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Britain Denies Bail to Radical Muslim Terror Suspect

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Radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada faces deportation to Jordan to stand trial on terrorism charges.
Radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada faces deportation to Jordan to stand trial on terrorism charges.
Radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada could be deported to Jordan to face trial on terrorism charges within weeks, according to a Reuters report. After a British court heard Qatada’s case on Monday, May 20, their ruling mandated that he remain incarcerated for the time being, as he was marked as a flight risk.

For the last eight years, the British government has been diligently attempting to secure Qatada’s deportation to Jordan, which is expected to take place in several weeks when Britain ratifies a new treaty with Jordan, according to evidence presented to the court.

Although he was never charged with a criminal offense in the UK, the British government has accused Qatada of promulgating bellicose concepts and radical ideas that are predicated on militant Islamist thought. It has been postulated that Qatada’s blatantly Western political philosophy served as an inspiration for one of the September 11, 2001 hijackers. Thusly, he is also perceived by British authorities as a national security risk.

Reuters reported that the British courts have made repeated efforts to prevent Qatada’s deportation on the grounds that a skewed verdict would be obtained by holding a trial in his native Jordan as evidence elicited through means of torture would be introduced.

Britain announced last month it had signed a new treaty with Jordan aimed at addressing those concerns, according to published reports.

Danny Friedman, a lawyer for Abu Qatada proclaimed during the bail application hearing that, “There is a prospect of a treaty coming into force … that raises the prospect of his acquittal relative to what we say are tainted charges.”

Friedman said there was no risk Abu Qatada would physically flee from justice as he was satisfied that once the treaty was in force the safest thing for him and his family to do would be to return to Jordan to face trial, according to Reuters.

While in political absentia, Jordan convicted Qatada of providing succor and encouragement to terrorists there who planned bomb attacks in 1999 and 2000. Under a 2005 agreement between Amman and London, however, he will be retried if he eventually returns.

Since his first arrest in Britain in 2001, Qatada has seen alternating periods of freedom and incarceration. In recent years he has been residing at a house in London under strict bail conditions including a 16-hour curfew and a stringent ban on the use of any telecommunications equipment, according to Reuters.

In March of this year, British authorities discovered 17 mobile phones, 3 USB sticks, 5 digital mobile devices and 55 recordable CDs or DVDs in Qatada’s house and he was returned to prison on bail violations.

Speaking at Qatada’s hearing at a special immigration tribunal, Justice Stephen Irwin said that the reasons for the denial of bail were twofold. Namely, that the breaches in the terms of bail that were made in the discovery in March were deemed an exceptionally serious offense and that there was a risk Abu Qatada might abscond, according to a Reuters report.

“He is highly intelligent, has a range of sympathetic and supportive contacts, and his risk to national security is undiminished,” Irwin declared.

The media also reported that Robin Tam, representing the British government at the bail hearing, cited a court judgment labeling Abu Qatada “a truly dangerous individual” with a significant extremist following, and said there was no reason to believe this had changed.

Tam said that “within a matter of weeks,” a treaty would be ratified that would guarantee Qatada a trial untainted by torture, as she cited an assessment provided by the British ambassador to Jordan.

Of the contents that were discovered by authorities in Abu Qatada’s eldest son’s bedroom in March was a USB stick containing “jihadist files” along with a video produced by “the media wing of al Qaeda,” according to Tam’s testimony.

Tam also said that 5,000 pounds in cash was found in the house, raising fears that the cleric could be preparing to flee the country as the prospect of deportation becomes more imminent, according to news sources.

In defense of client, Friedman claimed that Abu Qatada himself had not been using the devices found at his home and were the possessions of his four children. The money, Friedman said, was to pay for one of his daughters’ school tuition.

“He has been deprived of his liberty for longer than any other non-convicted person in modern British history,”Friedman said.

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