British Muslim considers appeal after court rules repeated terrorism stops are legal

Abdullah was ‘lawfully stopped’ in Heathrow

The chief magistrate, Emma Arbuthnot, ruled yesterday that Abdullah had been lawfully stopped for questioning by counter-terrorism police at Heathrow Airport in March this year, despite being stopped on multiple previous occasions.

“It was for a lawful purpose,” she said. “We heard that it was a planned stop and although Mr Abdullah had been stopped before, this did not make it unlawful.”

In an oral judgment, Arbuthnot said Abdullah had arrived at Heathrow with three of his children, aged 12, six and three, after a five-hour flight from Egypt.

Counter-terrorism police were waiting at the immigration desk, where they “received information” that led them to make a planned stop of Abdullah.

“The finding I make is that Mr Abdullah had a long flight with three children,” said Arbuthnot. “He arrived at the immigration desk in a very agitated state and I find he was rude and unhelpful to [the immigration officer].”

The judge said Abdullah had been stopped numerous times previously and knew he would be stopped again by officers who were waiting behind the immigration desks.

The immigration officer described Abdullah’s body language as “quite intimidating”, and a struggle ensued when he refused to answer questions from a counter-terrorism officer, said Arbuthnot.

Abdullah was handcuffed and forced to the ground by uniformed and plain-clothes officers after he walked away from the counter-terrorism police and refused to move away from a second immigration desk.

“It was not surprising the children were upset,” said Arbuthnot.

The judge rejected arguments by Mark Summers QC, representing Abdullah, that police had failed to follow proper procedures by failing to give Abdullah a Schedule 7 leaflet to explain his rights and legal obligation to answer questions.

She accepted the evidence from one police officer, who she described as a reliable witness, that counter-terrorism police had tried to hand an S7 leaflet to Abdullah but he had refused to accept it.

“There was no time for the defendant to absorb what the leaflet said, but although that was the case, he had been stopped many times before,” said Arbuthnot. “He had copies of the leaflet [from previous stops] and was aware of the content.”

The judge said that in mitigation, Abdullah had had a long journey with three young children and was fed up with being stopped by police.

Summers said he had intended to apply for an absolute discharge for Abdullah, but accepted the judge’s verdict.

He asked the judge to take into account the fact that Abdullah was agitated because he had been arrested in front of his children, had been stopped many times before and had always complied scrupulously – even when annoyed – with police requests, and to consider the serious implications of a conviction under the Terrorism Act.

The court had heard on 22nd June, that Abdullah, was concerned that police had separated him from his children when they questioned him, and were unable to provide any information, other that they were being looked after. Summers said, “The issue of the children, as far as Mr Abdullah was concerned, was a significant part of his reaction.”

Speaking after the hearing, Abdullah said that the courts needed to hear more challenges to Schedule 7, which is used disproportionately against Muslims . “A community is being outcast from the masses of people and subjugated to different laws,” he said.

Muhammad Rabbani, international director of  human rights organisation Cage, said Abdullah was an innocent father who could not bear the thought of being separated from his children. "He was treated as a suspect whilst under no suspicion".

“Lawyers have described Schedule 7 powers as being ‘Kafkaesque’,” he said. “They are intrusive, coercive and an affront to the norms of justice and due process. They must be challenged before more innocent, law-abiding citizens are put through the trauma of being treated as criminals.”