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April 17th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda LONDON (AP) — Britain‘s Home Secretary said Tuesday that Jordan had made a series of new pledges over its justice system to help the U.K. deport a radical Islamist cleric who has long fought attempts to send him to the Arab country.
Authorities in Britain have attempted to expel Abu Qatada, a Palestinian-Jordanian preacher described in both Spanish and British courts as a leading al-Qaida figure in Europe, since 2005. They claim he poses a risk to national security.
The European Court of Human Rights in January blocked his deportation amid concerns evidence gleaned through torture would be used against him in a looming terrorism trial in Jordan.
Home Secretary Theresa May told the House of Commons that negotiations had now secured new promises from Jordan over the preacher’s case.
May said Jordan had agreed Abu Qatada would have his previous conviction quashed pending a new trial, will have his case heard in public before civilian judges and will be granted access to regular defense lawyers.
Jordan had also vowed no evidence obtained through torture would be used in the cleric’s case.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
LONDON (AP) — A radical Islamist cleric at the center of a lengthy legal battle to avoid extradition from Britain to Jordan was arrested Tuesday and told the U.K. government is resuming attempts to send him to the Arab country.
Authorities in Britain have attempted to expel Abu Qatada, a Palestinian-Jordanian preacher described in both Spanish and British courts as a leading al-Qaida figure in Europe, since 2005. They claim he poses a risk to national security.
Abu Qatada has previously been convicted in his absence in Jordan of terrorist offenses related to two alleged bomb plots in 1999 and 2000, and would face a retrial if deported from Britain.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled in January that Abu Qatada could not be deported to Jordan because of a risk that evidence obtained through torture would be used against him in any future trial there.
Home Secretary Theresa May, however, is expected to tell British lawmakers in an address later Tuesday that she believes new assurances from Jordan over the cleric‘s right to a fair trial mean that his deportation will now be able to go ahead.
“U.K. Border Agency officers have today arrested Abu Qatada and told him that we intend to resume deportation proceedings against him,” the Home Office said in a statement.
The ministry said that Abu Qatada was told he would be deported on or around April 30. However, if the cleric’s lawyers lodge an appeal against the new deportation attempt, as is expected, the process could take several months.
Britain’s Judicial Communications Office said the cleric’s legal team plans to apply for bail at a hearing at London’s Special Immigration Appeals Commission — which handles deportation and security cases — later Tuesday.
Abu Qatada, also known as Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman, was detained in Britain in 2002 under anti-terrorism laws which at the time allowed suspected terrorists to be jailed without charge.
Though the cleric was released in 2005 when the unpopular law was overturned, he was kept under surveillance and arrested again within months to be held in custody pending his deportation to Jordan.
Following the European court’s ruling, the cleric was freed in February on strict bail conditions, including a curfew.
Government officials earlier had confirmed Britain decided not to lodge an appeal to contest the European court’s decision before a midnight deadline to do so expired.
May is expected to tell legislators that negotiations with Jordan — including two trips there by British ministers and telephone talks between Prime Minister David Cameron and Jordan’s King Abdullah II — have secured pledges from Jordanian authorities that they will not use evidence gleaned through torture against Abu Qatada.
In its January ruling, the European court said “not only is torture widespread in Jordan, so too is the use of torture evidence by its courts.”
However, May — who visited Jordan last month — believes new assurances will lead both British and European courts to dismiss any fresh appeal by the cleric against his deportation on those grounds.
In Jordan, Justice Minister Ibrahim al-Jazi declined to offer any detail on what pledges Jordan had made to Britain, but that insisted no evidence obtained through torture could be used in any trial there, despite the European court’s concerns.
“Jordan’s constitution … clearly states that no confession extracted under torture may be heard in a court of law,” he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
“This was a recent amendment made last September and enforced in October. This is in line with international standards of human rights, (the) U.N. convention against torture, as well as our national legislation,” he said.
In February, Jordanian Information Minister and government spokesman Rakan al-Majali said Jordan pledged to offer every guarantee of a fair trial for Abu Qatada.
Ahead of the new developments in the case, militants issued a new warning to Britain over the cleric’s fate.
SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors online activity from terrorist groups, said that Somalia’s al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab had posted a statement on militant forums Monday denouncing Britain.
According to SITE, the English-language statement said Abu Qatada’s deportation to Jordan would be a “travesty of justice.”
“The British public is also forewarned that it will be the British government, as a result of its imprudence, that shall be liable for any disaster that befalls them, or their national interests,” the statement said, according to SITE.
Al-Qaida has also warned Britain not to deport Abu Qatada, saying in statement posted on a militant website that the cleric’s expulsion would open “an unnecessary door to evil that will harm (Britain) and its subjects.”
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Associated Press Writer Dale Gavlak in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.
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