Extremist's mom wants him kicked out of UK

Europe's highest court has ruled that Abu Qatada not be deported to Jordan to face trial because of the risk evidence obtained through torture would be used against him. Photo: H.M. Prison Service

Europe's highest court has ruled that Abu Qatada not be deported to Jordan to face trial because of the risk evidence obtained through torture would be used against him. Photo: H.M. Prison Service

Published Feb 14, 2012

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Abu Qatada should be kicked out of the UK, his mother said last night.

As the Islamic extremist was released from jail, Aisha Othman insisted: “Britain is very wrong to keep my son.”

She said Qatada, once Osama Bin Laden’s spiritual ambassador in Europe, would be better off to return home to face trial in Jordan. “He has been away too long. We want him home now,” said the 70-year-old from her home in the capital, Amman.

“I don’t know why the British keep him. There is no good reason. I can’t see why they would want him.”

Qatada was freed from high-security prison under cover of darkness last night. As well as a 22-hour curfew, he is banned from contacting a list of terrorists including al-Qaeda chief Ayman Al Zawahiri and hook-handed hate preacher Abu Hamza.

Ministers are desperate to deport him and are pinning their hopes on a promise by Jordan to ban the use in terror trials of evidence obtained by torture. The prospect of Qatada, who is Freed: Qatada, pictured before he went to prison also known as Omar Othman, being prosecuted using evidence obtained by ill-treatment led to the European Court of Human Rights ruling he must not be deported.

In turn, Strasbourg’s judgment led directly to the UK courts releasing him on bail yesterday. He is wanted in Jordan in connection with plotting a terrorist atrocity to mark the millennium.

In an exclusive interview, Mrs Othman insisted her son was not a terrorist. But his brother and a close friend revealed how he was in regular phone contact with Osama Bin Laden until 2001 and thought the late al-Qaeda leader was a “wise man”.

They said Qatada supported jihadist groups in Algeria and Libya but denied he had any involvement in terror attacks in Jordan.

His younger brother, Ibrahim Abu Omar Othman, 32, said he wanted Qatada to return to Jordan.

“I wish very much to have him back, of course, but I am worried he will be tortured if he returns if there is not a special agreement to say he cannot be harmed and that he will have fair treatment by the authorities,” he added.

“I am very uncertain about whether that is possible.”

He last spoke to Qatada two months ago when the preacher telephoned the family home from prison.

“We are concerned about him, but he is a strong man who did not complain to us about prison life.

“He will be much happier to be out though, I am certain about that.”

Qatada’s best friend from school, Hassan Abu Hanyiah, said: “He spoke to Bin Laden many, many times by phone, although they never met in person because they were never in the same country together.

“Before September 11, speaking to Bin Laden was not a big deal.

“He admired Bin Laden as a wise man who knew many things. He liked and respected him a lot.”

While fighting deportation, Qatada, 51, has been held for six-and-a-half years, more than any other detainee in modern immigration history.

As ministers continued to work frantically to strike an extradition deal with Jordan, Downing Street left open the door to defying Strasbourg and simply putting Qatada on a plane. Such a move - while hugely popular with the British public and Tory MPs Ð would bring the Government into open conflict with Europe.

But, asked whether Britain could ignore the ruling, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “We are committed to removing him from the country. We want to see him deported. We are looking at all the options for doing that.”

The comments from Number Ten came as Tory MPs continued to heap pressure on the Prime Minister to remove Qatada. They point out other countries, including Italy and France, have kicked out terror suspects in clear defiance of the court's rulings.

Tory MP Dominic Raab said: “The lawyers have haggled and quibbled long enough. Qatada is a threat to public protection and should be put on a flight back to Jordan. No ifs, no buts.”

Tory MP Robert Halfon accused Strasbourg of subverting the original founding principles of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The taxpayer will have to find up to £10 000 a week to help protect Qatada from vigilante attacks now that he has been released. Police surveillance will require 60 officers a day divided over three shifts to keep a 24-hour watch on him.

James Brokenshire, the security minister, is due to fly to Jordan to gain necessary assurances that will allow the UK to deport Qatada.

The case has become so sensitive that officials will not say publicly when the talks will take place.

Lord Carlile, the government’s former reviewer of terror laws, said: “This should all have been sorted out long ago.

“The incredulity of the public and the media is entirely justified. We have to find a way of making him leave.

“There are legal rule of law ways of achieving that, it’s a pity it wasn’t done before.”

Yvette Cooper, the shadow Home Secretary, said: “As soon as the European Court judgement was delivered a month ago now the Government could have appealed the decision and begun urgent negotiations with the Jordanian government. Instead the Government did nothing.” - Daily Mail

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