§ Mr. Andrew F. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration was given to the case of Hosni E. Farhat in reaching the decision to ban the operations of Libyan Arab Airlines from the United Kingdom in October 1986.
§ Mr. HurdNone. The case of Farhat, who was sentenced in 1981, was not relevant to the decision, taken in 1986, to terminate flights to the United Kingdom by Libyan Arab Airlines.
§ Mr. Andrew F. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make a statement regarding the recommended minimum length of sentence to be served in the case of Hosni E. Farhat;
(2) whether the decision regarding the recommended minimum length of sentence to he served, in the case of Hosni E. Farhat, was made by the Home Secretary.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggThe date of the first formal review by the local review committee of a life sentence prisoner's case is determined by the Secretary of State in the light of advice by the trial judge and the Lord Chief Justice on the period of detention necessary to satisfy the requirements of retribution and deterrence in his case, and is normally set three years before the expiry date of that period. Following the judgment of the Divisional Court on 2 March 1987 in R. v. Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Handscomb and others, the date of the first review in cases where a life sentence is imposed at the discretion of the court rather than as the mandatory penalty for murder is fixed strictly in accordance with the judiciary's advice. The date of the first review in Mr. Farhat's case, which had then already been set, was reviewed following the judgment but there was no reason to change it. His case is due to be reviewed in accordance with these arrangements in 1998, when he will have been detained for 17 years.