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Abu Qatada to be released from prison | Abu Qatada to be released from prison |
(35 minutes later) | |
Muslim cleric Abu Qatada is due to be released on bail after winning the latest stage in his seven-year legal battle to avoid deportation to Jordan, where he faces terrorism charges. | Muslim cleric Abu Qatada is due to be released on bail after winning the latest stage in his seven-year legal battle to avoid deportation to Jordan, where he faces terrorism charges. |
He will be released from Long Lartin prison, in Worcestershire, later. | |
The Special Immigration Appeals Commission decided his trial in Jordan, over suspected bomb plots, might not be fair because evidence obtained by the torture of others could be used. | |
The government is planning a challenge. | |
Home Secretary Theresa May has branded the Siac ruling "deeply unsatisfactory" and has said the government will try to appeal against the decision. | |
Jordan's acting information minister Nayef al-Fayez told the BBC his government shared UK authorities' disappointment at the Siac ruling. | |
Abu Qatada, whose real name is Omar Othman, has been in detention in the UK for seven years. | Abu Qatada, whose real name is Omar Othman, has been in detention in the UK for seven years. |
His release is subject to bail conditions, including being allowed out of his house only between 08:00 and 16:00, having to wear an electronic tag, and being restricted in who he meets. | |
Home affairs committee chairman Keith Vaz, who branded the decision "farcical", said the UK must persuade Jordan to strengthen its criminal code, urging ministers to work with that country to overturn the decision. | |
Mr Vaz also said the case had cost taxpayers £1m. | |
Criminal code | Criminal code |
Earlier this year, judges at the European Court in Strasbourg ruled the cleric would not face ill-treatment if returned to Jordan, citing assurances outlined in a UK-Jordan agreement. | Earlier this year, judges at the European Court in Strasbourg ruled the cleric would not face ill-treatment if returned to Jordan, citing assurances outlined in a UK-Jordan agreement. |
But crucially, the judge did not believe he would get a fair trial because a Jordanian court could use evidence against Abu Qatada that had been obtained from the torture of others. | But crucially, the judge did not believe he would get a fair trial because a Jordanian court could use evidence against Abu Qatada that had been obtained from the torture of others. |
On Monday, despite the UK obtaining additional assurances from Jordan, Mr Justice Mitting ruled he was not satisfied Abu Qatada would be tried fairly. | On Monday, despite the UK obtaining additional assurances from Jordan, Mr Justice Mitting ruled he was not satisfied Abu Qatada would be tried fairly. |
Mr Vaz said: "What we need to do is study the judgement carefully and to try to persuade the Jordanians to do the only thing that the courts wanted them to which is to strengthen the Jordanian criminal code." | Mr Vaz said: "What we need to do is study the judgement carefully and to try to persuade the Jordanians to do the only thing that the courts wanted them to which is to strengthen the Jordanian criminal code." |
He said the king of Jordan would be visiting the UK later this month, which gave the government "an opportunity to try and persuade him to go that little bit further in terms of the way the criminal code of Jordan operates". | He said the king of Jordan would be visiting the UK later this month, which gave the government "an opportunity to try and persuade him to go that little bit further in terms of the way the criminal code of Jordan operates". |
'Notoriously unreliable' | |
Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert said Siac had delivered "a very surprising ruling" adding that, while it was "right that judges make these calls", it was "hard to see what more could have been done". | |
But Keith Best, from the charity Freedom from Torture, said: "This really ought to be a wake-up call that those who live by the sword, perish by the sword, and if states continue to try to obtain evidence by torture - notoriously unreliable by the way - then those states have got to learn that if they want to prosecute people in the courts, those prosecutions will probably fail." | |
Human rights lawyer Julian Knowles warned that the case could drag on for years. | |
"We've got another year's worth of UK litigation at least. And then if Abu Qatada is the loser at the end of the domestic phase, he can then go back to the European Court and say, 'Look, the English courts have misunderstood the evidence'. | |
"The European Court will look at the position as it then is in 2014 or 2015 or whenever it is, and there is a possibility therefore that we are in for several years more of litigation." | |