Cleric Abu Qatada can be deported, says Theresa May
Theresa May: "Today officers arrested and detained Abu Qatada"
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Radical cleric Abu Qatada can be deported to Jordan after fresh assurances that he will get a fair trial, the home secretary has told MPs.
In a statement to the Commons, Theresa May said he could now be removed from the UK "in full compliance of law".
But she admitted it may take "many months" as his lawyers could appeal up to the European Court of Human Rights.
Abu Qatada, 51, who faces charges in Jordan of plotting bomb attacks, was arrested earlier and denied bail.
A judge at a Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) hearing ordered him to be detained in custody following his arrest by UK Border Agency officials.
Mrs May said he "deserves to face justice" in Jordan but warned that successive governments had been trying to deport him for a decade.
"Deportation may still take time. The proper process must be followed and the rule of law must take precedence," she said.
"But today Qatada has been arrested and the deportation is under way. We can soon put Qatada on a plane and get him out of our country for good."
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'No hold-up'
Edward Fitzgerald QC, representing Abu Qatada, earlier told a SIAC hearing the cleric would seek to revoke any deportation order and appeal if unsuccessful.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said the prime minister was confident Abu Qatada would eventually be deported even if there were an appeal process taking "many months".
The European Court of Human Rights blocked his deportation to Jordan in January, saying evidence obtained by torture might be used against him.
Mrs May travelled to Jordan in March for talks with the king and ministers on the case of the Palestinian-Jordanian, whom ministers have described as "extremely dangerous" and consider a threat to UK national security.
In seeking to satisfy the courts that his human rights would not be violated if he was deported, Mrs May told MPs:
- The state security court was not a quasi-military court but a key part of the Jordanian justice system
- Abu Qatada's case would be heard in public with civilian judges and his conviction in absentia would be "quashed immediately" upon his return to Jordan
- The cleric would be held in a "normal civilian detention centre" with access to independent defence lawyers
- His co-accused would be able to give evidence against him without affecting the pardons they have been granted
- The Jordanian constitution was changed last autumn to include a specific ban on the use of torture evidence
This post was modified from its original form on 17 Apr, 22:07
A British judge ended Abu Qatada's six-year UK detention in February, weeks after the European Court of Human Rights blocked his deportation.
He was released from Long Lartin high-security jail in Worcestershire on strict bail conditions, including a 22-hour curfew allowing him to leave home for a maximum of an hour, twice a day.
Shortly before the cleric was arrested, Conservative MP Peter Bone told the BBC the government should deport him and deal with any legal consequences afterwards.
But human rights lawyer and campaigner Aamer Anwar accused UK ministers of "condoning torture" by persevering with attempts to send him for trial in Jordan.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil rights group Liberty, said credit should go to Mrs May for resisting "many calls" to deport him by flouting the law.
"She has not courted popularity by doing this and has recognised there will be new legal scrutiny of the latest assurances that she has obtained from that country," Ms Chakrabarti said.
Abu Qatada has never been charged with any offence in the UK but British authorities have previously said he gave advice to those who aimed "to engage in terrorist attacks, including suicide bombings".
He faces a re-trial in Jordan for plotting bomb attacks against American and Israeli tourists during the country's millennium celebrations, offences he was convicted of in his absence.
This post was modified from its original form on 17 Apr, 22:13
Ray, thank you for keeping us informed. Plotting bomb attacks against American and Israeli tourists during the millennium celebrations is serious. I'm still expecting our American "sleeper cell terrorists" to pull a stunt before the election in November.
It appears that security measures in the US and UK and other countries is producing results.
18 April 2012 Last updated at 19:39
Abu Qatada deportation in confusion after appeal lodged
Radical cleric Abu Qatada's deportation has been thrown into doubt after the European Court of Human Rights said it had received a last-minute appeal.
Home Secretary Theresa May said the appeal was a "delaying tactic".
The appeal was lodged late last night, but Mrs May said she was "absolutely clear" that the deadline had expired.
An appeal means the deportation process cannot begin until a panel of judges has decided whether the case should go to the Grand Chamber of the court.
Prime Minister David Cameron said that Abu Qatada has no right to stay in the UK
"He is a threat to our security, he has absolutely no further call on our hospitality and he should be deported.
"That is what we are determined to achieve, no matter how difficult it is, no matter how long it may take," he said.
Mr Qatada, 51, who faces charges in Jordan of plotting bomb attacks, had been arrested on Tuesday and denied bail.
n a statement to the Commons later, Mrs May, believing the deadline for an appeal had passed, said he could be removed from the UK "in full compliance of law".
However, on Wednesday the court said it received a request at 22:00 BST on Tuesday, which it said was before the deadline.
A panel of five judges will now decide if the case should go to the Grand Chamber. A court spokeswoman said the panel always considers the timing of the referral request and decides whether it was before or after the deadline.
Mrs May told the BBC that the deadline was three months from 17 January, making it 16 April.
"We are absolutely clear that the deadline for his appeal had expired," she said in an interview with the BBC.
A European court official later said: "We cannot comment on the view taken by the UK authorities about when the deadline expired."
If the judges decide the case will not go before the Grand Chamber, the deportation process can resume.
"It is the case that I want to see Abu Qatada deported; this is a delaying tactic from him," Mrs May said.
"I am absolutely clear that once we are through this we will resume these deportation proceedings, because I know I want to see Abu Qatada on a plane to Jordan. And I know that that is what the British public want."
Blocked deportation
Keith Vaz, chairman of the home affairs select committee, said the situation had turned "chaotic and almost farcical".
"It's very important that [Mrs May] should clarify this as soon as possible by making a statement to the House after she knows what the facts are," he said. Senior Conservative backbencher David Davis described the ECHR judges as "making the law up as they go along".
"The raw truth is that [Abu Qatada's] got to face justice at some point," he said.
"We've got to get the ECHR to understand this. I don't think there's a risk of him being tortured. I don't think there's a risk of him facing an injustice.
"I think the Jordanians have said in terms that they won't use evidence from torture in his case, so I can't see where there is a problem with extradition."
Thank you, Ray, for this important dialogue. I happen to agree that Abu Qatada has to face justice and the sooner the better. This "making the rules/laws as they go along" sounds like a Barack Hussein Obama tactic. It isn't working in the US....not by a long shot.
...not by a long shot, and I certainly hope that the U.K will take a page from our book and not make the same mistake.
Ray, great post and Diane, had to complete that one if you don't mind.
Abu Qatada appeal: May stands by deadline
House of Commons live
The home secretary has insisted radical cleric Abu Qatada's deportation case has "no right" to be referred to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
In a written statement to the Commons, Theresa May said the three-month deadline for an appeal passed before the application was submitted.
But lawyers for the preacher, who faces bomb plotting charges in Jordan, and the ECHR said the deadline was later.
Mrs May is answering an urgent question on the matter in the Commons.
'Fresh guarantees'
"The government is clear that Abu Qatada has no right to refer the case to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, since the three-month deadline to do so lapsed at midnight on Monday," her statement read.
She confirmed she had written to the ECHR to argue Abu Qatada's application should be rejected and the case heard by the UK's Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) instead.
The deportation process and any potential Siac appeal were now on hold, she confirmed.
Abu Qatada faces a re-trial in Jordan for plotting bomb attacks against American and Israeli tourists
Shadow home office minister Diana Johnson told the BBC: "Potentially this could mean that Mr Qatada could apply for bail, he could be back out on the streets and also he could sue the government for compensation for wrongful arrest."
But Conservative MP Dominic Raab said: "Until we hear definitively from the court that the appeal is allowed, I'm reasonably confident that the government is in the right place."
hysterical angst'
Abu Qatada's removal to Jordan on bomb plotting charges may now be delayed until the ECHR decides whether to hear the case.
Justice Secretary Ken Clarke dismissed the row as "hysterical angst" and said he was not sure why everyone was "wildly excited" about a "procedural wrangle".
"I'm not sure why it's regarded as such a big deal," he told BBC Breakfast.
"We know perfectly well legal proceedings are still going to take a few months, they're bound to do so."
Ken Clarke: ''I'm not sure why it's regarded as such a big deal''
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An appeal could mean the deportation process cannot begin until a panel of judges has decided whether the case should go to the Grand Chamber of the court.
The ECHR originally blocked Abu Qatada's deportation to Jordan on 17 January.
The judges ruled that, while they were satisfied that the preacher would not face ill-treatment in Jordan, the UK could not deport him without assurances from Jordan that evidence gained through torture would not be used against him.
Ministers believe the three-month deadline for appealing against the ECHR ruling passed on Monday night and, on Tuesday, Mrs May told MPs she had received fresh guarantees from Jordan that Abu Qatada would face a fair trial and that he could now be deported.
Her department had estimated that the radical cleric could be flown to Jordan on or around 30 April.
However, on Wednesday the court said it had received a request for an appeal at 22:00 BST on Tuesday, which it said was before the deadline.
BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman said it appeared the government had got it wrong as the time limit for an application expired three months "from" the date of the court's judgement - taking it to midnight on 17 April.
Abu Qatada's lawyers are appealing against the part of the court's ruling that stated it was satisfied that he would not face torture if he was deported.
An ECHR spokeswoman said the panel always considered the timing of the referral request and decided whether it was before or after the deadline.
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If the European process has formally ended, then the only bar to deportation is an assurance from Jordan that Abu Qatada will receive a fair trial by excluding torture evidence.
The new proceedings begun in London on Tuesday are focused on that single point - which is why ministers hope he could be gone in months.
The home secretary told MPs that the government had not sought to have the deportation block overturned in the ECHR's Grand Chamber because such a review could "take even longer and would risk reopening our wider policy of seeking assurances about the treatment of terror suspects in their home countries".
The Grand Chamber rarely re-examines cases or overrules its own judges - but ministers wanted to avoid that at all costs.
So if Abu Qatada's case is indeed taken up by this final body, then the chance of deporting him swiftly is gone.
Prime Minister David Cameron has vowed that radical cleric Abu Qatada will be deported from the UK to face trial in Jordan "however long it takes, however many difficulties there are along the way".
The deportation process is now on hold after Mr Qatada's lawyers launched a fresh bid to refer the case to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights.
The Home Office believed that the three-month deadline for an appeal had passed, but the ECHR has since said that it was submitted in time.
Cooper accuses May of Qatada 'farce'
The Home Secretary, Theresa May, has been forced to explain to MPs the latest delay in the efforts to deport the terrorist suspect, Abu Qatada.
Responding to an urgent question in the Commons, Mrs May maintained that the cleric's legal team had no right to to refer the case to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights because a deadline for an appeal had passed.
The preacher's lawyers claim the appeal was made in time.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper accused Mrs May of partying with X Factor judges at the time Qatada was making his appeal and said confusion and chaos had turned into farce.
Abu Qatada appeal: May defends removal delay
The home secretary has defended her handling of attempts to deport radical cleric Abu Qatada, but said he is likely to remain "for many months".
Theresa May said Abu Qatada's lawyers had no right to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights because the deadline had passed.
But an official at the Secretariat of the Council of Europe said the appeal was within the deadline.
The PM said he was confident Abu Qatada would be removed from the UK.
But shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said "chaos has turned into farce".
In a statement to the Commons, Theresa May said the three-month deadline for Abu Qatada's appeal had passed before the application was submitted.
Mrs May said: "The government is clear that Abu Qatada has no right to refer the case to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, since the three-month deadline to do so lapsed at midnight on Monday."
She confirmed she had written to the ECHR to argue Abu Qatada's application should be rejected and the case heard by the UK's Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) instead.
Delays
However Mrs May conceded that the deportation process and any potential Siac appeal were now on hold.
But on Wednesday the court said it had received a request for an appeal at 22:00 BST on Tuesday, which it said was before the deadline.
The deportation process cannot begin until a panel of judges has decided whether the case should go to the Grand Chamber of the court.
The ECHR originally blocked Abu Qatada's deportation to Jordan on 17 January.
The judges ruled that, while they were satisfied that the preacher would not face ill-treatment in Jordan, the UK could not deport him without assurances from Jordan that evidence gained through torture would not be used against him.
Abu Qatada's lawyers are appealing against the part of the court's ruling that stated it was satisfied that he would not face torture if he was deported.
An ECHR spokeswoman said the panel always considered the timing of the referral request and decided whether it was before or after the deadline.
Justice Secretary Ken Clarke dismissed the row over timings as "hysterical angst" and said he was not sure why everyone was "wildly excited" about a "procedural wrangle".
"I'm not sure why it's regarded as such a big deal," he told BBC Breakfast.
"We know perfectly well legal proceedings are still going to take a few months, they're bound to do so."
Meanwhile justice ministers from 47 countries have gathered in Brighton to discuss reforms to the ECHR - including whether it should hear fewer appeals.
The UK has criticised some of its judgements - including blocking the deportation of Abu Qatada - and wants to limit the court's powers.
sWho's right? The Home Secretary's case is that the court's rules show she is right. The judgement was on 17 January - so the three-month deadline expired at midnight Monday 16 April.
However, case law and a technical time-limits document lean towards a Tuesday deadline. A further memo from the Council of Europe, which oversees the court, indicates the appeal arrived in time - but that could just be the view of one official. The Home Office has paperwork from another case which it says proves they are right.
If Abu Qatada's referral is accepted, tedious questions of timing become a sideshow. The Home Office wanted to resume the deportation on a very narrow point - meaning he could be removed fairly quickly because there would be little to argue over in court.
A full review by the Grand Chamber could reopen the entire case - the scenario the government was desperate to avoid.
Abu Qatada: Government will try to block bail
The government will resist any application for bail by radical cleric Abu Qatada, Downing Street has said.
"If he applies for bail, we will oppose it vigorously," a spokeswoman said.
Home Secretary Theresa May insisted on Thursday that Abu Qatada's deportation case had "no right" to be referred to the European Court of Human Rights.
Abu Qatada, a Palestinian-Jordanian preacher, is wanted in Jordan on bomb plotting charges but the ECHR is yet to decide whether to hear the case.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "The idea that Abu Qatada could be back on the streets of London within weeks, if not days, as a result of the Home Secretary's decision is shocking.
"Theresa May has told us herself how dangerous she believes this man to be, yet now her own shambles could be what gets him out of jail," she added.
No comment
Mrs May ignored journalists who sought to ask her questions as she left a conference in central London on Friday morning.
Mr Justice Mitting, the British special immigration appeals commission (Siac) judge, returned Abu Qatada to jail this week after a hearing found deportation was imminent and the chance of him trying to abscond had increased.
But in his written judgment he said if it was "obvious" in two or three weeks that deportation was "not imminent" he would reconsider bail.
Ministers believe the three-month deadline for appealing against the ECHR ruling passed on Monday night. On Tuesday Mrs May told MPs she had received fresh guarantees from Jordan that Abu Qatada would face a fair trial so he could now be deported.
But on Wednesday the court said it had received a request for an appeal at 22:00 BST on Tuesday, which it said was before the deadline.
The deportation process cannot begin until a panel of judges has decided whether the case should go to the Grand Chamber of the court.
The ECHR originally blocked Abu Qatada's deportation to Jordan on 17 January.
'Screw-up'
On Friday a Downing Street spokesman was asked if the Prime Minister David Cameron had full confidence in the home secretary. The reply was: "Yes."
Asked if Mr Cameron had confidence that Abu Qatada would be deported, he said: "It is our firm intention to see him deported."
Tim Farron MP, president of the Liberal Democrats, told the BBC's Question Time programme: "I take the view that there's an Olympic-standard screw-up somewhere here, whether it's with the European Court, or it's Theresa May or with her officials."
He added: "What I'm absolutely certain of is that Abu Qatada should be deported. He should be on a plane as soon as possible."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17781831
9 May 2012 Last updated at 16:28
Abu Qatada European Court appeal rejected
Abu Qatada lodged an appeal on 17 April
Radical cleric Abu Qatada has lost his attempt to make a final appeal to the European Court of Human Rights against his deportation from the UK.
The court said a panel of judges of the Grand Chamber found the appeal had arrived in time - but refused it.
Home Secretary Theresa May said she was confident Abu Qatada would soon be "out of Britain for good".
The preacher says he faces possible torture in Jordan if he is deported from the UK.
The decision is a victory for the government's deportation strategy, even though Home Office officials got the date of the appeal deadline wrong.
In a statement, the court said Abu Qatada's appeal had arrived approximately 45 minutes before the deadline on Tuesday 17 April.
"The Panel found that the request had been submitted within the three month time-limit for such requests," said the court. "However, it considered that the request should be refused.
"Accordingly, the Chamber's judgment of 17 January 2012 is now final."
The European Court's January judgement said the UK government had received satisfactory assurances from Jordan that the preacher would not face torture if returned.
But it said he should not be deported until there was a further assurance his expected retrial on terrorism offences would not include evidence obtained by torture of others.
The decision brought the preacher's deportation to a halt - but the government says it has negotiated a deal with Jordan to ensure a fair trial.
Home Secretary Theresa May said: "It has always been the government's intention that the Qatada case should be heard in the British courts, so I am pleased by the European Court's decision today.
"I remain confident that the assurances I have secured from the Jordanian Government mean we will be able to put Qatada on a plane and get him out of Britain for good.
"His case will now go through the British courts, and in the meantime, because of the action taken by the government, Qatada remains behind bars."
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "It is shocking that the Court has confirmed the home secretary got the date wrong, and took an unacceptable risk with this serious case. Theresa May was adamant in the House of Commons that she got the date of appeal right even though she had been warned by the court and by the media.
"We are all very lucky that the home secretary's major mistake has not led to Qatada's application for appeal being granted. Now is the time for Theresa May to apologise."
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Deportation date unclear
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles: "The really important thing is that soon Mr Qatada will be leaving this country" video
It's not clear how long the deportation will now take but lawyers for the home secretary have already raised the prospect she can use a special procedure to accelerate the process by declaring the preacher no longer has any human rights grounds left to argue.
Abu Qatada, who is held in a maximum security prison, has applied for bail but no date has been set for a hearing. He may seek to argue the new Jordanian assurance on a fair trial has not been tested in the British courts. The Law Lords had previously ruled that Jordan could give him a fair trial.
Kate Allen, of Amnesty International, said the British courts now needed to have a "cold, hard look" at Jordan's record on torture.
"This is a disappointing decision and a missed opportunity. The Grand Chamber would have been the right body to examine this appeal because it raises fundamental issues about whether 'deportation deals' with countries which routinely use torture should ever be relied on.
"Jordan has a known record of torturing detainees and conducting unfair trials. The simple truth is that Abu Qatada will be at personal risk of torture and of receiving an unfair trial in Jordan's State Security Court.
"No matter what a person has been accused of, the UK must abide by the absolute global prohibition on torture and not try to wriggle out of it."
ABU QATADA TIMELINE
- 1993: Arrives in UK, given asylum because he was tortured in Jordan
- 1999 - 2000: Convicted in his absence of terrorism charges in Jordan
- 2001: Disappears as government prepares to detain him without charge
- 2002: Tracked down and detained
- 2005: Law Lords say detention unlawful; released but put under form of house arrest
- Aug 2005: Detained for deportation after Jordan provides assurances over his treatment
- 2009: Law Lords approve assurances and deportation
- 2012: European Court largely backs UK - but blocks deportation, saying Jordan must give a fair trial assurance
Cameron did say, Abu Qatada would be Deported, it as taken long enough, and cost enough, out of tax's, all I say, good luck to bad rubbish.
Ray, I would second your comment; I agree with you and if we were to propose a motion with a second and vote to do this, I think we would have a unanimous vote on the subject.
