Abu Qatada Al-Filistini
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Omar Mahmoud Othman (; born 30 December 1960), better known as Abu Qatada al-Filistini ( ; )'','' is a Jordanian
Salafi The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a fundamentalist revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "''Salafiyya''" is a self-designation, claiming a retu ...
cleric. Abu Qatada was accused of having links to terrorist organisations and frequently imprisoned in the United Kingdom without formal charges or prosecution before being deported to Jordan, where he was acquitted of multiple terrorism charges. Abu Qatada claimed asylum in the United Kingdom in 1993 on a forged passport. In 1999, he was convicted ''in absentia'' in Jordan of planning thwarted terror plots during Jordan's millennium eve and was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment with hard labour. Abu Qatada was repeatedly imprisoned and released in the United Kingdom after he was first detained under anti-terrorism laws in 2002 but was not prosecuted for any crime. The
Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...
n government described Abu Qatada as being involved with Islamists in London and possibly elsewhere. After initially barring the United Kingdom from deporting Abu Qatada to Jordan, in May 2012 the
European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
denied him leave to appeal against deportation. On 12 November 2012, the UK
Special Immigration Appeals Commission The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (also known by the acronym SIAC) is a superior court of record in the United Kingdom established by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission Act 1997 that deals with appeals from persons deported by ...
(SIAC) upheld Abu Qatada's appeal against deportation and released him on restrictive bail conditions. The
Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...
Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...
said the government would appeal against the decision. He was deported to Jordan on 7 July 2013, after the UK and Jordanian governments agreed and ratified a treaty satisfying the need for clarification that evidence potentially gained through
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...
would not be used against him in his forthcoming trial. On 26 June 2014, Abu Qatada was retried as is required by the Jordanian legal system if the defendant is returned to the country. He was found not guilty by a Jordanian court of terrorism charges relating to one alleged 1999 plot. He remained in prison pending a verdict that was due September 2014 on a second alleged plot. On 24 September 2014, a panel of civilian judges sitting at Amman's State Security Court cleared him of being involved in a thwarted plot aimed at Western and Israeli targets in Jordan during the millennium celebrations in 2000 due to "insufficient evidence". Evidence used to convict him in the previous trial was disregarded, per the treaty signed between the United Kingdom and Jordan, as they may have been potentially acquired through torture. Despite his history with militancy, scholar of Islam Daniel Lav argues that it should not hide his scholarly credentials in traditional Islamic studies, as "he certainly has connections to al-Qaʻida, but he is also the author of a polemic against the theological views of a nineteenth-century rector of
al-Azhar Al-Azhar Mosque (), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in the historic Islamic core of the city. Commissioned as the new capital of the Fatimid Caliphate in 970, it was the first mosque established in a city that ...
, coauthor of a reference work on the eleventh-century scholar Ibn Hazm's evaluations of transmitters of
hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
, and editor of an influential twentieth-century
Wahhabi Wahhabism is an exonym for a Salafi revivalist movement within Sunni Islam named after the 18th-century Hanbali scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. It was initially established in the central Arabian region of Najd and later spread to other ...
work of theology." In the same tone,
Victoria Brittain Victoria Brittain (born 1942) is a British journalist and author who lived and worked for many years in Africa, the US, and Asia, including 20 years at ''The Guardian'', where she eventually became associate foreign editor. In the 1980s, she wor ...
, a former associate foreign editor of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', and who knows him personally, also says that "the man behind the myth is a scholar with wide intellectual and cultural interests. He wrote books while he was in prison. His home is filled with books."


Life

Abu Qatada, who was born Omar Mahmoud Othman, has Jordanian nationality because he was born in
Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...
in the
West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
in 1960, which at that time was ruled by Jordan. In 1989, he went to
Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...
in Pakistan where he served as a professor of ''
sharia Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...
'' sciences. He obtained his
Bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ( ...
in
Islamic jurisprudence ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica
''Fiqh'' is of ...
in 1984 while in Jordan and his
Master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
in the same subject from the Peshawar University, where he became a lecturer through the influence of another Jordanian-Palestinian influential jihadi cleric, Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi. Abu Qatada said that while in Pakistan he had no relationship to
Al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...
, which was just beginning to form in Afghanistan at that time. In 1991, after the
Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...
, Abu Qatada was expelled from
Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...
, along with many other Palestinians. He returned to Jordan, but in September 1993, he fled with his wife and five children to the UK, using a forged
UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...
passport. Citing
religious persecution Religious persecution is the systematic oppression of an individual or a group of individuals as a response to their religion, religious beliefs or affiliations or their irreligion, lack thereof. The tendency of societies or groups within socie ...
and stating he had been tortured in Jordan, Abu Qatada requested asylum, which was granted in June 1994. Around 1994, Abu Qatada started up and was editor-in-Chief of a weekly magazine, ''Usrat al-Ansar'', a Groupe Islamique Armé (GIA) propaganda outlet. Abu Qatada provided the intellectual and ideological support for the journal, which became "a trusted source of news and information about the GIA for Islamists around the world." Abu Qatada was granted leave to remain to 30 June 1998. On 8 May 1998, he applied for indefinite leave to remain. This application had not been determined before Abu Qatada's arrest on 23 October 2002. On that date British authorities detained him under the
Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 The Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 is a British Act of Parliament, formally introduced into Parliament on 19 November 2001, two months after the terrorist attacks in the United States on 11 September. It received royal assent and ca ...
. Abu Qatada resided in the United Kingdom until 7 July 2013, when he was deported back to Jordan to face retrials for alleged involvement in varied Jordanian mayhem. He was freed after both Jordanian retrials, in which by formal agreement with the UK government evidence obtained by torture was discarded. His imprisonment ended in September 2014. According to Conservative politician
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...
, Abu Qatada's residence in Britain is estimated to have cost the British taxpayer at least £500,000 in benefit payments to his family and other expenses by early 2012. ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' claimed the cost to be as high as £3 million by May 2012, a figure that was not confirmed by the British
Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...
.


Views

Abu Qatada belonged to the Salafi sect, though he strongly criticised the followers of fellow Salafi Rabee al-Madkhali for being too closely aligned to the Saudi government. At the same time Abu Qatada praised fellow Salafi writer Nasiruddin Albani and considered him a great scholar. In 1995, Abu Qatada reportedly issued a
fatwa A fatwa (; ; ; ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Islamic jurist ('' faqih'') in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a ''mufti'', ...
stating that it is justified to both kill Muslims who renounce their faith and kill their families. In 1997, Abu Qatada called on Muslims to kill the wives and children of Egyptian police and army officers. In October 1999, he gave a speech at London's Four Feathers mosque in which he "effectively issued a fatwa authorising the killing of Jews, including Jewish children", according to the British case against him. He reportedly told his congregation that American citizens "should be attacked, wherever they were" and that "there was no difference between English, Jews and Americans". "According to the British case against him, in October 1999 he made a speech in which "he effectively issued a fatwa authorising the killing of Jews, including Jewish children". He told his congregation that Americans should be attacked, wherever they were; that in his view they were no better than Jews; and that there was no difference between English, Jewish and American people." In a sermon on 14 September 2001, he described the 9/11 attacks as part of a wider battle between Christendom and Islam. "In a sermon on 14 September 2001, he said the attacks were part of a wider battle between Christendom and Islam, and were a response to America's unjust policies." In autumn 2002, a poem praising
Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...
and glorifying the attacks appeared online. It was attributed to Abu Qatada. In another sermon he stated that it was not a sin for a Muslim to kill a non-believer for the sake of Islam. "In autumn 2002, a poem attributed to Abu Qatada appeared online praising Bin Laden and glorifying the attacks, while in a sermon he stated that it was not a sin for a Muslim to kill a non-believer for the sake of Islam." The contents of an article written by him for ''Al-Risalah'', the propaganda magazine of al-Qaeda in Syria, were reported by several news outlets. In it he said that Islam will dominate every land and the "state of Jews" will collapse by the "grace of Allah". He also attacked the Shias in the article calling by them the derogatory term " Rawafidh" and said "Allah exposes our enemies from amongst the filthy Rawafidh, heretics, and their beloved friends from amongst the polytheists". In January 2016, Abu Qatada released a video on his YouTube account, the 24th installment of a project entitled ''1,000 Books before Death'', discussing ''
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated text purporting to detail a Jewish plot for global domination. Largely plagiarized from several earlier sources, it was first published in Imperial Russia in 1903, translated into multip ...
'' and in which he stated (as translated by MEMRI), that
blood libel Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canardTurvey, Brent E. ''Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis'', Academic Press, 2008, p. 3. "Blood libel: An accusation of ritual mu ...
accusation against Jews is true, stating that "This Jewish blood matzos ... there is a text in the Talmud ... It says that the matzos eaten by the Jews on their holiday must be consecrated with the blood of a man from among the Gentiles. Usually they take a Christian because they cannot overpower a Muslim. This actually happened, yet they he BBC">BBC.html" ;"title="he BBC">he BBCtreat it as a mockery." In the same video, Abu Qatada alleged that "The Jews control the world and that is a fact. The Jews run the global economy, that is a fact. Do you want me to give you the numbers? Can any rational person who has read the history of the Bolshevik Revolution deny that it was won due to the support of the Jews, and the Jewish money of the Rothschild family? Can anyone deny that Lenin was Jewish? Can any rational person dare say that there is even one Communist party in the world that was not founded by the Jews?"


Links and influence

Although Abu Qatada distanced himself from
al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...
following his arrest in London in 2001, Fawaz Gerges remarks that Abu Qatada had extensive contacts with al-Qaeda operatives in
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
at the time. Jason Burke notes, "Qutada has impeccable traditional and modern Salafist credentials and had acted as the in-house alim to radical groups, particularly in Algeria, from his base in northwest London since 1994". In 2001, after bin Laden was criticised by a Salafist faction for issuing fatwas, he turned to Abu Qatada for support, and the support was forthcoming. According to the indictment of the
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
al-Qaeda cell prepared by Spanish prosecutors in 2001, Abu Qatada was "considered the spiritual leader" of al-Qaeda in Europe and other groups including the
Armed Islamic Group The Armed Islamic Group (GIA, from ; ) was one of the two main Islamist insurgent groups that fought the Algerian government and army in the Algerian Civil War. It was created from smaller armed groups following the 1992 military coup and ar ...
(GIA), the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), and the Tunisian Combat Group. Abu Qatada has been called by ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' a preacher or advisor to al-Qaeda terrorists
Zacarias Moussaoui Zacarias Moussaoui (, '; born 30 May 1968) is a French member of al-Qaeda who pleaded guilty in a U.S. federal court to conspiring to kill citizens of the United States as part of the 9/11 attacks. He is serving life imprisonment without the ...
and Richard Reid. According to ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', videos of Abu Qatada's sermons were found in the Hamburg apartment of
Mohamed Atta Mohamed Atta (1 September 196811 September 2001) was an Egyptian terrorist hijacker for al-Qaeda. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism, pan-Islamist, he was the ringleader of the September 11 attacks and served as the Aircraft hijacking, hijacker-pi ...
when it was searched after the
11 September 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
, which Atta led. When questioned in the UK in February 2001, Abu Qatada was in possession of £170,000 cash and £805 in an envelope labelled "for the Mujahedin in Chechnya". Mr Justice Collins, then chairman of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) that rejected his appeal against detention without charge or trial in 2004, said that Abu Qatada was "heavily involved, indeed was at the centre in the United Kingdom of terrorist activities associated with al-Qaeda. He is a truly dangerous individual". Abu Qatada was subsequently released in 2005, never having been charged with any crime. Abu Qatada's name is included in the UN al-Qaeda sanction list pursuant to
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267 United Nations Security Council resolution 1267 was adopted unanimously on 15 October 1999. After recalling resolutions 1189 (1998), 1193 (1998) and 1214 (1998) on the situation in Afghanistan, the Council designated Osama bin Laden and associ ...
. In 2005, Abu Qatada recorded a video message to the kidnappers of peace activist Norman Kember, appealing for Kember to be released.
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
journalist Alan Johnston was kidnapped in Gaza on 13 March 2007. Johnston's captors, the Doghmush clan who headed the Army of Islam, demanded the release of dozens of captives, including Abu Qatada. Abu Qatada offered to help negotiate Johnston's release. In 2012 the al-Qaeda-linked Somali group Al-Shabaab threatened an attack against the UK if Abu Qatada was deported. On 7 February 2012, ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' reported that a senior manager at the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
had instructed its journalists not to call Abu Qatada an extremist. The BBC subsequently used the form of words "accused of being one of the UK's most dangerous extremist preachers". Others have described him as "a prominent political refugee".


Persona non-grata

Abu Qatada was reported in February 2012 as being wanted on terrorism charges in the United States, Belgium, Spain, France, Germany, Italy and Algeria. Jordan convicted Abu Qatada ''in absentia''; but the conviction did not hold when he appealed in person, after his removal from the UK, where he had spent over a decade in front of various courts in an ultimately vain attempt to avoid deportation. Summaries of these two procedures are given below, in the next two sections.


Convictions in Jordan and retrial acquittals

In 1999, Abu Qatada was sentenced ''in absentia'' by Jordan to life imprisonment with hard labour for conspiracy to carry out terror attacks, and subsequently he was convicted in 2000 to a further 25 years for his involvement in a plot to bomb tourists attending millennium celebrations in Jordan. The 1999 conviction related to events described by the US State Department in 1998 as involving the "Reform and Defiance Movement—a small, mostly indigenous radical Islamic group" targeting the Modern American School and a major hotel between mid-March and early May, with bombings which caused minor property damage but no casualties. In 2008, the UK Court of Appeal concluded "that his 1999 conviction for terrorism was based on evidence extracted through torture". At Abu Qatada's 2012 SIAC hearing, Mr Justice Mitting observed that the evidence presented by Jordan against Abu Qatada "seems extremely thin". Overall, between 2007 and his deportation in 2013, as many as 12 senior British judges in various courts recognised the torture origins of the evidence against him. Upon returning to Jordan in July 2013, he exercised his right under Jordanian law to a retrial since he was originally convicted in absentia. A Jordanian military court refused to grant him bail during the retrial as he faced terrorism charges. His trial took place in the State Security Court in Amman. On 26 June 2014, Abu Qatada was found not guilty of the charges relating to the 1998 bombings. On 24 September 2014, a panel of civilian judges sitting at Amman's State Security Court cleared him of being involved in the thwarted plot aimed at the millennium celebrations in 2000, as previous evidence was overturned.


Arrest and detention in UK

In February 2001, Abu Qatada was arrested and questioned in connection with a German terror cell. There was insufficient evidence against him, and all charges were dropped. Tapes of his sermons were later discovered in a Hamburg flat used by the
9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
hijackers. The
Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...
stated that Abu Qatada was the spiritual guide to the 9/11 ringleader
Mohamed Atta Mohamed Atta (1 September 196811 September 2001) was an Egyptian terrorist hijacker for al-Qaeda. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism, pan-Islamist, he was the ringleader of the September 11 attacks and served as the Aircraft hijacking, hijacker-pi ...
. In the wake of 9/11, new anti-terror legislation was quickly introduced in the UK. Abu Qatada, who had hitherto lived with his family in Acton, west London, disappeared. His disappearance and his previous alleged contacts with
MI5 MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...
, prompted speculation by the ''Times'' that he was working with British intelligence and had agreed to provide them with information on suspects in the " war on terror". The Times reported that "Britain ignored warnings—which began before the 11 September attacks—from half a dozen friendly governments about Abu Qatada's links with terrorist groups and refused to arrest him. Intelligence chiefs hid from European allies their intention to use the cleric as a key informer against Islamic militants in Britain." According to ''The Guardian'': Members of the EDL and others besieged the Abu Qatada's family home every Saturday, and the police only put an end to the severe, and reportedly terrifying, harassment after a court case forced them to. The duration and location of his detention—without charge or trial—was described by one British judge as "lamentable ... extraordinary ... hardly, if at all, acceptable".


2002–2008

In October 2002, Abu Qatada was arrested in south London and taken to Belmarsh Prison. Here he began a long legal battle against deportation.. In October 2002, the then
Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...
,
David Blunkett David Blunkett, Baron Blunkett, (born 6 June 1947) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education and Employment from 1997 to 2001, Home Secretary from 2001 to 2004 and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in 2005. ...
, detained Abu Qatada indefinitely without trial under Part 4 of the
Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 The Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 is a British Act of Parliament, formally introduced into Parliament on 19 November 2001, two months after the terrorist attacks in the United States on 11 September. It received royal assent and ca ...
(ATCSA), which at that time provided for such detention. The Special Immigration Appeals Commission subsequently rejected an appeal by Abu Qatada to be released from detention without trial. Abu Qatada claimed he feared he would be tortured were he to return to Jordan. During this period Abu Qatada lived in a legal twilight as Asim Qureshi, of UK-based human rights group CagePrisoners, explained: "He has not been able to see the evidence against him neither has his lawyer. The only person representing him is a special advocate who is not allowed to speak to him or his solicitor. There you have the bizarre situation where someone is representing him who has never met him or his lawyer." In 2005, Part 4 of ATCSA was replaced by the
Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 The Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 (c 2) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, intended to deal with the Law Lords' ruling of 16 December 2004 that the detention without trial of eight foreigners (known as the 'Belmarsh 8') at ...
, which replaced detentions with control orders, and Abu Qatada was released under such a control order. Five months later, on 12 August 2005, Abu Qatada was detained again pending deportation to Jordan. A British court ruled on 26 February 2007 that he could be deported to Jordan.


2008–2011

On 9 April 2008, the
Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...
ruled that Abu Qatada could not be returned to Jordan as he would face a further trial where there was a strong probability that evidence obtained by torture might be used; therefore, extradition would amount to a breach of the United Kingdom's obligations under
Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights is a provision of the European Convention which protects the right to a fair trial in criminal law cases and in cases to determine civil rights. It protects the right to a public hearing before ...
. He was released on bail by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission on 8 May 2008, subject to a 22-hour home curfew and other restrictions. His bail security was provided by former terrorist hostage Norman Kember, whose release Abu Qatada had requested before Kember's rescue by the SAS in 2006. In November 2008, Abu Qatada was rearrested at his home. The Special Immigration Appeals Commission revoked his bail, stating he had not broken bail conditions, but might do at some time in the future. The commission accepted the government's claim that Abu Qatada posed a significant risk of absconding, and returned him to prison pending his possible deportation. On 18 February 2009, the
House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
ruled that Abu Qatada could be deported to Jordan, with
Lord Hoffmann Leonard Hubert "Lennie" Hoffmann, Baron Hoffmann (born 8 May 1934) is a senior South African–British judge. Currently, he serves as a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong; he formerly served as a Lord of Appeal in O ...
declaring that "There is in my opinion no authority for a rule that ... the risk of the use of evidence obtained by torture necessarily amounts to a flagrant denial of justice". On the same day Home Secretary
Jacqui Smith Jacqueline Jill Smith, Baroness Smith of Malvern (born 3 November 1962), is a British politician, broadcaster and life peer who has been serving as Minister of State for Skills since 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she was Member of Pa ...
served a deportation order against Abu Qatada. No step was taken to enforce the order pending Abu Qatada's appeal to the
European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
(ECHR). In the same month the ECHR awarded Abu Qatada £2,500 in a lawsuit he filed against the UK, after judges ruled that his detention without trial in the UK breached his human rights.


2012–2014

On 17 January 2012, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Abu Qatada could not be deported to Jordan as that would be a violation of his
right to a fair trial A fair trial is a trial which is "conducted fairly, justly, and with procedural regularity by an impartial judge". Various rights associated with a fair trial are explicitly proclaimed in Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, th ...
under Article 6 of the
European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is a Supranational law, supranational convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Draf ...
. This was the first time the court ruled that such an expulsion would be a violation of Article 6. The Special Immigration Appeals Commission subsequently ruled that Abu Qatada should be bailed on highly prescriptive terms for three months while the British government sought further reassurances from Jordan. Under the UN Convention Against Torture, to which the UK is a signatory, states are obliged to refrain from complicity in torture, and thus are forbidden from deporting people to places where a real risk of torture exists. Torture was rife at the time in Jordan and
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
has documented allegations of severe abuse, specifically against Islamist detainees. Abu Qatada was released on bail on 13 February 2012. He was prohibited from using a mobile phone, computer or the internet, and subject to an electronically monitored 22-hour curfew that only allowed him to leave home twice a day for a maximum of one hour. On 17 April 2012, Abu Qatada was rearrested at his home in London. In a statement the same day the Home Secretary,
Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...
, said that reassurances and information received from Jordan meant that Abu Qatada could now be deported. His lawyers said they had lodged an appeal at the European Court of Human Rights, amidst confusion whether the three-month deadline for reappealing following 17 January ruling had passed or not. On 20 April 2012, Abu Qatada requested the Home Secretary to revoke the deportation order of 18 February 2009. On 18 May 2012, the Home Secretary notified Abu Qatada of her refusal to revoke the order. The
European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
had already denied Abu Qatada leave to appeal earlier in the month without specifying a reason, normally taken to indicate that the court considers no new issues have arisen. Abu Qatada was granted leave to appeal in the UK and the case was heard by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC). On 12 November 2012, SIAC upheld the appeal, ruling that Abu Qatada was still at risk of having evidence obtained under torture used against him and that the Home Secretary was wrong not to revoke the deportation order against him. Abu Qatada was granted bail on restrictive conditions. The Home Secretary
Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...
said the government would appeal the decision. Abu Qatada's solicitor
Gareth Peirce Gareth Peirce (born Jean Margaret Webb; March 1940) is a British solicitor and human rights activist. She has worked on a number of high-profile cases involving allegations of human rights injustices. Her work with Gerry Conlon and the Guild ...
, commenting on the ruling, said: "It is important to reaffirm this country's position that we abhor the use of torture and a case that was predicated upon evidence from witnesses who have been tortured is rejected—rejected by the courts of this country as by the European Court". Nevertheless the ruling attracted criticism that SIAC had effectively overturned the 2009 ruling of the House of Lords, at the time the highest court of the land. The Prime Minister
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...
expressed his frustration that Abu Qatada was still in the UK. In March 2013, Abu Qatada was rearrested after allegedly breaching his bail conditions. On 27 March, the Court of Appeal rejected the Home Secretary's appeal from the November 2012 SIAC ruling and, in April 2013, denied her leave to appeal, on the basis that "states cannot expel someone where there is a real risk that they will face a trial based on evidence obtained by torture". In May 2013, Abu Qatada pledged he would leave the UK if the UK and Jordanian governments agreed and ratified a treaty clarifying that evidence gained through torture would not be used against him in his forthcoming trial. On 7 July 2013, following the ratification of such a treaty, Abu Qatada was deported from the United Kingdom on a plane bound for Jordan from
RAF Northolt Royal Air Force Northolt or more simply RAF Northolt is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station in South Ruislip, from Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon, western Greater London, England, approximately north of ...
. Abu Qatada's struggle against deportation, and the underlying UK policy of "deportation with assurances", were documented in a study by the UK's
Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation The Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation is appointed by the Home Secretary and by the HM Treasury, Treasury for a renewable three-year term and tasked with reporting to the Home Secretary and to Parliament on the operation of counter-terr ...
. In June 2014, a court in Jordan cleared Abu Qatada of involvement in a 1998 bombing campaign, and in September 2014 he was cleared of planning to attack millennium celebrations. He was released from prison on 24 September 2014. The
Turkistan Islamic Party The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) is an Uyghur Islamic extremist organization founded in Pakistan by Hasan Mahsum. Its stated goals are to establish an Islamic state in Xinjiang and Central Asia. The Chinese government asserts that the T ...
's 19th issue of its magazine ''Islamic Turkistan'' contained an interview with Abu Qatada, and Abu Qatada wrote an article in the same issue on jihad. Abdullah al Muhaysini, Hani al Siba'ee, Abu Qatada and Abdurazak al Mahdi appeared in a TIP video. Doğu Türkistan Bülteni Haber Ajansı reported that the Turkistan Islamic Party was praised by Abu Qatada along with Abdul Razzaq al Mahdi, Maqdisi, Muhaysini and
Ayman al-Zawahiri Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri (; 19 June 195131 July 2022) was an Egyptian-born pan-Islamism, pan-Islamist militant and physician who served as the second general emir of al-Qaeda from June 2011 until Killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri, his dea ...
. Muheisini endorsed jihadist scholars like Al-Balawi, Eyad Quneibi, Tareq Abdulhalim, Hani al-Siba'i, Yusuf al-Ahmed, Abdulaziz al-Tureifi, Suleiman al-Ulwan, Abu Qatada al-Filistini, and Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi. Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi and Abu Qatada were referenced by Muhaysini.


Works

On his website, where he publishes his works, he put them in the following categories: "books and research", "conversations", "articles and essays", "fatwas and answers", "novels and poems", "audios", "videos", "statements", "brochures" and, as of March 2013, the text materials contained 185 entries, including: *''Islamic Movements and Contemporary Alliances'', which argues for no affiliation between Muslim and non-Muslim countries. *''Al-Ansar'' magazine, the official publication of the
Armed Islamic Group The Armed Islamic Group (GIA, from ; ) was one of the two main Islamist insurgent groups that fought the Algerian government and army in the Algerian Civil War. It was created from smaller armed groups following the 1992 military coup and ar ...
(GIA), to which he contributed in the early 1990s


Notes


References


Works Cited

* * *


External links

*
Special Immigration Appeals Commission judgment 12 November 2012

Profile: Abu Qatada
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
, 17 November 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Qatada, Abu 1960 births Living people Al-Qaeda propagandists Alleged al-Qaeda recruiters European Court of Human Rights cases involving the United Kingdom Palestinian Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Fugitives wanted by Algeria Fugitives wanted on terrorism charges Jordanian al-Qaeda members Jordanian emigrants to the United Kingdom Jordanian propagandists Jordanian Salafis Jordanian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Jordan Jordanian people of Palestinian descent Critics of Shia Islam 2000 millennium attack plots People acquitted of crimes People deported from the United Kingdom People designated by the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee People from Bethlehem Salafi jihadists Jordanian Qutbists University of Peshawar alumni Academic staff of the University of Peshawar