Sir Kier Starmer has come under fire for representing a notorious hate preacher in court.
The leader of the opposition represented Abu Qatada at a hearing in 2008.
While he was a leading KC barrister, Starmer was one of a number of human rights lawyers who represented Qatada in hearings.
Sir Keir’s spokesperson has told The Telegraph that it was his job as a lawyer to represent people he doesn't agree with and has described the allegations as "desperate attacks from a Tory party that has given up on running the country."
Keir Starmer helped hate preacher Abu Qatada to fight back against deportation
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Qatada arrived in the UK on a false passport in 1993 and was granted asylum a year later.
In 1995, he issued a fatwa saying it was justified to both kill Muslims who renounce their faith and kill their families. Four years later he made a speech in which he effectively issued another fatwa advocating the killing of Jews, including children.
The Telegraph reports that in the 2006 hearing, Starmer argued a technical point of law as part of long-running proceedings in which Qatada tried to resist both deportation and imprisonment.
Sir Keir had argued that hearings concerning secret material being used against Qatada should be held in public. He added that Qatada’s civil rights, including the right to receive state benefits, were incorporated into English domestic law.
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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer (centre) during his visit to meet British troops at Tapa
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The future Labour leader, instructed by Qatada’s solicitors leading human rights law firm Birnberg Peirce, acted for Qatada at a Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) hearing in June 2008.
Qatada’s deportation was ordered by then Home Secretary Charles Clarke two years earlier, leading to years of legal issues before he was deported to Jordan in 2013 by Theresa May.
Starmer's involvement in the case came at a time, in June 2008, when Qatada was in jail, but he was subsequently released just a week after the hearing. The Telegraph reports that Starmer does not appear to have played a role in securing Qatada’s release.
Supporters of Starmer have pointed out that under the cab rank rule, barristers must take jobs as they’re offered unless under certain circumstances such as being too busy.
Qatada was deported by then Home Secretary Theresa May
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Starmer's spokesperson said: "Keir Starmer was the country’s most senior prosecutor, serving under Labour and Tory governments.
"During this time he oversaw the first ever prosecution of Al-Qaeda terrorists, the jailing of the airline liquid bomb plotters and racist murderers of Stephen Lawrence.
"With his leadership, charge and conviction rates for sexual offences rose, victims were better supported, and the Crown Prosecution Service was positively reformed."
Of course, as a lawyer he has had to represent people whose views he doesn’t agree with – that’s what the job of a lawyer involves. These are simply desperate attacks from a Tory party that has given up on running the country."
