived in Britain in 1997 on a false passport and returned illegally in 1999 after spending time in Afghanistan - where he attended the Khalden terror training camp.

He brought his wife to Britain in 2001 using false documents and later lodged with Mustafa Melki - who according to the SIAC was an 'active member of a very active terror group' who was arrested in 2001.

T was also associated with Doha, a 39-year-old Algerian firebrand cleric who was arrest in 2001 over the so-called 'millenium plot' to blow up Los Angeles airport.

The SIAC's Mr Justice Mitting said in making its ruling on the fate of T, a 'fine balance must be struck' between the potential risk to Britain and the interests of his family.

'If we were required to have regard only for the circumstances of 'T' and his wife we would, without hesitation, dismiss his appeal.'
'Although they have established a family life in the United Kingdom, they have done so in circumstances in which they were well aware that the immigration status of both of them was, at best, precarious.'\

But he said it was the interests of the four children that was the issue.

A spokesman for the Home Office said: 'The decision was a matter for the court. We can't comment further on operation matters.'