A MAN has lost his High Court attempt to quash a warrant used to search his home during a Garda investigation into an alleged conspiracy to murder a Swedish cartoonist who drew an image of the prophet Muhammad.
Following the search of his home on March 9th, 2010, Ali Charaf Damache (45) was charged with making a menacing phone call, and has been in custody since.
The court heard Mr Damache was a suspect in a conspiracy to murder Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks over his depiction of Muhammad, which provoked unrest in Muslim countries.
The High Court dismissed the action after finding his judicial review application was brought “well outside” the three-month period allowed in court rules.
High Court president Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns said the “fatal delay” on the part of Mr Damache in bringing his judicial review challenge raised “issues of some importance concerning State security” and reinforced “an unfortunate impression” the judicial review process in this and other criminal cases was being deployed in such a way as to delay the ordinary course of criminal trials in this jurisdiction. He said he and other judges had commented unfavourably about the bringing of very late applications of this type. “It is a practice that must stop if due respect for our criminal process is to be maintained.”
In his judicial review, Mr Damache, a native of Algeria with an address at John Colwyn House, High Street, Waterford, claimed it was unconstitutional for a senior garda involved in the inquiry to issue a warrant to search his home on March 9th, 2010.