National News
Radical cleric Qatada to be freed
3:41pm Monday 6th February 2012
A radical Muslim cleric accused of posing a grave threat to Britain's national security should be released on bail within days, an immigration judge has ruled.
Abu Qatada, who is being held in the high security Long Lartin jail in Worcestershire, should be set free with stringent bail conditions, Mr Justice Mitting told the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac).
Qatada, once described by a Spanish judge as "Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe", made the appeal to be released after European human rights judges ruled he could not be deported to Jordan without assurances that evidence gained through torture would not be used against him.
The bail conditions will be similar to those set in 2008, with Qatada confined to his home for all but two one-hour periods each day. He will also be allowed to take one of his children to school.
Mr Justice Mitting said it would take "between a few days and about a week" for the Security Service (MI5) to check the proposed bail address, which was not revealed by the court, before Qatada can be released.
The judge also ruled that the Home Secretary has three months to show progress is being made in negotiations with Jordan or restrictions on Qatada's liberty may not be acceptable any longer.
Qatada will be released despite the Home Secretary stating that he would be kept behind bars while she considered all legal options to send him back to Jordan.
Theresa May wanted him kept in jail while British diplomats continue to seek assurances from the Jordanian authorities that evidence gained through torture would not be used against him.
But the judge ruled: "The time will arrive quite soon when continuing detention or deprivation of liberty could not be justified."
He said Qatada should be "bailed on highly prescriptive terms for three months". "If by the end of that, the Secretary of State is not able to put before me evidence of demonstrable progress in negotiating sufficient assurances with the government of Jordan ... it's very likely that I would consider that a continued deprivation of liberty is no longer justified," he said.