* Judge to rule on deportation in November
* Concern over Olympics security keeps preacher in jail
* Cleric wanted on terrorism charges in Jordan
By Tim Castle
LONDON, May 28 (Reuters) – A radical preacher accused of
giving spiritual inspiration to one of the 9/11 hijackers on
Monday lost a bid to be freed from the British prison where he
is being held ahead of moves to deport him to Jordan to face
terrorism charges.
The decision to refuse Abu Qatada bail at a special court
will come as a relief to the British government which has been
trying to expel the Jordanian cleric for a over decade.
The judge also said he would not be able to rule on the
legality of Qatada’s deportation until November, following a
two-week hearing starting on Oct. 8.
He said he accepted concerns from Britain’s security
services, detailed at the hearing, that Qatada might abscond if
freed and damage their ability and that of the police to protect
the public when their resources were in high demand during the
2012 Olympic and Paralympic games in London this summer.
“If the appellant were to abscond then either their
resources would be diverted, or finding him would be allocated a
lower priority than should be the case,” the judge, Mr Justice
Mitting said.
Last month the preacher, who was not present at the hearing,
embarrassed the government by seeking a last-minute delay to
deportation proceedings with an appeal to the European Court of
Human Rights, nearly 24 hours after Britain said the deadline
for such a legal recourse had passed.
Even though the appeal was subsequently rejected, the
confusion allowed opposition politicians to accuse interior
minister Theresa May of incompetence and mock her for apparently
not knowing what day it was in the week.
Britain rearrested Qatada in April, hoping it had removed
legal obstacles to his deportation and could remove him before
the Olympics in July.
The prospect of a swift removal has now receded, and May
will have to convince the October hearing that she has overcome
a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that Qatada could
not be deported as he would not receive a fair trial in Jordan.
The Strasbourg court said in January there was a risk that
Jordan would use evidence obtained by torture against Qatada,
and that without assurances to the contrary his deportation
would be a “flagrant denial of justice”.
Britain now says a 2005 deal with Jordan and more recent
diplomatic reassurances will ensure that Qatada, once described
by a Spanish judge as “Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in
Europe”, will receive a fair trial.
Qatada’s lawyers had sought his release on bail, arguing
that the proceedings to send him back to Jordan would be lengthy
and that it was wrong to keep him in prison during that process
after already spending six years in detention without charge.
Jordan has found Qatada guilty in his absence of sending
encouragement to militants in the Middle East state planning two
bomb attacks in 1999 and 2000.
Before his rearrest in April, Qatada had spent two months
out of jail but under virtual house arrest at his family home in
London after his release from prison following the European
Court ruling.
Britain, which regards Qatada as a national security risk,
says videotapes of his sermons influenced Mohamed Atta, the
ringleader of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Qatada, whose real name is Omar Othman, has been in and out
of jail since he was first detained without charge under British
anti-terrorism laws in 2002.
(Editing by Louise Ireland)
