Should terrorists get asylum?

This is a very troubling case....this is not the sort of person who should be granted asylum in the UK...

A terror suspect accused of a plot to commit mass murder with the poison ricin was last night freed to claim asylum.

A special immigration hearing ruled Moloud Sihali could not be kicked out on national security grounds. The Algerian could be granted asylum.

After losing yesterday's case the Home Office had to consider a claim for refugee status made by Sihali shortly after his 2003 arrest, said immigration sources.

Sihali served a 15-month jail term for having false passports.

He is likely to receive free housing and benefits while the outcome of his asylum claim is decided - despite the fact that he sneaked into Britain illegally as long ago as 1997, using a false passport.

The Special Immigration Appeal Commission heard evidence linking Sihali to international terror suspects, including Mohamed Meguerba.

He was first arrested in September 2002 and tried for allegedly being part of a terror cell which planned to use the poison ricin to murder dozens in London. Sihali and three fellow Algerians were cleared of the plot.

Their co-defendant, Kamel Bourgass, also Algerian, was convicted of killing Detective Constable Stephen Oake in a raid connected to the plot, and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. He was jailed for life.

Following the July 7 attacks in 2005 the Home Office said they wanted Sihali out of the country to protect national security.

Home Secretary John Reid said Sihali had provided "active, if undiscriminating, assistance to terrorists in the past" and there is a "real risk" he will do so again.