Britain deports Sheikh Raed Salah

Islam Times: The head of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories lost his appeal at the British court against deportation.

Sheikh Salah, who was invited to attend parliament meetings in Britain, was arrested by the UK government in London on July 1, despite the fact that there were no legal or legitimate reasons for him to be pursued.

His arrest came after the British media, vulnerable to the influence of the pro-Israeli lobby, portrayed him as an “Islamic preacher of hate," and accused him of being an anti-Semite and a supporter of terrorism, the allegations he has strongly denied.

Home Secretary Theresa May also accused him of "virulent anti-Semitism," and said that his presence in Britain was not “conducive to the public good.”

The Immigration Tribunal claimed that Sheikh Salah's deportation was a matter of public interest. “In the balancing exercise necessary for any consideration of proportionality, great weight must be attached to the public interest of preventing disorder or crime.

“We are satisfied that the appellant has engaged in the unacceptable behavior of fostering hatred which might lead to intercommunity violence in the UK. We are satisfied that the appellant's words and actions tend to be inflammatory, divisive, insulting and likely to foment tension and radicalism,” it added.

A Home Office spokesman said Sheikh Salah would be deported at the “earliest opportunity.”

"We are pleased the court agrees Salah's removal would be conducive to the public good and that he has engaged in unacceptable behavior,” he added.

This is while that High Court formerly ruled that government's arrest of Sheikh Salah was illegal and that he was “entitled to damages for wrongful detention.”

The analysts believe the British government has employed a double standard policy in dealing with the Sheikh Salah's case, using its legal system as a tool to suppress fundamental rights and free speech.

Sheikh Salah, the preacher of peace, is admired by Palestinian public and millions of Muslim in the Middle East for his long-time attempts to protect Muslim and Christian holy places from Israel's offensive policies.

Middle East Monitor (MEM), an independent media research institute that invited Sheikh Salah to Britain, considered the judgment as a sad move for human rights and democracy.

“This is a staggeringly unjust judgment. It is hard to conclude anything other than that Sheikh Raed Salah is being condemned not for anything that he has done, but for something that the pro-Israel Lobby in the United Kingdom has convinced the Home Secretary he might do in the future,” MEM added.

The news has seriously appalled the critics, wondering how the British government could officially welcome the war criminals such as former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, but could not stand pro-Palestinian activist who planned to speak about peace and justice in Jerusalem.