JURIST - Paper Chase: UK appeals court blocks terror deportations to Jordan, Libya

[JURIST] The Court of Appeal in London Wednesday blocked two separate orders to extradite two terror suspects to Libya and another convicted terrorist to Jordan, citing concerns that they would face torture and be denied a fair trial on arrival. The ruling overturned a February 2007 decision [JURIST report] by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission [official backgrounder] to deport Islamic cleric Abu Qatada [BBC profile] to Jordan, but upheld an April 2007 ruling [JURIST report] that two Libyan terror suspects could not be deported to Libya due to similar concerns.

The UK has signed agreements with Jordan and Libya [JURIST reports] under which those countries guaranteed that deportees would not face abuse on their return, but the court ruled that those agreements, much maligned by rights groups, were insufficient. The British government says it will continue to push for the extraditions. Bloomberg has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

For a one-stop snapshot of the latest legal news that matters, with breaking documents, new legal videos, live law-related webcasts, commentary by expert law professors and more - all updated through the day in real time, with no ads and no registration barriers - visit JURIST's homepage and check back often...