Judge refuses bail application made by Palestinian doctor linked to IRA probe
A PALESTINIAN doctor charged in connection with a major investigation into the New IRA has failed in a new legal bid to be released from custody.
Lawyers for Issam Bassalat (63) argued that he should be granted bail so that he can go to Scotland to seek spinal surgery.
But a High Court judge refused the permission based on expert opinion that the accused’s worsening condition is not connected to his ongoing detention.
Mrs Justice Keegan said: “The report makes clear that medically there’s no evidence the condition would deteriorate or improve with bail.
“There is no evidence that there would be a better forecast for treatment outside the jurisdiction of Northern Ireland.”
Dr Bassalat, with an address at Telford Road in Edinburgh, faces a charge of attending an alleged meeting of the New IRA.
He is among 10 people facing prosecution following an MI5 sting against the terrorist grouping’s activities.
The operation involved MI5 bugging two suspected meetings at properties in Co Tyrone earlier this year.
Dr Bassalat was detained at Heathrow Airport in August. He faces a single count of preparatory acts of terrorism by allegedly attending and addressing an IRA meeting in Omagh on July 19. Previous courts heard claims that the doctor was part of a plan by the grouping to source weapons.
But the accused insists he had been misled and pestered into attending by an alleged MI5 agent.
Mounting a fresh application for bail, defence barrister Brenda Campbell QC stressed her client is suspected of playing a lesser role than his co-accused.
“He is a man of impeccable good character who has on an annual basis passed such checks as are necessary for the purposes of his medical practising certificate, and who has also very publicly for a long time committed himself to political struggles with a peaceful path,” she said.
Ms Campbell told the court there has been a significant deterioration in Dr Bassalat’s physical and mental health since September. “He has been living in constant and debilitating pain now for a number of months,” she said.
“Within the prison system they have really reached the end of the road in terms of trying to make him more comfortable.
“He requires surgery, he is experiencing muscle wastage as a result of what he is very much concerned about is nerve damage that may be permanent.”
Despite expressing sympathy for his medical issues, however, the judge ruled that the bail should not be granted at this stage.