UK frustrated in bid to deport radical Islamist

LONDON — An extremist cleric who has avoided Britain’s efforts to deport him to Jordan for more than a decade was told Thursday he may have dealt a new blow to the country’s exasperated government.

British lawmakers were told a new appeal lodged Tuesday by the Palestinian-Jordanian preacher Abu Qatada, who has fought attempts to expel him from the U.K. since 2001, is likely to be considered by the European Court of Human Rights.

An advisory note sent to Britain’s Parliament by the Council of Europe – which is responsible for the court – said the cleric had submitted his latest effort to contest his deportation “just in time” to beat a deadline.

“I sometimes wish I could put him on a plane and take him to Jordan myself,” Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday, reflecting widespread frustration over the case. “But government has to act within the law.”

Cameron acknowledged he was growing alarmed at the delays that have prevented Britain from removing a man identified in court hearings as having been the late Osama bin Laden‘s spiritual envoy in Europe.

The British leader‘s anger comes after he believed his government had finally succeeded in drawing the protracted legal saga to a close.

Anti-money laundering experts inspect Vatican

Image via Wikipedia

Sunday, November 27, 2011

VATICAN CITY (AP) — European inspectors fighting money laundering on Saturday wrapped up a week of meetings with church officials as part of ensuring that the Holy See’s law conforms with international efforts to combat financing of terrorism, the Vatican said.

The officials will issue a report that will that will be discussed by experts at the Council of Europe, likely in mid-2012, the Vatican said in a statement.

Earlier this year, Italian prosecutors ordered the release of (euro) 23 million ($33 million) seized from a Vatican Bank account as part of a money-laundering probe. Italian financial police had seized the money in September 2010, and placed the bank’s two top officials under investigation, over allegations that the bank broke the law by trying to transfer funds without identifying the sender and recipient.

European rights official attacks burka bans

Agence France-Presse July 20, 2011

Banning the burka and niqab in public places threatens to exclude women, not liberate them, a top European human rights official said Wednesday.

Photograph by: Gonzalo Fuentes, Reuters

STRASBOURG – Banning the burka and niqab in public places threatens to exclude women, not liberate them, a top European human rights official said Wednesday.

And letting a relatively minor problem become such a major issue was a “sad capitulation” to xenophobia, Council of Europe human rights commissioner Thomas Hammarberg added.