Amjad Malik acts for three Pakistani terror suspects against deportation
Who? Amjad Malik, 39, immigration and human rights solicitor-advocate at Rochdale law firm Amjad Malik Solicitors.
Why is he in the news? Acted via video link for three Pakistani terror suspects in their appeal against deportation from the UK.
The same appeal saw two other appellants, one described by the court as an ‘al-Qaida operative’, the other as ‘willing to participate’, win the right to remain in the UK – where they will pose a ‘serious threat’ to national security – rather than be returned to Pakistan where they might face torture or death at the hands of the intelligence services.
In April 2009, police arrested 10 Pakistani nationals, an Afghan minor and a Briton during counter-terrorism raids in north-west England. The raids were brought forward after Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Bob Quick accidentally revealed documents detailing the planned raids to photographers outside Downing Street. He subsequently resigned.
Malik represented three of the terror suspects pro bono - Shoaib Khan, 31, Tariq ur Rehman, 39 and Abdul Wahab Khan, 27 – before a hearing of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) in central London, March 2010. He and his clients were barred from taking part in a closed hearing and were given no information about evidence or charges arising from it.
SIAC chairman Mr Justice Mitting, on 18 May 2010, dismissed the appeals of Tariq ur Rehman and Abdul Wahab Khan on the grounds they were committed to the Islamist cause. Shoaib Khan won his appeal because he was ‘not a knowing party’ to the ringleader’s plans and was a genuine student.
Thoughts on the case: ‘We were shooting in the dark, trying to guess what might have been said in the closed hearing and coming up, in the open hearing, with arguments to counter whatever it was that my clients may have been charged with. That was not justice in the British tradition. If there was evidence against my clients, then the prosecution should have come out and said so. My clients should have been tried in open court and, if guilty, sentenced.’
Dealing with the media: ‘The media reflected the public’s misgivings about protecting terrorists, who would inflict violence and death upon them, from violence and death. My clients had not even been formally charged with terrorism offences, of course, and had certainly not been found guilty in a court of law.’
Why did you become a lawyer? ‘To fight injustice in any shape and form.’
Career high point to date? ‘Securing a change in government policy to allow overseas brides who become victims of violence in Great Britain to become permanent residents.’
Career low point to date? ‘My home was attacked by a stone-throwing mob in 2001 after the House of Lords had ruled in my client’s favour. He was a Muslim cleric who was to have been deported on national security grounds.’
