Islamist Abu Qatada cannot be deported from UK, rules human rights court

GlobalPost 18 January 2012
By Jessica Phelan

Abu Qatada, a radical Islamist cleric accused of supporting several terrorist groups including Al Qaeda, will remain in Britain after a ruling that he risks facing an unfair trial if deported. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled today that Britain could not deport Qatada – real name Omar Othman – to his native Jordan as the government had sought, since "there remains a real risk that evidence obtained by torture will be used against him."
Qatada has already been convicted in absentia of involvement in two terrorist bomb plots in Jordan, the BBC reported. He maintains that the evidence against him was obtained through the torture of his co-defendants, and sought asylum in Britain in 1993 after being tortured twice himself. (...)

Posted January 18th, 2012 by pk

And this, related, also from Europe News:

Terrorism Suspect

NYTimes.com 18 January 2012
By RAVI SOMAIYA and JOHN F. BURNS

LONDON — The European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday that Abu Qatada, a radical Islamic preacher regarded as one of Al Qaeda’s main inspirational leaders in Europe, cannot be deported from Britain to his native Jordan because his trial there would be tainted by evidence obtained by torture.
The preacher, whose real name is Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman, is in prison in Britain and has been convicted in his absence in Jordan of planning two bombing attacks. The British government had insisted that he be returned to Jordan as part of a wider strategy of dealing with international terrorism suspects by deportation.
Although it accepted Jordan’s assurances that Mr. Othman would be treated humanely, the European court in Strasbourg, France, said in its ruling that evidence against Mr. Othman in the Jordan bombings "had been obtained by torturing one of his co-defendants.” Deporting him would "legitimize the torture of witnesses and suspects,” it said, and "result in a flagrant denial of justice.”
Britain has wrestled for more than a decade with a sense that it had become a safe haven and incubator for Islamic extremism, struggling to balance civil liberties and due process with security. One former senior antiterrorism police officer, who requested anonymity in order to discuss delicate security issues, said Britain had tracked as many as 100 nascent terror plots at any one time since 2001, though only a few escalated into serious threats. (...)

Posted January 18th, 2012 by pk