LONDON (AA) - A British Iraqi man who has been living in Turkey since being deprived of his British citizenship, has been allowed back into the UK due to a UK Supreme Court ruling.
Hilal Abdul-Razzaq Ali Al-Jedda, 56, came to the UK from Iraq in 1992 after fleeing Saddam Hussein’s regime. He was granted British nationality in 2000. When Al Jedda travelled to Iraq in 2004, he was arrested by US forces on suspicion of terrorism and then handed over to British forces.
He was held without charges for over three years. Shortly before his release, the UK Home Secretary Theresa May deprived him of his British nationality citing that it would be “conducive to the public good.” He was therefore stateless at this time.
The Home office argued that Al-Jedda could acquire another nationality, but the court said this argument was “not clearly established.”
According to UN guidelines, which have been incorporated into the Home Office’s own guidance, a person must be a national of another country at the time that they have been deprived of their nationality.
For this reason, the Court rejected the Home Secretaries' alternative argument and Al-Jedda can return to the UK.
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