Palestinian wins legal fight to stay in Britain

A LEADING Palestinian activist has won his appeal against the government’s attempts to deport him.

Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, was held in June on the orders of the Home Secretary after he flew into Britain despite being banned from the country.

He launched a legal battle against moves to expel him and a tribunal has now found in his favour.

Mr Salah, 53, received a letter from the Upper Immigration Tribunal over the weekend which stated the decision to detain him appeared to have been “entirely unnecessary” and that his appeal had succeeded “on all grounds”, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), said.

Sarah Colborne, PSC director, branded the ruling a “very important day for British justice”.

“By arresting, imprisoning and attempting to deport Sheikh Raed Salah on what the judge has determined as a ‘misapprehension of the facts,’ the British Government have acted in a shameful way,” she said.