European Court of Human Rights blocks more deportations from UK than any other country
European human rights judges have blocked more than 900 attempts by Britain to deport foreign criminals and terror suspects in recent years.
Official figures show that the European Court of Human Rights has thwarted more planned deportations by Britain than any other country.
The controversial “Rule 39” procedure was recently used by judges in Strasbourg to prevent Abu Qatada, the extremist cleric, being sent back to Jordan in case evidence obtained under torture was used against him.
It has also been used by Somali criminals and failed Tamil asylum seekers to remain in the country.
The new figures disclosed in Parliament have renewed calls for the Government to pull out of the court and so ensure that British court rulings are upheld.
Gareth Johnson, the Conservative MP for Dartford who obtained the statistics, told The Daily Telegraph: “These figures confirm to me that we need to urgently review our membership of the ECHR.
“This court should not operate as a convenient mechanism to prevent us removing undesirable people from the UK.”
Under the Rule 39 powers of the European Court of Human Rights, judges can issue interim measures that are binding on nation states if they believe the applicant “faces a real risk of serious, irreversible harm if the measure is not applied”.
This prevents deportation going ahead until the case can be heard in detail.
The court insists it is “not an appeal tribunal from domestic tribunals”, and that people fighting extradition and expulsion should pursue all available means locally before turning to Strasbourg.
But figures show that thousands of applications are being made each year in the 47 nations that make up the Council of Europe, which oversees the court.
Britain sees by far the most applications and has the highest number of planned deportations halted, although many more go ahead.
ECHR figures highlighted in response to Mr Johnson’s Parliamentary written question show that in total there were 12,140 applications for Rule 39 decisions between 2008 and 2011. A third of these (4,454) were made against Britain.
Of these, 911 requests were granted. The next highest numbers were in Sweden (691) and France (432).
However 2,809 British requests were refused and a further 734 were deemed inadmissible.
The number of Rule 39 measures granted against Britain has also fallen in recent years, from 527 in 2008 to 35 last year.
Damian Green, the immigration minister, said in response to the figures: “The UK Border Agency is aware that individuals may seek to frustrate their imminent removal or deportation by way of an application to the ECHR and will challenge a negative decision made by the Court.
“Where appropriate the UK Border Agency takes action specifically to alleviate the Court's concerns, which has in a number of cases resulted in the European Court lifting its Rule 39 Interim Measure.”
European human rights judges have blocked more than 900 attempts by Britain to deport foreign criminals and terror suspects in recent years.
BRITAIN OUT OF THE EU NOW
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