Britain ready to release, deport Pak student as charges of security threat withdrawn

September 6th, 2009 LONDON - Britain is facing the likelihood of an increased terror threat after the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) threatened to stop sharing vital intelligence following the Lockerbie bomber's release.

July 30th, 2009 LONDON - British authorities have denied bail to Pakistani students detained earlier this year on national security grounds in simultaneous raids conducted across the country. The Special Immigration Appeals Commission after hearing the bail pleas of two students, Muhammad Ramazan and Ahmad Faraz at the Royal Courts of Justice here, refused to grant bail in all seven cases levied against them, The Daily Times reports.

July 18th, 2009 LONDON - Britain has withdrawn deportation orders on two of the nine Pakistani students who were detained on national security grounds earlier this year. Both students, Sultan Sher and Janas Khan belong to the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in Pakistan and were arrested from Leeds and Milton Keynes respectively.

May 31st, 2009 SINGAPORE - Britain challenged Sunday Myanmar's military rulers to release imprisoned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and implement democratic reforms in the isolated state. "Now is the time for transition to democracy starting with the release of Aung San Suu Kyi," Britain's Minister for International Defence and Security Ann Taylor told a summit on Asian security in Singapore.

April 23rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has asked the British government not to deport its citizens who were rounded up on suspicion of links with terrorists, but were later released, as the UK Police could not produce evidence against them. Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said students had to undergo a harsh time behind bars and now it is up to the UK Government to compensate the students.

April 22nd, 2009 Britain frees 12 terror suspects detained in raidsLONDON — British police released the last of 12 suspects rounded up in a series of dramatic anti-terror raids earlier this month, failing to charge any of the men, authorities said Wednesday. The news was an embarrassment for British authorities, including Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who claimed at the time of their arrests that police had disrupted "a very big terrorist plot" that had been monitored "for some time." The arrests were rushed in part because a police commissioner inadvertently exposed details of the operation to a photographer outside the prime minister's office.

April 22nd, 2009 9 men caught in UK terror raids up for deportationLONDON — British authorities are seeking to deport nine terrorism suspects arrested earlier this month in a highly publicized police operation, officials said Tuesday. The men were among 12 people arrested as part of an anti-terror sweep across northern England on April 8.

April 22nd, 2009 LONDON - A lawyer for the three Pakistani men facing deportation after being arrested in anti-terror raids earlier this month says his clients will fight to stay on in Britain. Mohammed Ayub says the men are in Britain lawfully on student visas, are not extremists and have done nothing wrong.

April 22nd, 2009 LONDON - The British Government has been accused of dishonourable behaviour after nine Pakistanis out of 11 arrested in Easter terror raids were released without any charge. The Government said it would not be prosecuting the nine, but still wanted to deport them, following their apprehension in Greater Manchester, Liverpool and Lancashire earlier this month, The Telegraph reported.

April 22nd, 2009 LONDON - Nine Pakistani men, whose arrest over an alleged terrorist bomb plot in northwest England led to a row between Britain and Pakistan, have been released without charge. They were among 12 men who were arrested by British police April 8 after raids on houses in the cities of Manchester, Liverpool and Clitheroe.

April 20th, 2009 LONDON - For the first time, the jailed radical Islamic cleric Abu Qatada has been linked to terrorist organisation al-Qaeda by one of the terror group's own leaders. Adil al-Abbab, revealed recently as Osama Bin Laden's head of religious affairs in Saudi Arabia, said: "Free our prisoners and the prisoners of the Muslims.

April 14th, 2009 LONDON - Pakistan may not accept UK's decision to deport 12 Pakistani students, who were arrested on alleged charges of being involved in the Manchester terror plot. Pakistan High Commission sources have said that Pakistan would like first to be informed on what charges these Pakistanis were arrested, the Dawn reports.

April 13th, 2009 LONDON - Britain might eventually deport most of the 12 alleged Pakistani terrorists who were arrested from across the country last week. According to Times Online, officials in London and Islamabad said Britain has asked for an assurance from Pakistan over the treatment the arrested men would receive after they are deported.

April 10th, 2009 LONDON - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown telephoned President Asif Ali Zardari late on Thursday after the arrest of 10 Pakistani-born nationals on student visas and one UK-born British national on charges of terrorism, to warn him to do more to root out terrorist elements in Pakistan. This is the first time Pakistanis on student visas have been arrested on such serious charges.

April 10th, 2009 LONDON - The 10 Pakistani nationals arrested in the United Kingdom for planning to carry out terror strikes in the country may have exploited the shortcomings in the visa regime as described by a British minister as "the major loophole in Britain's border controls." This is the first time Pakistanis on student visas have been arrested on such serious charges. Sources said that the arrests of 12 men in the north west of England on Wednesday were linked to a suspected plan to launch a devastating attack this weekend.