PUBLIC INTEREST IMMUNITY CERTIFICATES AND THE TRIAL OF SAMAR ALAMI AND JAWAD BOTMEH

Summary

That this House notes that Samar Alami and Jawad Botmeh have always protested their innocence and that their 1996 conviction in relation to the 1994 bombings of the Israeli Embassy and Balfour House has been widely questioned; also notes the unanswered questions about the bombings, including the identity of the bombers; further notes that the prosecution scenario of an intelligence vacuum contrasts with the Israeli and British authorities having received contemporaneous prior warnings about imminent attacks by parties unrelated to Samar or Jawad; further notes that the disclosure process has been plagued by the repeated use of public interest immunity certificates and by human errors conceded by the prosecution, police, M15 and M16, resulting in crucial information being withheld from the trial judge; notes Amnesty International's concern that the pair were denied their right to a fair trial; further notes that the United Kingdom Government has received official representations from many politicians and Arab governments on this case; believes that winning the war against terror and the United Kingdom's reputation are ill-served by jailing the wrong people and leaving the actual bombers free, and calls on the Government to re-open the investigation, make its results publicly known and address the human errors so that justice is done and seen to be done.

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Timeline

1. 16 December 2004

   Early Day Motion

   That this House notes that Samar Alami and Jawad Botmeh have always protested their innocence and that their 1996 conviction in relation to the 1994 bombings of the Israeli Embassy and Balfour House has been widely questioned; also notes the unanswered questions about the bombings, including the identity of the bombers; further notes that the prosecution scenario of an intelligence vacuum contrasts with the Israeli and British authorities having received contemporaneous prior warnings about imminent attacks by parties unrelated to Samar or Jawad; further notes that the disclosure process has been plagued by the repeated use of public interest immunity certificates and by human errors conceded by the prosecution, police, M15 and M16, resulting in crucial information being withheld from the trial judge; notes Amnesty International's concern that the pair were denied their right to a fair trial; further notes that the United Kingdom Government has received official representations from many politicians and Arab governments on this case; believes that winning the war against terror and the United Kingdom's reputation are ill-served by jailing the wrong people and leaving the actual bombers free, and calls on the Government to re-open the investigation, make its results publicly known and address the human errors so that justice is done and seen to be done.

   Source: Early Day Motion

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Sponsors

• John Austin · Labour · Primary sponsor

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