The Muslim extremists (and yes, I don’t need scare quotes around that word) that Britain is threatening to deport are taunting them with lawyers:

Al-Siri, who faces execution in Egypt for the murder of a six-year-old girl in a terror bomb blast, said: ‘I don’t think any British judge can accept any agreement between the UK and any Middle East country like Egypt.’

The 42-year-old, who denies involvement in terrorism, added: ‘Any judge here can take this agreement and throw it in the rubbish basket.

‘I still trust the UK with human rights and, while Tony Blair may want to change the laws, there is still the Magna Carta.’

Saudi dissident Dr Saad Al-Fagih, who has been described as ‘global terrorist’ by the U.S., also said he was not worried by Mr Clarke’s threat.

He said: ‘There is no reason why I should go, none whatsoever. I am doing nothing wrong. If any attempts are made I will contact my lawyer and go through the due process.’

These are people who have utter contempt for human rights (or for that matter, human life) as we understand them, and given the chance, would institute a regime in which they were non-existent. Yet they are sufficiently confident in our own belief in them that they will cheerfully use that against us. They may be misunderestimating the patience of the British people, though:

The Government has also signalled it is prepared to amend the Human Rights Act to achieve its aims.

We’ll see if July 7th had the same impact on Britain as September 11th did on us. Now, perhaps they, like we, now understand that when people say they want to kill us, we should take them seriously.

I do wonder, though, if Cherie Blair will be one of the lawyers fighting their extradition? That would make for some interesting bedroom conversation at 10 Downing Street.