Abu Qatada to be banned from doing school run

 

News in pictures
News in pictures
On Facebook
From the blogs

Sepp Blatter: Penalty shoot-outs must remain, they’re football’s great leveller

As England supporters, we should scorn at any such deciding factor within football. On so many occas...

Why do some men consider the street as a female meat market?

Pronouncements on sexual inequality in the UK are normally met with an eye roll by my generation. As...

Political corruption reflects the widening chasm between the political class and the electorate

The corruption and hypocrisy which has come to characterise politics and politicians, and in particu...

Despite its popularity, the death penalty would allow the state to kill innocent people

The University of Michigan law school and Northwestern University have just compiled a database of o...

A radical cleric described as Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe will be banned from taking his youngest child to school when he is released from prison, sources said today.

Abu Qatada, who will be released from a maximum security prison this week while he fights deportation to Jordan, will not be allowed out of his home during school opening and closing times.

Under the terms of his release, Qatada, who Home Secretary Theresa May has said poses a real threat to the UK's national security, must obey a 22-hour curfew and will be kept in during the school run, sources said.

In a small victory for the Home Secretary, the two hours a day in which Qatada will be allowed outside his London home within a prescribed area will not coincide with school opening and closing times.

It is understood the details were agreed by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac), which ruled that the cleric should be released, on Friday.

Qatada, 51, must also wear an electronic tag, is banned from using the internet and telephone, and any visitors to his home apart from his wife and children must be vetted beforehand by the security services.

The conditions are some of the toughest imposed since the September 11 terror attacks.

Last week, David Cameron and King Abdullah of Jordan agreed on the "importance of finding an effective resolution" to his case.

The Prime Minister told King Abdullah of the "frustrating and difficult" position Britain was in over its efforts to deport the Islamist radical.

Home Office Minister James Brokenshire is also visiting the Jordanian capital, Amman, this week as diplomats try to gain the assurances needed from Jordan before Qatada can be sent home.

The cleric has been held for six-and-a-half years, more than any other detainee in modern immigration history, while fighting deportation.

But he will be released from Long Lartin jail in Evesham, Worcestershire, after applying for bail when human rights judges in Europe ruled he could not be deported without assurances from Jordan that evidence gained through torture would not be used against him.

Under the terms of his release set by Siac, the Home Secretary has just three months to show the Government is making significant progress in securing his deportation or risk Qatada being freed from his bail conditions.

Qatada, also known as Omar Othman, was convicted in his absence in Jordan of involvement with terror attacks in 1998 and has featured in hate sermons found on videos in the flat of one of the September 11 bombers.

Since 2001, when fears of the domestic terror threat rose in the aftermath of the attacks, he has challenged, and ultimately thwarted, every attempt by the Government to detain and deport him.

Last month, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that sending Qatada back to face terror charges without assurances that evidence gained through torture would not be used against him would be a "flagrant denial of justice".

The ruling was the first time that the Strasbourg-based court has found an extradition would be in violation of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the right to a fair trial, which is enshrined in UK law under the Human Rights Act.

A spokeswoman for the Judicial Communications Office confirmed that Qatada's bail conditions were agreed without the need for a further hearing.

A spokeswoman for the Judicial Communications Office confirmed that Qatada's bail conditions were agreed without the need for a further hearing.

Downing Street said today that the Government was considering "all the options" for removing Qatada "at the earliest opportunity".

"We will take all measures necessary to protect the public," Prime Minister David Cameron's official spokesman said.

"We are committed to removing him from the country. We want to see him deported and we are looking at all the options for doing that. I'm not going to go into specifics."

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "It is clear the Government has not done all it can to stop Abu Qatada being released from high-security prison today.

"As soon as the European Court judgment 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, leaving a judge to decide there was little progress being made in deporting Qatada and that bail was the only option.

"And still the Government have failed to appeal, while activity with the Jordanians seems restricted to belated calls from the PM and a trip to Jordan for James Brokenshire."

She went on: "We are also seriously concerned that, should Qatada's bail conditions be relaxed, within weeks he could be free to do the school run he has been banned from today.

"The Government's scrapping of control orders means that even were Qatada to be given a new Tpim (Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures), he would be free to move around during the day, even using the internet and a mobile phone.

"Inaction from this Government could soon be followed by more failure after the Home Secretary's decision to weaken counter- terror powers designed to deal with situations like this.

"In issues of national security, a more urgent and less cavalier approach is needed."

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: "Downing Street can make all the noises it wishes about finding a way of removing Qatada from this country, but ultimately it is impotent and can do nothing.

"David Cameron is hamstrung by the European Court of Human Rights on one side, and his coalition partners on the other.

"He would not dare defy either, so instead we have a man who is a real threat to national security being released from jail.

"It hardly sends a tough message to other preachers of hate or would-be terrorists around the world."

Ayman Odeh, the Jordanian legislative affairs minister, said the country has passed a constitutional amendment to ban the use of evidence obtained through torture and was working with the UK Government to give the ECHR the assurances it needed.

"It mentions very expressly that any evidence obtained from torture or a threat of torture should not be admissible before the courts in Jordan," he told Sky News.

"We are confident that once we have the chance to make this statement through the diplomatic channels... (it) will be taken into consideration."

He went on: "We are now making the necessary arrangements to do such assurances through the British Government. Very soon something will be done for this purpose."

PA

Career Services

Day In a Page

For men only: A pilgrimage to Mount Athos in Greece

For men only: A pilgrimage to Mount Athos

On a secluded peninsula in north-east Greece lies an enclave that's way off the tourist map, especially for women...
48 Hours In: Faro

48 Hours In: Faro

More than just the gateway to the Algarve, this city has much to tempt you off the beach.
Here, the coast is always clear: Celebrating sixty years of Pembrokeshire's National Park

60 years of Pembrokeshire's National Park

Mick Webb reveals a land of puffins, tanks and Hollywood blockbusters.
Free Range: Meet the designers of tomorrow

Free Range

Meet the artists of the future
Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?

Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?

As scientists at Rothamsted's GM trials plead with activists not to sabotage their work, Michael McCarthy visits the battle field
Monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV

Monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV

Deep in Cameroon's rainforests, poachers are killing primates for food. Evan Williams reports from Yokadouma on a practice that could create a pandemic
Catcalls, whistles, groping: just another day for a young woman

Catcalls, whistles, groping: just another day for a young woman

Government urged to take abuse more seriously as London study shows 41 per cent are harassed
Jailing of Maori separatists stirs colonial-era resentment

Jailing of Maori separatists stirs colonial-era resentment

Militant Tuhoe tribe members defiant amid claims race relations had been set back 100 years
Fatal crashes are cyclists' fault, says Boris

Fatal crashes are cyclists' fault, says Boris

Mayor condemned for saying that two-thirds of riders killed on the road were at fault in accidents
Move over Brangelina, this night belongs to Kingston Bagpuize

Move over Brangelina, this night belongs to Kingston Bagpuize

Unlikely community movie beats the stars to get prized Leicester Square premiere
Solved after 33 years? Case of first missing boy shown on milk carton

Solved after 33 years?

Case of first missing boy shown on milk carton
Like mamma used to make: Pizza Pilgrims is proving a word-of mouth sensation

Pizza Pilgrims: Like mamma used to make

A van dispensing purist pizzas is proving a word-of mouth sensation
The supper on its uppers: Why we need to learn to entertain lavishly for less

Supper on its uppers: Entertain lavishly for less

Dinner parties are buckling under the pressures of food snobbery and belt-tightening...
The 10 best summer cookbooks

The 10 best summer cookbooks

From Claudia Roden's The Food of Spain to The Art of Cooking with Vegetables by Alain Passard...
Gorgeous Georgian: Now we can enjoy the cuisine of Russia's fiery neighbour nearer home

Gorgeous Georgian cuisine

The food of Russia's fiery neighbour is among the world's most inventive and original