Government lab withheld evidence that no ricin had been found in 'Ricin Plot'. Men found not guilty to be deported to Algeria.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article313000.ece

Robert Verkaik, in the Independent 17 September 2005, reported that vital evidence in the 'Ricin Plot' was withheld by Britain's top chemical weapons laboratory at Porton Down.

The Independent relates that tests demonstrating that no ricin was found at a flat linked to a gang suspected of planning a poison attack on the London Underground in January 2003 were not disclosed to police and ministers by officials at Porton Down.

The Ricin Plot suspects were found not guilty.

The case was used by Blair and Colin Powell in the weeks leading up to the decision to go to war with Iraq.

A spokeswoman for the Defence Science and Technological Laboratory (DSTL), where the tests were done, said that because of a "breakdown in communication" information was not passed to the police.

In April 2005 eight men were cleared of involvement in the alleged ricin plot.

Now, Blair's Home Secretary Charles Clarke has ordered the arrest and deportation of seven men, including some of those cleared of the plot, hours before unveiling new plans to hold terror suspects without charge for up to three months.

Gareth Peirce, solicitor for the men, accused the Government of abandoning the rule of law. She said all the men were innocent and had been properly cleared by a British court. She said they faced torture if they were sent back to Algeria.

She added: "[This Government's] actions make a mockery of jury trials and verdicts, of judicial decisions and of guarantees intended to be inalienable."

ALGERIA Fake terror in Algeria; the US military in Algeria; oil in Algeria.

ALGERIA UK Was the Ricin plot organised by the security services?



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