"UK judge grants bail to Muslim radical" Associated Press" February 07, 2012
LONDON - A British court ruled yesterday that an extremist cleric described as one of Europe’s leading Al Qaeda operatives should be released on bail.
After six years in custody, Abu Qatada could be freed within days for three months under stringent conditions, a judge at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission in London said.
Abu Qatada has been fighting to be released after the European Court of Human Rights ruled last month he should not be deported to face terror charges in Jordan because of concerns that evidence obtained by torture would be used against him.
The British government wants to keep him in a high-security prison while continuing a legal fight to have him deported, arguing that he poses a serious threat to the country’s security.
But Ed Fitzgerald, the lawyer representing Abu Qatada, told immigration Judge John Mitting that the cleric had been held for too long without charges.
“However the risk of absconding, however the risk of further offending, there comes a point when it’s just too long,’’ Fitzgerald said.
Mitting said that Britain’s Home Office has three months to show progress in negotiating with Jordan, but he added that he believed it would be a long time before a decision on Abu Qatada’s deportation could be reached in light of the European court’s decision.
The judge said that if by the end of three months there is no progress in the talks, “it’s very likely that I would consider that a continued deprivation of liberty is no longer justified.’’
Abu Qatada - whose real name is Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman - is an extremist Muslim preacher from Jordan who has been described in both Spanish and British courts as a leading Al Qaeda figure in Europe. He is reported to have had close ties to the late Osama bin Laden.
Related: Bin Laden Stories Show AmeriKan Media Not to be Believed
He has never faced criminal charges in Britain, but authorities in Britain have accused him of advising militants and raising money for terrorist attacks.
Mitting ruled that in the next three months, Abu Qatada will be confined to his home except for two one-hour periods each day. He will also be allowed to take one of his children to school.
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