UK terrorist act ruled unlawful

Date: 07/12/1995

IN a judgement which has provoked angry responses from British Conservative MPs, the European Court of Justice has ruled that the UK's controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) is in breach of EU law.

The verdict, which coincides with a break-through in the Northern Ireland peace process, marks the end of a long-running legal battle by Irishman John Gallagher over the UK government's right to deport suspected terrorists from its territory.

According to the Luxembourg Court, London acted unlawfully when it forced Gallagher to leave the mainland without first giving him a chance to appeal his case before an independent authority.

Under EU law, all European citizens have the right to move freely within the bloc, a right which can be waived when national security is at risk, but only after a proper appeal has been granted. In Gallagher's case, the judges agreed such an independent hearing was denied.

Gallagher, a citizen of the Republic, served two years in an Irish gaol after he was convicted of possessing arms and ammunition at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin in 1983. After his release, he visited the UK several times in search of work and eventually settled there for two years, before being asked to leave. He was arrested in London on 27 September 1991, served with an exclusion order and deported to Ireland three days later.

While Gallagher admitted that he had been active in Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), during the early Eighties, he insisted that he was neither involved in political nor paramilitary activities at the time of his arrest.

After he unsuccessfully challenged the order in UK courts, Gallagher took his case to the Court of Appeal in London which then referred it to the European Court.