LONDON, August 12, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Tough legal battles were looming Friday, August 12, over the British government's detention of ten foreigners pending deportation for allegedly posing threats to national security.

Ten foreign nationals, including Jordanian-born Abu Qatada, were arrested Thursday in various parts of Britain, as a first step to send them back to their original countries.

Human rights lawyers said the government's actions could result in innocent people being deported to countries where they could face torture and other inhumane treatment, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.

"What separates us from the terrorists is that we do not torture people or send them to be tortured," said Shami Chakrabarti, director of the civil rights group Liberty.

"It should take more than self-serving assurances to demonstrate that countries with a human rights record such as Jordan's are safe."

As a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, Britain is not allowed to deport people to countries where they may face torture or mistreatment.

Britain signed this week an agreement with Jordan that London says will protect deportees from ill-treatment.

Britain is also seeking similar accords with countries such as Algeria, Lebanon and other countries.

Britain banned Bakri from entering the country, saying his presence was "not conducive to the public good". (Reuters)

Gareth Pierce, a lawyer representing seven of the ten detained foreigners, said the Home Office could not claim that countries like Jordan and Algeria had undergone "overnight any internal revolution that does away with torture".

"Ultimately, the move risks disenfranchising this country from the international community that guarantees true observance of fundamental human rights," said Pierce.

"We cannot be part of that community, which means abiding by our treaty obligations, and trade human beings at will in this way. This is insane and dangerous government at its worse."

Human rights lawyers are preparing to challenge Home Secretary Charles Clarke over his decision to arrest the ten foreigners pending deportation, in a renewed legal clash that could drag on for years.

The Home Secretary already has the power under the 1971 Immigration Act to deport foreigners he believes pose a threat to national security.

But under international law, Clarke has been prevented from deporting people to countries where they face inhumane treatment.

"The assurances of known torturers, many of whom deny the use of torture even when it is widely documented - are not worth the paper they are written on," an Amnesty spokesman, Mike Blakemore, said.

Jordan said Friday that it had not yet decided whether to ask Britain to extradite its national Abu Qatada, who was sentenced in his absence to life imprisonment by an Amman court for a 1998 terrorist plot.

"We have not asked for his extradition. We cannot jump to results or conclusion. We are still at the beginning of the process," Interior Minister Awni Yarfas told Reuters.

But Yarfas said that he expected Britain to deport Abu Qatada "next week" under the terms of an extradition agreement signed between the two countries, according to AFP.

Abu Qatada was one of the so-called Belmarsh detainees, a reference to the high security jail where they spent around two years without charge.

He was eventually released but made subject to a control order or virtual house arrest.

In a related development, Britain banned Friday Islamist Omar Bakri Mohammed, from entering the country nearly a week after he left for Lebanon, saying his presence was "not conducive to the public good", AFP said.

"The home secretary has issued an order revoking Omar Bakri Mohammed's indefinite leave to remain and to exclude him from the United Kingdom on the grounds that his presence is not conducive to the public good," a Home Office spokeswoman said in London.

Bakri, who was released Friday after being detained by the Lebanese authorities a day earlier, left for Beirut last Saturday amidst speculation that he might face charges over his hardline views in the wake of the London bombings last month.

He left Britain barely 24 hours after British Prime Minister Tony Blair unveiled new sweeping anti-terror measures.

The measures include deporting and excluding foreigners who are accused of "condoning and inciting violence" and closing worship places used for "fomenting terrorism".