27 October 2012
Mahdi Hashi, a Somalia-born British citizen has been deprived of his British nationality and may never return to Britain. He is thought to be held in an African prison. In the recent years the government has been empowered with a controversial law which does not require a court order to deprive an individual of all his rights as a British national.
According to the media reports, the majority of the people who have been affected by this law are Muslim Britons. The deprivation of citizenship order that Hashi received says Mr Hashi had lost his rights to live in the UK for the ‘public good’. It also includes that ‘The Security Service assess that you have been involved in Islamicist extremism and present a risk to the national security of the United Kingdom due to your extremist activities.”
Geoffrey Robertson, QC, prominent human rights barrister, said: ‘The increase in orders under this Government of depriving British people of their citizenship on non-conducive grounds is a matter of concern because it is always very difficult to challenge fairly. It means people are being deprived of their rights as a British citizen on the say-so of security officials who can’t be challenged in court.”
Human rights groups are concerned that Hashi may now be held at Camp Lemmonier in Djibouti where the Americans have built a large base to combat terrorist groups across the continent.
