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Court plea over terror charges

Gary Finn
Tuesday 29 June 1999 18:02 EDT
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CAMPAIGNERS FOR one of the Britons facing terrorism charges in Yemen will ask the High Court today to compel the Government to intervene directly to secure his release.

Lawyers for the family of 33-year-old Shahid Butt, from Birmingham, are conducting what is believed to be a legal first by seeking a judicial review of the role of Foreign Secretary and his officials in the affair. They are alleging that Robin Cook and senior diplomats have neglected their responsibilities to the eight Britons who are in jail, awaiting a verdict next month, charged with forming an armed group, planning armed attacks and possession of weapons and explosives.

Lawyers brought the action because of repeated refusals by Tony Blair and Mr Cook to intercede directly with the Yemeni President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, on the basis that the Britons did not receive a fair trial. The legal move is unheard of in diplomatic circles. The Foreign Office has prided itself in working both publicly and behind the scenes on behalf of British citizens embroiled in proceedings abroad.

But campaigners have said that, in this case, officials both in UK and in Yemen have not done enough to secure a retrial in the face of alleged human rights abuses.

In a recent exchange of letters between the freedom campaign's British lawyers and the Foreign Office, Jim Atkinson, the deputy head of the consular division, said it would only make "formal representations" once all locally available legal remedies have been exhausted.

Last night the Foreign Office refused to be drawn on the affair. A spokesman said: "This is a matter for the courts."

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