17 Feb 2012

Theresa May to visit Jordan to push for Qatada removal

Home Secretary Theresa May is to travel to Jordan to try and negotiate a way for the government to deport controversial Muslim cleric Abu Qatada.

Theresa May (R)

Qatada has recently been released from detention after spending six-and-a-half years locked up while fighting attempts to deport him. Human rights judges in Europe ruled he could not be deported without assurances from Jordan that evidence gained through torture would not be used against him.

Mrs May said the court’s decision was “unacceptable” and that she would “do everything” possible to deport the 51-year-old before the start of the Olympics.

Although legally, Qatada’s detention cannot continue, the government has imposed bail conditions that are among “the most stringent imposed for anybody facing deportation from the UK.”

Curfew

These conditions include a 22-hour curfew and strict conditions over whom he can meet.

But the man who was once described by a judge as Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe could be freed from his bail terms in just three months if Mrs May fails to show significant progress is being made in the talks.

Mrs May said: “It simply isn’t acceptable that, after guarantees from the Jordanians about his treatment, after British courts have found he is dangerous, after his removal has been approved by the highest courts in our land, we still cannot deport dangerous foreign nationals.”

‘Frustrating and difficult’

Last week, Prime Minister David Cameron told King Abdullah of Jordan of the “frustrating and difficult” position Britain was in. Ayman Odeh, the Jordanian legislative affairs minister, said the country had passed a constitutional amendment in September to ban the use of evidence obtained by torture.

He told Sky News: “We are confident that once we have the chance to make this statement through the diplomatic channels ..(it) will be taken into consideration.”

But Conservative former home office minister David Mellor said Mrs May should simply ignore the ruling of the ECHR and “put him on a plane this morning”.