This terrorist has been living under house arrest in England for over a decade. They can't deport him to Jordan because the "Human Rights Board" said he might be tortured there. So what?
[I just learned about this guy after reading comments on the HuffPo article about Larkin].
From Wikipedia:
Abu Qatada al-Filistini born 1959/60), is the conventional name of Omar Mahmoud Othman, a Palestinian Muslim of Jordanian citizenship. He is under worldwide embargo by the United Nations Security Council Committee 1267 for his alleged affiliation with al-Qaeda.
Repeatedly imprisoned in Britain since he was first detained under anti-terrorism laws in 2002, he has not been prosecuted there for any criminal or conspiracy offences. The Algerian government has described Abu Qatada as being involved with Islamists in London and possibly elsewhere. After initially barring the United Kingdom from deporting Qatada to Jordan, in May 2012 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that he could be deported on the basis of assurances from Jordan that he will not be tortured.
Background and Imprisonment
Abu Qatada has Jordanian nationality because he was born in Bethlehem in the West Bank in 1960, which at that time was occupied by Jordan. In 1989 he went to Peshawar, where the BBC has written that "some say he met Osama Bin Laden." Abu Qatada has always distanced himself from links to Al Qaeda and insisted he has never met with Osama Bin Laden.
Jason Burke has written that, "Qutada [sic] has impeccable traditional and modern Salafist credentials and had acted as the in-house alim to radical groups, particularly in Algeria, from his base in northwest London since 1994". In 2001, after bin Laden was criticised by a Salafist faction for issuing fatwas, he turned to Abu Qatada for support, and the support was forthcoming.
In 1991, after the Gulf War, Abu Qatada was expelled from Kuwait along with many other Palestinians. He returned to Jordan, but in September 1993 he fled with his wife and five children to the UK, using a forged UAE passport. He requested asylum on grounds of religious persecution and this was granted in June 1994.
In February 2001, Abu Qatada was arrested and questioned in connection with a German terror cell. There was insufficient evidence against him, and all charges were dropped. Tapes of his sermons were later discovered in a Hamburg flat used by the 9/11 hijackers The Home Office stated that Abu Qatada was the spiritual guide to the 9/11 ringleader Mohamed Atta. In the wake of 9/11, new anti-terror legislation was quickly introduced in the UK.
Abu Qatada, who had hitherto lived with his family in Acton, west London, disappeared. His disappearance and his previous alleged contacts with MI5, prompted speculation by the Times of London that he was working with British intelligence and had agreed to provide them with information on suspects in the "war on terror". The Times reported that "Britain ignored warnings — which began before the 11 September attacks — from half a dozen friendly governments about Abu Qatada’s links with terrorist groups and refused to arrest him. Intelligence chiefs hid from European allies their intention to use the cleric as a key informer against Islamic militants in Britain."
In October 2002 Abu Qatada was arrested at a council house in south London and taken to Belmarsh Prison. Here he began a long legal battle against deportation.
Abu Qatada feared he would be tortured were he returned to Jordan. During this period Abu Qatada lived in a legal twilight as Asim Qureshi, of UK-based human rights group CagePrisoners, explained : "He has not been able to see the evidence against him neither has his lawyer. The only person representing him is a special advocate who is not allowed to speak to him or his solicitor. There you have the bizarre situation where someone is representing him who has never met him or his lawyer," he said.
Abu Qatada was kept in prison from 2002 until 2005, when he was released under strict bail conditions. After 5 months, he was re-arrested and kept in prison until May 2008. A British court ruled on 26 February 2007, that he may be deported to Jordan.
In April 2008, Abu Qatada won an appeal against deportation but remained in prison. On 8 May 2008, he was granted bail by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission. In November 2008 Abu Qatada's bail was revoked and he was sent back to prison pending his deportation from the United Kingdom.
However, following a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights that he may not be deported to Jordan, Abu Qatada was released under strict bail conditions on 13 February 2012.
He was rearrested on 17 April 2012 and faces deportation to Jordan following reassurances and information received by the British government from Jordan. His lawyers said they had lodged an appeal at the European Court of Human Rights.
According to conservative politician Boris Johnson, Abu Qatada's residence in Britain is estimated to have cost the British taxpayer at least £500,000 in benefit payments to his family and other expenses by early 2012. The Daily Telegraph claimed the cost to be as high as £3 million by May 2012, a figure that could not be confirmed by the British Home Office.
Activities, affiliations and influence
According to the indictment of the Madrid al-Qaeda cell prepared by Spanish prosecutors, Abu Qatada was "considered the spiritual leader" of al-Qaeda in Europe and other groups including the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), and the Tunisian Combat Group.[26]
When questioned in the UK in February 2001, Abu Qatada was in possession of £170,000 cash, including £805 in an envelope labelled "For the Mujahedin in Chechnya".
According to The Independent, videos of Abu Qatada's sermons were found in the Hamburg apartment of Mohamed Atta when it was searched after the 11 September 2001 attacks, which Atta led.
Mr. Justice Collins, then chairman of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission that rejected his appeal against detention without charge or trial in 2004, said that Abu Qatada was "heavily involved, indeed was at the centre in the United Kingdom of terrorist activities associated with al-Qaeda. He is a truly dangerous individual ...".
Abu Qatada was subsequently released in 2005, never having been charged of any crime.
Abu Qatada has been called by The Times a preacher or advisor to al-Qaeda terrorists Zacarias Moussaoui and Richard Reid.
Abu Qatada's name is included in the UN al-Qaeda sanction list pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267.
Legal status
In 1999, Abu Qatada was sentenced in absentia by Jordan to life imprisonment with hard labour for conspiracy to carry out terror attacks, and subsequently in 2000 to a further 15 years for his involvement in a plot to bomb tourists attending Millennium celebrations in Jordan.
In October 2002, the then Home Secretary, David Blunkett, detained Abu Qatada indefinitely without trial under Part 4 of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (ATCSA), which at that time provided for such detention.[30] The Special Immigrations Appeals Commission subsequently rejected an appeal by Abu Qatada to be released from detention without trial. In 2005, Part 4 of ATCSA was replaced by the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005, which replaced detentions with control orders, and Abu Qatada was released under such a control order. On 12 August 2005, Abu Qatada was detained again pending deportation to Jordan.
On 9 April 2008, the Court of Appeal ruled that Abu Qatada could not be returned to Jordan as he would face a further trial where there was a strong probability that evidence obtained by torture might be used that would amount to a breach of the United Kingdom's obligations under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.[32] He was released on bail by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission on 8 May 2008, subject to a 22-hour home curfew and other restrictions. His bail security was provided by former terrorist hostage Norman Kember, whose release Abu Qatada had requested before Kember's rescue by the SAS in 2006.
In November 2008, he was rearrested at his home. The Special Immigration Appeals Commission revoked his bail, stating he had not broken bail conditions, but might do at some time in the future. The commission accepted the government's claim that Abu Qatada posed a significant risk of absconding, and returned him to prison pending his possible deportation.
In February 2009, Law Lords ruled that Abu Qatada could be deported to Jordan. In the same month, Abu Qatada was awarded £2,500 by the European Court of Human Rights in a lawsuit he filed against the UK, after judges ruled that his detention without trial in the UK breached his human rights.
On 17 January 2012, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Abu Qatada could not be deported to Jordan as that would be a violation of his right to a fair trial under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This was the first time the court has ruled that such an expulsion would be a violation of Article 6.
The Special Immigration Appeals Commission subsequently ruled that Abu Qatada should be bailed on highly prescriptive terms for three months while the British government sought further reassurances from Jordan. Under the UN Convention Against Torture, to which the UK is a signatory, states are obliged to refrain even from complicity in torture, and thus are forbidden from deporting people to places where a real risk of torture exists. Torture is rife in Jordan and Human Rights Watch has documented allegations of severe abuse, although the prospect of torture did not stop the UK from deporting people to Libya under Colonel Gaddafi.
Abu Qatada was released on bail on 13 February 2012. He was prohibited from using a mobile phone, computer or the internet, and subject to an electronically monitored 22-hour curfew that only allowed him to leave home twice a day for a maximum of one hour.
On 17 April 2012, Abu Qatada was rearrested at his home in London. In a statement the same day the Home Secretary, Theresa May, said that reassurances and information received from Jordan meant that Abu Qatada could now be deported. His lawyers said they had lodged an appeal at the European Court of Human Rights, amidst confusion whether the three month deadline for reappealing following the January 17 ruling had passed or not. The al-Qaeda-linked Somali group Al-Shabaab threatened an attack against the UK if Qatada was deported.
Relation with the BBC
BBC journalist Alan Johnston was kidnapped in Gaza on 13 March 2007. Johnston's captors, the Doghmush clan who headed the Army of Islam (Gaza Strip), demanded the release of dozens of captives, including Abu Qatada. Abu Qatada offered to help negotiate Johnston's release.
On 7 February 2012, The Daily Telegraph reported that a senior manager at the BBC had instructed its journalists not to call Abu Qatada an extremist. The BBC subsequently used the form of words "accused of being one of the UK's most dangerous extremist preachers".
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