16
A. AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
attacked the reliability of the intelligence relied on against the Appellant since it was
only belatedly accepted that he had been involved in genuine charitable work and that
some of the money going through his account and raised by him was for such a
purpose. We recognise the danger that all activities by one who is under suspicion
may be regarded as themselves suspicious and that there may not be a fair
consideration of all material to see whether it truly does support the suspicion. We
have considered all the material, in particular that which is closed, with that danger in
mind.
As we have said, the open evidence taken in isolation cannot provide the reasons
why we are dismissing this appeal and we sympathise with [the first applicant’s
counsel’s] concerns that he had a most difficult task. We were not impressed with the
Appellant as a witness, even making all allowances for his mental state and the
difficulties under which he was labouring. He was often evasive and vague and has
admittedly told lies in relation to his movements in the 1990s. His explanations about
some of the transactions recorded in his bank accounts we have found difficult to
follow or accept. We should say that we do not consider that the Respondent’s case is
significantly advanced by what has been said about the Appellant’s involvement with
Algeria or Chechnya; the case depends essentially on the evidence about the
Appellant’s dealings with Afghanistan and with terrorists known to have links with alQaeda.
It is clear that the Appellant was a very successful fund-raiser and, more
importantly, that he was able to get the money to Afghanistan. Whatever his
problems, he was able to and was relied on to provide an efficient service. His
explanations both of who were the well known terrorists whose children were at the
school and of the various of the more substantial payments shown in the bank
accounts are unsatisfactory. He was vague where, having regard to the allegations
made against him, we would have expected some detail.
...
We have considered all the evidence critically. The closed material confirms our
view that the certification in this case was correct. There is both a reasonable belief
that the Appellant’s presence in the United Kingdom is a risk to national security and
a reasonable suspicion that he is a terrorist within the meaning of section 21 of the
2001 Act. This appeal is accordingly dismissed.”
32. In accordance with the terms of the 2001 Act, the first applicant’s
case was reviewed by SIAC six months later. In its judgment of 2 July
2004, SIAC found that:
“The updated open generic material ... continues to show that there is a direct
terrorist threat to the United Kingdom from a group or groups of largely North
African Islamic extremists, linked in various ways to al-Qaeda.
Although some of his contacts have been detained, the range of extremists
prominent in various groups was such that he would have no difficulty and retains the
will and ability to add his considerable experience of logistic support to them in
pursuit of the extremist Islamic agenda in the UK. The certificate is properly
maintained.”