Tuesday 17 April 2012

Radical Cleric Qatada Facing Deportation


Radical cleric Abu Qatada can be deported to Jordan after the Government received assurances that evidence gained through torture would not be used in his terror trial, the Home Secretary has told MPs.
Theresa May said British courts had found him to be a "dangerous man" and a serious risk to national security, but she warned an appeal by his lawyers could mean it is many months before he is put on a plane.
The Home Office is making preparations to have Qatada, who has been linked to al Qaeda, sent home to face trial for terrorism offences after more than 10 years of fighting for his deportation.
Qatada, once described by a judge as Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe, was earlier arrested by officers from the UK Border Agency at his home in London.
Mrs May said he "deserves to face justice" in Jordan and could be deported "under the full compliance of the law", and the Government has confidence in its "eventual success".
"We can soon put Qatada on a plane and get him out of our country for good," she said.
It is understood the earliest he could be deported to Jordan is on or around April 30.
He is expected to launch a new legal challenge against deportation.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled in January that the cleric could not be sent back without promises evidence gained through torture would not be used.
Lawyers for the Home Secretary must convince the commission that it has secured these assurances before Qatada is deported.
Keith Vaz , the chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee , said ahead of the arrest that the Jordanian officials have given the Government "all the assurances it needs" to deport Qatada.
Mrs May had to show she has made progress in the case by the start of next month, when judges could lift the 51-year-old Qatada's stringent bail conditions.
As Mrs May delivered her statement to MPs, the cleric's legal team were applying for bail at a hearing at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission in central London.
His lawyers could still take the case back to the European court, a process which could take months.
Labour had earlier accused the Government of allowing "too much drift and delay".
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper earlier argued that Mrs May should have acted sooner to prevent the cleric's release from prison in the first place and declared she needed to get "an urgent grip of this case".
She said: "The Home Secretary needs to explain urgently to Parliament what she is doing to get Abu Qatada deported and to make sure there are strong enough safeguards to protect public safety in the meantime."
Jordan has previously said Qatada would get a fair trial .
Qatada, who is also known as Omar Othman, was convicted in his absence in Jordan of involvement with terror attacks in 1998. He featured in hate sermons found on videos in the flat of one of the September 11 bombers.
He has been held for six-and-half-years, more than any other detainee in modern immigration history, and has thwarted every attempt by the Government so far to deport him.
Qatada was released on bail from Long Lartin high-security jail, in Worcestershire, in February. 
His bail conditions meant he could leave his London home for two one-hour periods each day, was banned from taking his youngest child to school and could not talk to anyone who has not been vetted by the security services.
He was also banned from visiting mosques, leading prayers, giving lectures or preaching, other than to offer advice to his wife and children at home.

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