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Osama bin Laden’s ‘Right-Hand Man’ Abu Qatada Wins Bail Fight

An extremist Muslim cleric regarded as “Osama bin Laden’s spiritual ambassador in Europe” must be released on bail, a judge ruled today.

Abu Qatada, 48, who won his legal fight against deportation to Jordan last month, will be freed from prison under strict bail conditions amounting to 22-hour house arrest despite the fact that he is still deemed to be a threat to national security.

The cleric applied to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) for bail on the grounds that it was inhumane to detain him indefinitely if there was no prospect of his being deported.

The order to release him is the latest in a series of judicial decisions which undermine the Government’s stance on terrorism.

In the past year, the courts have effectively rewritten sections of terrorism legislation and ruled that financial sanctions on terror suspects were absurd and unlawful.

The earlier judgment on Abu Qatada’s deportation wrecked the policy of drawing up “memoranda of understanding” for the return of suspects to Middle East countries with poor human rights records.

Further embarrassments are likely to follow. The Times understands that the head of an Algerian terrorist network which plotted bomb attacks in Europe and north America is also seeking to be released because the courts have thwarted attempts to deport him.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said she was “extremely disappointed”.

He will not, however, leave the high-security wing at Long Lartin jail until a detailed agreement has been reached about where he will live, what access to the internet and telephone he will have and who can visit him.

The cleric was born Omar Othman in Bethlehem in 1960 and his family went to live in exile in Jordan. He became a disciple of bin Laden when he lived in Peshawar on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the late 1980s.

He arrived in Britain in 1993, travelling with a forged United Arab Emirates passport, and claimed asylum on the grounds that he would be tortured if he returned to Jordan. British immigration authorities granted him temporary leave to remain as a refugee in 1994.

The Jordanian courts sentenced him to life imprisonment in his absence in connection with a series of bombings in Amman in 1998.

By then, Abu Qatada was living with his wife and children in Acton, west London, preaching at local mosques, raising funds for jihadi groups in Chechnya and offering theological justifications for terrorist actions including the slaughter of women and children in Algeria.

His presence along with that of other radicals like Omar Bakri Mohammed and Abu Hamza al-Masri led French counter-terrorism agencies to nickname the city Londonistan.

In February 2001 an anti-terrorist branch raid on his home led to the seizure of £180,000 in various currencies. In October 2001, Abu Qatada told his followers he had received a “special message” from Afghanistan and the time had come to declare holy war. Police in Germany found cassette recordings of his sermons in a flat used by Mohammed Atta, leader of the September 11 attacks.

Although he was under MI5 surveillance Abu Qatada disappeared in December 2001, shortly before he was due to be arrested. He was discovered in October the following year and taken into custody under emergency anti-terrorist powers.

While in hiding he had continued to communicate with his followers on the internet and he heavily influenced Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the murderous leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Abu Qatada was released on a control order in 2004 but re-arrested under deportation warrant the following year since when he has been fighting a legal battle against attempts to return him to Jordan.

A Government statement to a previous SIAC hearing said: “The presence of Abu Qatada in the UK poses a continuing threat to national security and a significant terrorism-related risk to the public. He has engaged in conduct which facilitates and gives encouragement to the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism.

“He provides advice which gives religious legitimacy to those who wish to further the aims of extreme Islamism and to engage in terrorist attacks, including suicide bombings. A number of individuals arrested or detained in connection with terrorism have acknowledged his influence upon them.”

Ms Smith said she would take all necessary steps to minimise the danger to the public when he was released.

He will have to live at a designated address, likely to be outside London, and will only be allowed to leave the property for two hours each day.

She said: “I am not prepared to comment on details of individuals’ contingency plans, but the Government’s priority is to protect public safety and national security. We will ensure that necessary steps are taken to ensure the safety of the public.

“I am already seeking to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision that it is not safe to deport Abu Qatada and we will continue with deportation action with this and the other Jordanian cases.”

Shadow Home Secretary, David Davis, said: “This whole situation undermines the Government’s assurances that memorandums of understanding are the solution to deporting terror suspects.

“The Government should at last answer our calls to focus on prevention and prosecution – for example by allowing the use of intercept evidence in court - rather than just trying to deport these individuals once they are here.”