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Discontent over a radical’s release

The U.K. Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, has expressed her “extreme disappointment” at the decision by three High Court judges on Thursday to order the release of the radical preacher Abu Qatada, who has been described as Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe.

Qatada, who was still in Long Lartin maximum security prison in Worcestershire, central England, is expected to be released next week, when bail conditions are expected to be agreed. It has already been agreed that at the minimum he will be placed under virtual house arrest and face a 22-hour curfew. Last month Qatada, a Jordanian, won his appeal against the British government’s attempt to deport him on the grounds that he was likely to face a trial based on evidence obtained under torture by the Jordanian intelligence services.

The appeal court ruling last month, along with a similar judgment involving two Libyan terror suspects, was a big blow to the U.K. government’s strategy of deportations with assurances. They were made despite the existence of a “memorandum of understanding” between Britain, Jordan and Libya that returned terror suspects would receive fair trials and not face torture or other ill-treatment.

The decision to bail Qatada was made by Mr. Justice Mitting sitting with two colleagues on Thursday at the special immigration appeals commission [Siac]. It is understood their decision was based on the fact Qatada won his appeal, that he has been detained in maximum security prisons for the best part of seven years, and that when he was placed under a “control order” for part of 2005 he did not breach any of its terms.

The judges did say Qatada continued to pose a threat to national security.

It is expected that the bail conditions to be agreed will be similar to those used in anti-terror control orders. They include control over access to mobile phones and landlines, restrictions on the use of computers, an agreed boundary around the home address and constant unannounced visits for police, security services and immigration officers.

The Home Secretary said: “I am extremely disappointed that the courts have granted Abu Qatada bail, albeit with very strict conditions. Public safety is our main priority and we will take the steps necessary to protect the public.”

The Home Office said it was not prepared to comment on details of the contingency plan it had prepared for an individual but it would take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of the public.

Ms Smith is attempting to persuade the House of Lords to overturn the ruling that it was not safe to return Qatada to Jordan.

But the Conservative Opposition home affairs spokesman, David Davis, said the bail decision undermined the government’s assurance that memorandums of understanding were the solution to deporting terror suspects.

Qatada fled to Britain in the early 1990s after being sentenced to life in absentia by a Jordanian court during a terrorist trial in which most of the defendants claimed their confessions were false and had been extracted by torture. He was sentenced by a Jordanian court to a further 15 years in autumn 2000 in another bomb plot trial.

Dubbed Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man and Al-Qaeda’s spiritual ambassador in Europe by a Spanish judge, he went on the run in 2001 but was detained in a south London apartment.

The appeal court ruling in Qatada’s case overturned a previous judgment by Siac that the government could rely on Jordanian assurances that he would not be ill-treated even though he risked facing a trial tainted by torture. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008

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