A controversial cleric

Shafiq Ur Rehman denies raising money for holy war

Muslim cleric Shafiq Ur Rehman has lost his fight against deportation to Pakistan, after being accused of supporting terrorism.

Timetable

1993: Mr Rehman arrives in UK

Dec 1997: Home Secretary Jack Straw orders his deportation

1998: He applies to stay in UK permanently

Sep 1999: Mr Straw's decision overturned by Special Immigration Appeals Commission

May 2000: Court of Appeal orders commission to reconsider

Oct 2001: Final decision due from Law Lords

Mr Rehman, 30, who is based in Oldham, Greater Manchester, denies recruiting British Muslims for terrorist training, and raising money to fund a jihad (holy war) in Kashmir.

He says he is the victim of an MI5 vendetta.

He has been accused of raising funds for the Lashkar-e Toiba (LT) group, which has been fighting Indian forces in Kashmir, while working in Britain for its political wing, Markax Dawa-ul-Irshad (MDI).

Kashmir is claimed by both India and Pakistan, who have fought two wars over the territory since 1947.

Islamic militant groups have been fighting for the last decade to end Indian rule.

Mr Rehman said he had given money to MDI but it was for building schools and hospitals in Pakistan.

He first came to the UK in 1993 after completing his education in Pakistan. His wife joined him the following year.

Photos of weapons were said to have been found in a diary belonging to the cleric

Initially he was given permission to stay in the UK for four years so he could finish his training as an Iman at the Ross Street mosque in Oldham.

Mr Rehman, whose parents have British citizenship, has two children who were born in the UK.

The Home Office first tried to deport him in 1997.

He claimed the move was punishment for him turning down attempts by MI5 to recruit him as an agent.

His lawyer, Sibghat Kadri QC, said: "He has been punished for his refusal not to become an informer. If is for that reason, among others, that he is being deported."

'Pictures of weapons'

He was stopped by immigration officials at Manchester airport when he returned to the UK after visiting an MDI conference in Pakistan in December 1997.

Security officers said they found an MDI diary containing photographs of weapons, including small arms, light artillery and mortars.

Mr Rehman worked at this mosque in Oldham

At a hearing in 1999 Mr Kadri suggested to a special branch officer the real purpose they stopped him was because they had wanted to recruit him as spy.

The officer, identified only as Officer Y, said: "I would not say a spy, but certainly the idea was to use Mr Rehman as an informer."

Mr Kadri said: "You told him that if he did not cooperate he would be deported?"

"I did not say that sir," the officer replied.

Request to stay refused

In December 1998 he applied for permission to stay in the UK permanently but was refused.

In August 1999 Mr Rehman told a court hearing he believed in the justice of pursuing a jihad in Kashmir.

He said he was one of many British Muslims who gave their "moral" support to armed action in the light of "atrocities" by Indian forces in Kashmir.

He said: "There is moral support for LT and we pray for them but money sent to Pakistan is specifically targeted for the peaceful purposes for which it has been sent."