Government makes new bid to deport Abu Qatada (From Harrow Times)
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Abu Qatada is "a dangerous man" says Home Secretary Theresa May
9:30am Monday 11th March 2013 in News By Jaber Mohamed
Government makes new bid to deport Abu Qatada
The government has started a new bid to get terror suspect Abu Qatada deported today – days after he was arrested for breaching his bail conditions.
Three Court of Appeal judges led by Lord Dyson, the Master of the Rolls, will hear the challenge led by Home Secretary Theresa May.
In November last year, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission decided Mr Qatada could not lawfully be deported to Jordan, where he was convicted of terror charges in his absence in 1999.
The judges ruled there was a danger that evidence said to have been obtained by torture could be used against him in a retrial in Jordan.
The Home Secretary described the Harrow resident as "a dangerous man, a suspected terrorist, who is accused of serious crime in his home country of Jordan".
The 52-year old, once described as Osama Bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe, was led away from his north London home on Friday after a police raided his address in the borough.
The terror suspect was returned to Belmarsh prison over fears he was trying to communicate with associates and is due to remain in custody until a further bail hearing on March 21.
A senior judge revoked bail in an emergency hearing after the raid on his home.
He said there was ‘strong evidence’ the Islamist cleric had breached the strict bail terms by allowing mobile phones to be switched on at his home or letting electronic storage devices such as memory sticks be brought inside.
The Islamist cleric is under 24-hour watch which costs the taxpayer £100,000 a week and is electronically tagged between 4pm and 8am.
He has used human rights laws to fight deportation for several years, running up a legal bill unofficially estimated at more than £500,000.
Mr Qatada began renting a £450,000 three-bedroom house in Harrow borough last December following complaints his previous home in Wembley was not big enough.
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