Home Secretary hopes to deport Qatada ‘once and for all’

Theresa May, who is in Jordan for talks with government officials, said the Government has more work to do to ensure Qatada can be sent home “once and for all”.

She said she wanted to send Qatada back and bring the situation “to a satisfactory end soon”.

Qatada, considered a threat to the UK’s national security, has been released from jail under a 22-hour curfew while the Government seeks assurances from Jordan that evidence gained through torture would not be used in any trial against him.

Mrs May has less than three months to show a judge she has made progress in the talks or risk Qatada being freed from his stringent bail conditions.

Qatada was released from prison on February 13 after applying for bail when European judges ruled he could not be deported without assurances that evidence gained through torture would not be used.

The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights ruled that sending Qatada, 51, back without such assurances would be a “flagrant denial of justice”.

Mrs May said: “Jordan has made significant human rights advances, including changes to its constitution.

“Sadly the court at Strasbourg failed to recognise this.

“Talks today have been positive but we have more work to do in getting the kind of assurances that will allow us to deport Qatada once and for all.

“This case has gone on for over a decade and I want to bring it to a satisfactory end soon.”

Qatada, described by a judge as Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe, was let out under some of the toughest conditions imposed since the September 11 terror attacks.