New ploy to rid UK of Qatada ‘may take months’

HOME Secretary Theresa May has admitted it could take months to rid Britain of terror suspect Abu Qatada, despite announcing a new treaty with Jordan to end the long-running battle over his deportation.
Home Secretary Theresa May in the House of CommonsHome Secretary Theresa May in the House of Commons
Home Secretary Theresa May in the House of Commons

The Government has also revealed it is considering a temporary withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights as a ploy to expel the hate preacher.

Officials have been forced to look at new options after the Court of Appeal this week blocked a bid to take Qatada’s deportation case to the Supreme Court.

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Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Mrs May told MPs the Government had signed a mutual assistance treaty with Jordan to ensure torture evidence will not be used against the terror suspect in a trial.

Home Secretary Theresa May in the House of CommonsHome Secretary Theresa May in the House of Commons
Home Secretary Theresa May in the House of Commons

“We will be able to issue a new deportation decision, but Qatada will still have legal appeals available to him, and it will therefore be up to the courts to make the final decision,” she said.

“That legal process may well still take many months, but in the meantime I believe Qatada should remain behind bars.”

Mrs May also refused to rule out removing Britain temporarily from the European Convention on Human Rights, a move that could prompt divisions with Liberal Democrats in the coalition.

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“We should have all options – including leaving the convention altogether – on the table. The Prime Minister is looking at all the options. That is the only sensible thing to do.”

She added: “As any sane observer of this case will conclude, it is absurd for the deportation of a suspected foreign terrorist to take so many years and cost the taxpayer so much money.

“That is why we need to make sense of our human rights laws, and it’s why we need to remove the many layers of appeals available to foreign nationals we want to deport.

“But in the meantime, this Government is doing everything it can to deport Abu Qatada to Jordan, I believe this treaty gives us every chance of succeeding in that aim.”

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The Labour Party said the move took the legal process back to “square one”, while a leading human rights barrister accused the Home Secretary of “wasting taxpayers’ money”.

Immigration judges decided last year that Qatada, also known as Omar Othman, could not be deported over fears evidence obtained through torture would be used against him in Jordan.

The Court of Appeal confirmed the ruling earlier this year and this week refused to refer the decision to the highest court in the land. The Home Secretary will now request permission to appeal directly to the Supreme Court.

Qatada, who has been resident in the UK since September 1993, was returned to jail earlier this month after he was arrested for alleged bail breaches.

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Police searched the hate preacher’s family home in London before he was held and have since said that he is being investigated over extremist material.

Last week, the Home Secretary told the Home Affairs Select Committee that Qatada could still face prosecution in the UK over the allegations.

John Cooper QC, human rights and criminal barrister at 25 Bedford Row chambers, said there was nothing in the new treaty “of bite”.

He said: “The only possible way that this woman can succeed is by getting the immigration courts right back to point one, to be persuaded that Jordan has set in place procedures that will ensure evidence obtained by torture cannot be used.”

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “As a result of Theresa May’s legal strategy so far, we are now back to square one in the deportation process.”