Abu Qatada launches new appeal against deportation

The radical cleric Abu Qatada is embarking on what could be his final appeal against deportation to Jordan after he was convicted of terror charges in 1999. 

The Home Office says that he is a risk to national security and it is believed that Qatada is a prominent enthusiast of Jihad in Europe, although he has never been charged with a terror crime in the UK. 

His legal fight has raged in the UK for seven years and his case will be heard by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) that deal with national security deportations and is largely held behind closed doors. 

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Qatada would not face cruelty if returned to Jordan and that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) met European standards of humane treatment.

Evidence against him acquired in Jordan may have been obtained by the torture of others raising questions over a fair trial.

The Home Secretary Theresa May has negotiated a new MOU and these points will be paramount to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission hearing to begin Wednesday.

Mr Justice Mitting said: “The end of the litigation is at last in sight. What SIAC has to do is to exercise its judgment principally, though, perhaps, not entirely, on the issue of whether or not any trial that the appellant would face in Jordan would be fragrantly unfair.”

Qatada’s defence will argue that the UK government can not give assurance to fair treatment in Jordan as the country is in political chaos.

“The decision of this commission with actually and finally put an end to this litigation within, at most, a very short space of time”, said Mr Justice Mitting.

It is expected that SIAC will take around one month to consider all the information gathered.

 James Clark