London, 18 Feb.
Radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada will be deported from Britain on terrorism charges and could be sent back to his native Jordan, despite fears he may be tortured there. The upper house of the British parliament, sitting as Britain's highest court, unanimously rejected an appeal from Qatada against being repatriated to Jordan, where he faces jail for terrorism.
Qatada had claimed that his conviction in Jordan was based on evidence extracted by torture.
The 48-year-old cleric, once described by a judge as 'Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe' is currently in London's Belmarsh high security prison.
Britain's interior ministry has long campaigned for Qatada's deportation and interior minister Jacqui Smith said she was "delighted" at the ruling.
Qatada's final removal may not take place until the European Court of Human Rights hears his case.
Campaign group Amnesty International criticised the ruling, saying there was a real risk that Qatada would be tortured.
Human Rights Watch also criticised the ruling, saying it damaged the global ban on torture.
"The Law Lords have given the government a green light to send people back to places where they risk torture and ill-treatment," said HRW's senior counter-terrorism adviser Julia Hall.
"Jordanian military courts are not independent and evidence is obtained by the use of torture," Hall added.
The Law Lords also ruled on Wednesday that two unnamed Algerian terrorism suspects would be deported to Algeria, another country where there is well-documented evidence that prisoners have been tortured.
Qatada was first arrested in the wake of Al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks on the United States amid allegations that he was one of the most influential Islamist preachers in Europe and played a critical ideological role.
The Jordanian father-of-five, whose real name is Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman, claimed asylum when he arrived in Britain in September 1993 on a forged passport.
A Spanish judge investigating the deadly 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings described him as Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe.
Qatada issued a 1995 fatwa or religious edict justifying the killing of converts from Islam, their wives and children in Algeria. In a 1999 sermon, he called for the killing of Jews and praised attacks on Americans. The same year, Qatada was convicted in his absence of planning terrorist attacks in Jordan.
Videos of Qatada's sermons were also found in the flats of some of the 9/11 hijackers in Amsterdam. He was arrested by British anti-terror police in February 2008 and found in possession of nearly 200,000 euros in cash, including 1,000 euros in an envelope marked 'for the mujahadeen in Chechnya'.
In 2008 a British appeals court blocked Qatada's removal after accepting his argument that he had not faced a fair trial in his absence.
He was released on bail - but then re-arrested and returned to prison because security officials said they had intelligence that he was considering fleeing the UK.
Qatada's convictions in Jordan relate to an alleged conspiracy to bomb hotels in the capital Amman along with allegedly providing finance and advice for other plots.
Radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada will be deported from Britain on terrorism charges and could be sent back to his native Jordan, despite fears he may be tortured there. The upper house of the British parliament, sitting as Britain's highest court, unanimously rejected an appeal from Qatada against being repatriated to Jordan, where he faces jail for terrorism.
Qatada had claimed that his conviction in Jordan was based on evidence extracted by torture.
The 48-year-old cleric, once described by a judge as 'Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe' is currently in London's Belmarsh high security prison.
Britain's interior ministry has long campaigned for Qatada's deportation and interior minister Jacqui Smith said she was "delighted" at the ruling.
Qatada's final removal may not take place until the European Court of Human Rights hears his case.
Campaign group Amnesty International criticised the ruling, saying there was a real risk that Qatada would be tortured.
Human Rights Watch also criticised the ruling, saying it damaged the global ban on torture.
"The Law Lords have given the government a green light to send people back to places where they risk torture and ill-treatment," said HRW's senior counter-terrorism adviser Julia Hall.
"Jordanian military courts are not independent and evidence is obtained by the use of torture," Hall added.
The Law Lords also ruled on Wednesday that two unnamed Algerian terrorism suspects would be deported to Algeria, another country where there is well-documented evidence that prisoners have been tortured.
Qatada was first arrested in the wake of Al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks on the United States amid allegations that he was one of the most influential Islamist preachers in Europe and played a critical ideological role.
The Jordanian father-of-five, whose real name is Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman, claimed asylum when he arrived in Britain in September 1993 on a forged passport.
A Spanish judge investigating the deadly 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings described him as Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe.
Qatada issued a 1995 fatwa or religious edict justifying the killing of converts from Islam, their wives and children in Algeria. In a 1999 sermon, he called for the killing of Jews and praised attacks on Americans. The same year, Qatada was convicted in his absence of planning terrorist attacks in Jordan.
Videos of Qatada's sermons were also found in the flats of some of the 9/11 hijackers in Amsterdam. He was arrested by British anti-terror police in February 2008 and found in possession of nearly 200,000 euros in cash, including 1,000 euros in an envelope marked 'for the mujahadeen in Chechnya'.
In 2008 a British appeals court blocked Qatada's removal after accepting his argument that he had not faced a fair trial in his absence.
He was released on bail - but then re-arrested and returned to prison because security officials said they had intelligence that he was considering fleeing the UK.
Qatada's convictions in Jordan relate to an alleged conspiracy to bomb hotels in the capital Amman along with allegedly providing finance and advice for other plots.
Source: Adnkronos
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