UK holding Palestinian without charge
Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:51:30 GMT
A Gaza-born Palestinian tells how he has been held a prisoner in the United Kingdom for many years without being charged or tried.
In his second exclusive interview with Press TV, Mahmud Aburideh, who has been in the UK for 15 years -- spending time in prison and under house arrest -- threatens to commit suicide.
In 2005 he was granted an Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) but could not leave the country because he does not have a passport and has been refused a proper UN travel document.
“Since I am a Palestinian I don't have a country to return to,” he said.
“The House of Lords and the European Human Rights Campaign have sided with me, saying the way I am being treated is unjust. But so far now nothing has changed,” Aburideh added.
He has been under control order since 2005. The charges have not been explained to him, "everything kept in secret."
Many people including his family and friends watched his previous interview on Press TV, however, the government's position on him has not changed.
Although his family members are now British citizens, they were forced to leave Britain. The Home Office gave them until the May 25 to leave the UK. His family's documents were annulled. Their passports now have a deportation note banning their return to the country.
Aburideh said his family was searched one by one before leaving the country to ensure they were not carrying any money. They were only allowed to carry GBP 80 to Jordan.
He was not allowed to go to the airport, as the control order, banned him from seeing his family off. Aburideh says the British government has completely "ruined his family's life."
They have searched everywhere in the house several times. The MI5 and the Scotland Yard strip him every time they search the house.
He has lost his purpose to live, he says. He has written a letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown giving him two weeks to have his situation looked into, otherwise he will commit suicide.
"I don't have the right to go to the media. I have accosted the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 but all have refused to interview me."
"There are many people like me who are suffering in the UK. I am just one of them," he said, adding that free speech is a fairy tail in Britain.
He has met David Blunckett and Tony Blair and they both had promised to allow him to leave the country, but to no avail.
"I want any other country like the Islamic Republic of Iran to accept me. I'm a Palestinian I'm not a terrorist," he pleaded.
The Home Office has ye to make any response to Aburideh's case as yet.
"Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music"
