A study has revealed that more than 40 foreign-born terrorists have used human rights legislation to escape deportation and stay in the UK.
The release of the unpublished report, originally ordered by Theresa May in her previous role as Home Secretary, has been delayed by the Home Office, according to The Telegraph.
Convicted terrorists have used the Human Rights Act, with the help of lawyers via legal aid, to halt their own deportation.
A scheme called Deportation with Assurances (DWA) allowing the state to deport terror suspects whilst guaranteeing they wouldn't be targeted in their home country, was the subject of the Home Office report. The DWA scheme appears to have failed however, with suspects remaining in the UK.
Just 12 terrorists have been deported under the DWA since it was introduced in 2005, while France has deported more than 120.
The news spells potential embarrassment and criticism for Prime Minister May, showing the collapse of a scheme that she previously advocated for – at a time when the UK faces a heightened terror threat.
Four terror attacks in the UK in the past four months, three claimed by ISIS (At Westminster, London Bridge and Manchester Arena), have killed 35 people and injured many others.
Pressure has mounted on security services following the revelation that the perpetrators of the ISIS attacks were known to intelligence agencies. The figure of 40 convicted terrorists escaping deportation is higher than was previously thought, according to Professor Clive Walker, an international law expert and co-author of the report, which went to the Home Office in February.
'The attacks in recent months demonstrates the need to protect the public and that this should outweigh the human rights of terrorists,' said Lord Carlile, a former independent reviewer of anti-terror legislation.
