[JURIST] The European Court of Human Rights [official website] has granted the request of the British government to challenge Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights [full text], widely interpreted as preventing countries from deporting terror suspects to nations with poor human rights records. The court will allow the government to join the pending deportation challenge case of an Algerian national as a third party. Government officials contend that in many cases the removal of terror suspects to their home countries is the only way to reduce the threat to citizens. The issue has received heightened attention in the wake of the London bombings [JURIST news archive] last summer. Several terror suspects were detained after the bombings, and the government's attempts to deport them to their home countries were halted when the men complained that they would likely encounter torture there, a concern echoed by UN officials [JURIST report] and human rights groups. As a result, British officials signed diplomatic agreements [HRW backgrounder] with nations promising that transferred persons would not be mistreated. The case is expected to be decided later this year. BBC News has more.