Why is Abu Qatada still in the country after all this time?

HOW long is the legal ping-pong involving the deportation of Abu Qatada to continue?

The High Court or the Special Immigration Appeals Court (Siac) delivers a ruling which is invariably appealed by Abu Qatada’s legal team, which leads to another court ruling and a further appeal which allows the whole farce to persist.

It seems every ruling made by courts in respect of this produces an appeal from the lawyers representing him, with the whole case now being spread over many years.

The latest ruling made by two judges, Lord Justice Hughes and Mr Justice Silber sitting at the High Court in London, rejected Qatada’s latest bid for freedom against his continuing detention by Home Secretary, Theresa May. This followed the ruling two months earlier by Siac that his detention in prison, while awaiting a final, (will this really be final) decision on his deportation to Jordan, was lawful. A Home Office spokeswoman said: “Qatada is a dangerous man and our intention is to remove him as quickly as possible.” Well, he’s been detained now for over seven years so if this is “removing him as quickly as possible” it’s a good job we’re not taking our time to do so.

Qatada’s legal representatives are considering taking the case to the Court of Appeal once they have seen the court’s reasons for this ruling. Surprise, surprise.

To all right-minded people Abu Qatada is a objectionable preacher of hate against the British people who should have been deported many years ago but we have been compelled, by crazy interpretations of Human Rights Laws, to fund all this palaver. The dire financial state of our country seems to be of no consequence to those using taxpayers’ money to fund this nonsense. It is an obscenity that we continue to allow his lawyers freedom to use other people’s money in this way. He has already cost the long suffering taxpayers around £3m.

Is this democracy? Does anyone truly believe this is justice or has any connection with justice?

As David W Wright correctly says (Yorkshire Post, August 4), government in the UK is for the people, of the people and by the people, but too many lawyers place their own interpretation on this and surely, we cannot allow this to overrule democracy.

Many, many years ago I really believed Britain’s legal system was beyond reproach and to criticise any part of it was almost blasphemous. Does this apply today?

Well over a thousand nurses have been sacked; 20,000 troops told they are no longer required; one in 10 policeman are put out of work; many, many thousands of normal workers in both the public and private sectors are already redundant or fear for their jobs and care for the elderly is, in too many instances disgraceful, but there’s no shortage of legal aid monies for lawyers who wish to play games with other peoples cash on cases where any question of the rights of human beings never exists, but where the so-called ‘brilliance’ of lawyers to manipulate the outcome is desired.

Abu Qatada arrived in Britain in 1993. His stay is already 19 years too long. When are we finally going to say enough is enough?