Terror detainee back in Pakistan

Tariq-ur-Rehman says he was arrested just because he is Muslim

A Pakistani man who was among 12 people arrested in counter-terrorism raids in the north-west of England has returned voluntarily to his home country.

Tariq-ur-Rehman said his decision to leave was a protest against his treatment by UK authorities, which included being strip searched.

Mr Rehman and 11 others were freed by police, but taken back into UK Border Agency custody pending deportation.

The remaining men are all contesting their removal.

Of the 12 men arrested in April in raids in Liverpool, Manchester and Clitheroe in Lancashire, 11 were Pakistani nationals, with 10 holding student visas. One was from Britain.

'No explanation'

Mr Rehman arrived back in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Thursday morning, escorted by four British police officers.

I have been arrested just because I am a Muslim Tariq-ur-Rehman

The BBC's Mike Wooldridge spoke to him during the flight and Mr Rehman said he had been left mentally very disturbed by his treatment.

He was held in a high security facility, strip searched and had his cell searched with dogs, he said.

He also told our correspondent he was never given any explanation of why he was considered a threat to national security and had never been involved in any such activity.

Mr Rehman added that he had come to Britain for a better life, but with suspicions of Islamic extremism hanging over him, his future had been "destroyed".

"I have been arrested just because I am a Muslim and I belong to Pakistan," he said.

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The Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence to press charges against the 12 men - or to convince magistrates to allow police to hold them any longer.

Greater Manchester Police subsequently defended the arrests, but an independent review of the case is under way.

Britain's top counter-terrorism officer, Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, quit his post after accidentally revealing a secret document about the raids to photographers.

A spokesman for the UK Border Agency said it would not comment on individual cases.