UK terror convict testifies in US about Bin Laden meeting

Saajid Badat refused to appear in person as he is still wanted in the US

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A British man jailed for plotting to blow up a plane has admitted meeting Osama Bin Laden, in a taped testimony for a US terror trial in New York.

Saajid Badat, 33, told the trial of Adis Medunjanin - accused of plotting to attack the city's subways - that he met Bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1999.

It is the first time a terrorist convicted in the UK has testified at a terror trial abroad.

His sentence was cut in exchange for his testimony and he has been freed.

On Monday, British prosecutors revealed that Badat's UK 13-year sentence had been reduced by two years. Jailed in 2005, he has been described an al-Qaeda supergrass.

Badat, from Gloucester - who would otherwise have been released in July two-thirds of the way through his term - was freed in March 2010, the Parole Board said.

He refused to appear in person, as he remains under indictment in Boston on charges of conspiracy with would-be British shoe-bomber Richard Reid.

"If I go to the United States, I'll be arrested," Badat said on the videotape played in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

Mr Medunjanin, 27, a naturalised US citizen, is accused of travelling to Pakistan with two friends in 2008 and receiving terror training from Bin Laden's network. The other two men have pleaded guilty and testified against him.

Badat had no involvement with the three, but prosecutors wanted to use his testimony to corroborate what Mr Medunjanin's friends have said about al-Qaeda's training methods.

US prosecutors and defence lawyers interviewed Badat in late March, before the trial began.

Badat said he had "direct interaction" with Bin Laden more than once in Afghanistan, and that Badat had agreed to blow up a plane using explosives hidden in his shoes.

But while Reid went ahead with the plot, Badat backed out, and was later arrested and convicted of conspiracy.

The bulk of Badat's evidence will be heard when the trial resumes on Monday.

Border Agency still failing on basics, say MPs

The UK Border Agency is still failing in its "basic functions" in spite of efforts to overhaul it, MPs have said.

The home affairs committee said UKBA had provided "inconsistent" information about immigration and asylum cases dating back to 2006 and this backlog would take four more years to clear.

It also said it was "deeply concerned" about the number of foreign prisoners living in the UK awaiting deportation.

Immigration minister Damian Green said "past mistakes" were being dealt with.

The UK Border Agency - responsible for securing the UK border at air, rail and sea ports and migration controls - was set up in 2008 following the then Labour Home Secretary John Reid's 2006 declaration that the Home Office's immigration directorate was "not fit for purpose".

Borders row

The organisation is now being split into two in the wake of a row last year over revelations that hundreds of thousands of people were let into the country without complete checks. The row led to the resignation of the head of the UK Border Force, Brodie Clark.

The UK Border Force, the section of the agency that manages entry to the UK, is to become a separate law-enforcement body reporting directly to the Home Office while the UKBA will be solely responsible for immigration policy work.

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UKBA appears unable to focus on its key task of tracking and removing illegal immigrants, overstayers or bogus students from the country”

Keith VazHome affairs committee chairman

In its latest report on the workings of the UKBA, covering the period between August and November 2011, the cross-party committee suggested the agency was still not getting a grip on the backlog of approximately 450,000 asylum and immigration cases which emerged in 2006.

Last year UKBA officials said a preliminary decision had since been made in all these cases. Of about 365,000 cases where the individuals could be traced, it said 18,000 remained unresolved.

But the committee said new evidence it had seen in recent months suggested the UKBA was dealing with 1,500 more "live cases" than previously indicated and it was unclear where some of these had originated from. It called on the agency to "clean up and clarify" the figures.

"The agency must rid itself of its bunker mentality and focus on ensuring that Parliament and the public understands its work," the MPs said. "Confusion over figures only risks suspicion that the agency is attempting to mislead Parliament and the public over its performance and effectiveness."

There are currently 118,000 cases where individuals cannot be located. MPs said, at the current rate of progress, this would take four years to clear and this was "unacceptable".

In its last report, in November, the MPs said the cases had effectively been "dumped" in an archive and the agency had given up on them.

'Better decisions'

The committee said it was also taking too long to consider whether foreign nationals could be deported at the end of their prison sentences. It said it would be seeking an explanation from officials for why the number of deportations fell in the past year and the exact nature of "obstacles" standing in the way of deportation cited in one in four cases.

While the MPs said they welcomed the reduction in the number of prisoners released without being referred to the UKBA for possible deportation, the committee said there were 3,940 former foreign inmates living in the community - 2,670 of whom were still awaiting deportation after two years.

Labour MP Keith Vaz, who chairs the committee, said more needed to be done to tackle the use of false identities and absence of basic documentation hindering the process.

"The reputation of the Home Office and, by extension, the UK government is being tarnished by the inability of the UK Border Agency to fulfil its basic functions," he said.

"The foreign national prisoner issue and the asylum backlog were scandals which first broke in 2006, six years ago. UKBA appears unable to focus on its key task of tracking and removing illegal immigrants, overstayers or bogus students from the country."

He added: "Following the border controls saga, we now have two agencies instead of one. We are hopeful that UKBA will now concentrate fully on the issues that are causing so much concern to the public and Parliament."

Mr Green said the UKBA was publishing more information about its performance than ever before, making it more accountable.

"At the same time as clearing up the mistakes of the past, we are taking the action necessary to ensure the same errors will not be allowed happen in the future," he said.

"We are starting the deportation process earlier and removing foreign criminals more quickly than ever. We are now making better asylum decisions, ensuring cases are properly tracked, improving intelligence and speeding up removals."