Qatada 'should be freed on bail'

Feb 6 2012

A radical Muslim cleric accused of posing a grave threat to Britain's national security should be released regardless of the risk he poses, his lawyers have said.

Abu Qatada, who is being held in high security conditions, wants to be released on bail as he fights deportation to Jordan.

But lawyers for Home Secretary Theresa May are battling to keep him behind bars while British diplomats continue to seek assurances from the Jordanian authorities that evidence gained through torture would not be used against him.

Ed Fitzgerald QC, representing Qatada, told an immigration judge in central London that Qatada had now been held for six-and-a-half years while fighting deportation.

He told the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) that that was "against a background of almost nine years detention without charges on the grounds of national security".

Mr Fitzgerald said: "The detention has now gone on for too long to be reasonable or lawful and there is no prospect of the detention ending in any reasonable period. However the risk of absconding, however the risk of further offending, there comes a point when it's just too long. There comes a time when it's just too long, however grave the risks."

Mr Fitzgerald added that the eight-and-a-half years Qatada spent in custody was equivalent to a 17-year jail sentence.

The bail hearing was ordered after Qatada, once described by a Spanish judge as "Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe", won an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights last month.

Human rights judges ruled that sending Qatada back to face terror charges without assurances that evidence gained through torture would not be used against him would deny him his right to a fair trial and be a "flagrant denial of justice".

Mrs May vowed that Qatada, who has been held for six-and-a-half years, would be kept behind bars while she considered all legal options to send him back. The Home Office added that he "poses a real risk to national security".