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Officials in the UK Border Agency warned home secretary not to deport Palestinian activist as case was ‘very finely balanced’ The home secretary, Theresa May, was warned by senior officials in the UK Border Agency not to deport a Palestinian activist accused of antisemitism, saying the evidence against him was disputed, open to legal challenge and that the case was “very finely balanced”. Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the Northern branch of the Islamic Movement, who has been in Britain, in prison and on bail since his arrest three months ago, will appeal against his deportation before an immigration and asylum tribunal on Monday. Emails seen by the Guardian, show that May was determined to find a reason to exclude Salah, before the evidence against him had been verified. Just 17 minutes after receiving a report on the activist, prepared by Michael Whine of the Community Security Trust, a UK charity monitoring antisemitism, Faye Johnson, private secretary to the home secretary emailed about a parliamentary event Salah was due to attend: “Is there anything that we can do to prevent him from attending (eg could we exclude him on the grounds of unacceptable behaviour?)” she wrote. Whine’s report said Salah’s record of provocative statements carried a risk that his presence in the UK could have “a radicalising impact” on his audiences. Border Agency officials were dubious. Jon Rosenom-Lanng of the Special Cases Directorate (SCD) wrote to the home secretary on 21 June, saying that while there was evidence that would allow her to exclude Salah on the grounds of unacceptable behaviour, “the disputed underlying evidence could make an exclusion decision vulnerable to legal challenge”. He concluded: “We assess that this case is very finely balanced.” After the home secretary signed the order, a second official of the SCD, Andy Smith restated the Border Authority’s objections. He said the action would prolong Salah’s stay in the UK, raise his profile and give him a credibility he did not currently have. He warned of the cost of the case on their budget, “as it is not a case that would not have been undertaken if the SCD advice had been followed”. Tayab Ali, Saleh’s solicitor said: “When the secretary of state makes a decision to exclude someone from the UK, it is imperative the correct policy is followed. The home secretary made a decision and then searched for reasons to justify it. Its not for the home secretary to determine who should speak in parliament. This is an attack on parliamentary democracy.” Saleh’s legal team say the quotes he is alleged to have said and written were doctored to make them sound antisemitic. The Home Office presented four allegations of antisemitism against him, all drawn from the Israeli press: that Salah wrote a poem in which he described Jews as “criminal bombers of mosques, slaughterers of pregnant women and babies, robbers and germ in all time”; that he promoted martyrdom; that he invoked a blood libel invocation by saying that “blood had been mixed in the dough of Holy Bread” and that he referenced a fake document the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in saying that a third temple would be build on the ruins of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. Salah’s lawyers say the poem was made up and the views expressed in it were abhorrent to Salah. A second version of the same poem has since been presented but with the admission that a reference to Jews was inserted. In other alleged quotes, words were interjected to change their meaning. In the blood libel accusation, the word Jewish was interjected, when the original referred to the murder of Christian and Muslim children during the Spanish Inquisition and a part of the speech in which Salah said defended the right of Jewish worship in synagogues deleted. On the allegation that he promoted suicide bombing by referring to martyrdom, he had been referring to incidents of Palestinian worshipers being martyred or killed at prayer by the Israeli security forces. The doctored quotes have been repeated by the Israeli Press, pro-Israeli websites, two British newspapers and the CST. No checks have been conducted, until now, on their veracity. Salah has served two terms of imprisonment in Israel, two years for funding proscribed charities and five months for spitting at a police officer during protests in 2007. He has not been convicted of incitement (although a case has been re-opened after the events in London) and the Islamic movement remains a legal organisation. An Islamic Movement spokesman said: “The Israeli establishment knows what the sheikh has said and they know they have no legal case against him. They have not been shy of pursuing him on other charges.” Salah was elected mayor of his town Umm al-Falm an Israeli-Arab city bordering the green line, three times. As a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship, he came to prominence for his defence of the Muslim holy sites and his participation on the Mavi Marmara, the Turkish boat that was stormed last year by Israeli navy as it attempted to break the siege of Gaza. Salah’s battle against deportation from Britain has prompted support from mainstream secular Palestinians. The prime minister in the West Bank, Salam Fayyad, said the Salah’s detention would harm the Palestinian Authority. Fatah, Dr Hanan Ashrawi, the Supreme Follow-up Committee of the Arab Community in Israel, the Palestinian National Assembly, Israeli Arab MPs Haneen Zoabi and Ahmed Tibi, and Talab al-Sana have all issued statements of support. Theresa May Palestinian territories Immigration and asylum David Hearst guardian.co.uk