Court to hear appeal by Isil ‘main recruiter’ against deportation

By Ray Managh

The Court of Appeal is scheduled to sit at 5pm today to deal with the appeal of a 52-year-old father of four who is alleged to have been a recruiting agent for Islamic extremists.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is seeking to overturn a decision of the High Court yesterday in which Ms Justice Carmel Stewart cleared the way for his imminent deportation by the Irish authorities to the Middle East.

The man is alleged by the Government to be the “main recruiter” in Ireland for Isil. Earlier today his lawyers filed notice of appeal against Judge Stewart’s decision.

He denies he is a recruiter for the so-called Islamic State. His lawyers today confirmed they had lodged papers with the Court of Appeal which it had asked to sit as soon as possible.

The man has been living in Ireland for the last 15 years and secured residency here on the basis of the birth of his 15-year-old son. In March last, due to the Government’s belief he was recruiting for Islamic extremists in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, he was told the Irish authorities intended to deport him.

On December 21 he obtained a High Court injunction restraining his deportation but that ruling, on an application by the Department for Justice yesterday, was overturned by Ms Justice Carmel Stewart.

Judge Stewart said the question for the court was where the greater injustice lay - maintaining or lifting the injunction. The issue of a threat to national security was something she was entitled to take into account.

The man had been described in court yesterday as “the foremost organiser and facilitator of travel by extremists prepared to undertake violent action” on behalf of Isil.

He claims he is a bona fide refugee applicant who would suffer inhuman and degrading treatment, torture and “even fatal consequences” if returned to a Middle Eastern country.

Judge Stewart was told by a senior Department of Justice official that, based on intelligence amassed by Gardaí and their counterparts in other jurisdictions, the State believed the man was consulted by and gave directions to senior violent extremist leaders outside Ireland.

The judge, discharging the injunction previously granted to the man, said she took into account the very serious information the State had put before the court concerning his alleged activities.