9.11.2017
A & Ors v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2004] EWCA Civ 1123 (11 August 2004)
In the result SIAC was satisfied that F had continued to associate with GSPC affiliates, and had
provided false documentation for its members and for the Mujahaddin in Chechnya. Accordingly they
indicated that they would not have allowed the appeal on the facts.
H
197. H is an Algerian. He supported the FIS, which won the elections in Algeria in 1991, leading to the
military coup. Later it was banned. He went to Afghanistan in 1992. He arrived in the United Kingdom
in August 1993 and claimed asylum on the ground that as a supporter of FIS he would be persecuted if
returned to Algeria. At length on 12 August 2000 he was granted indefinite leave to remain in the
United Kingdom as a refugee. The Secretary of State issued a s.25 certificate on 22 April 2002, and
gave these reasons:
"You are an active supporter of [the GSPC], which is designated a proscribed organisation
under Part 2 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and has links to Osama Bin Laden's terrorist
network. Your activities on behalf of the group include fundraising and distribution of
propaganda."
198. Unlike the majority of the appellants H gave evidence before SIAC. He contested the Secretary of
State's case with some vigour. SIAC found some of his evidence unsatisfactory, not least that relating
to certain documents. In the result (relying in part on closed material) they were satisfied that the
Secretary of State "was correct in his view and… the Appellant is an international terrorist within the
meaning of section 21 and that it is proportionate that he be detained".
C
199. C is an Egyptian. He claimed asylum in the United Kingdom on 27 March 2000, stating that he had
arrived here the day before. He gave false accounts of his earlier movements in his asylum interview
and in an interview with the Security Service. However he was recognised as a refugee in the United
Kingdom on 30 March 2001 and granted indefinite leave to remain accordingly. On 17 December 2001
the Secretary of State issued a certificate in his case under ATCSA s.33, and on 18 December a s.21
certificate. The grounds were:
"You are an active supporter of [EIJ] which is designated a proscribed organisation under
Part 2 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Earlier this year, EIJ merged with Al Qa'eda. You were
sentenced in abscentia [sic] to fifteen years imprisonment by an Egyptian military court
for your role in trying to recruit serving Egyptian Army officers for the EIJ and in
planning operations on behalf of the EIJ, both in Egypt and abroad."
200. In the open generic judgment SIAC said this of the EIJ:
"228. C's appeal involved consideration of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ)… The EIJ was
described by [the Secretary of State] as a terrorist group, aiming to overthrow the
Government of Egypt and proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000. It had mounted a
number of high profile attacks up to the mid-1990s and had merged in some form or other
with Al Qa'eda in 2001. Indeed, from the late 1990s its leadership had been closely
associated with Osama Bin Laden. For example, in February 1998 Al Zawahiri, its then
leader, was the second signatory to the Bin Laden fatwa published in the name of "The
World Islamic Front for the Jihad against the Jews and the Crusaders". He was one of Bin
Laden's closest associates. There were now organisational links, well established between
the EIJ and Al Qa'eda. The majority of the group was fully merged with it. EIJ members
were on Al Qa'eda's ruling council and assisted with terrorist attacks. The EIJ was a good
example of a terrorist group which had had originally a national agenda, but which had
become a close supporter of the global agenda, which is capable of being pursued
alongside or as an inseparable part of a national agenda."
201. C did not give evidence but put in two statements which, for reasons they gave, SIAC regarded as
entirely unreliable. They were (open specific judgment paragraph 19) "entirely satisfied that the
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2004/1123.html
48/113
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents