Jihad Watch
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Abu Qatada Update. "Islamic preacher Abu Qatada is bailed," by Christopher Hope for The Telegraph, May 9:
Abu Qatada, who last month defeated the Government’s efforts to deport him to Jordan on terror charges, will be subject to a 22-hour curfew when he is released from Long Lartin high-security prison. Some of the bail money is thought to have been put up by Norman Kember, the Christian peace worker who was held hostage in Baghdad for four months from November 2005 by a group of insurgents. Qatada had made a video appeal for his release.
The bail decision by the Special Immigration Advisory Tribunal is a fresh blow to the Government’s anti-terror policies.
Last month, the Home Office was forced to abandon plans to deport 12 Libyan fanatics, leaving a memorandum of understanding with Libya, signed in October 2005, effectively in tatters.
The rulings mean that not a single international terrorist has been forcibly removed from this country. Nearly three years after the 7/7 attacks, the only Islamic extremists to depart are eight Algerians who left voluntarily.
Qatada 45, has been convicted in his absence in Jordan of involvement with terror attacks in 1998 and of plotting to plant bombs at the Millennium.
The radical cleric once called on British Muslims to martyr themselves, and tapes of his sermons were found in a flat in Germany used by some of the September 11 hijackers.
Mrs Smith said: “Public safety is our main priority and we will take all steps necessary to protect the public. 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 Qatada and we will continue with deportation action with this and the other Jordanian cases.”
Qatada could be freed within days and it is thought he will return to his family, who are understood to be living in Acton, West London.
Once he has been released, the Jordanian father-of-five, can expect to receive £1,000 a month in benefit payments. The taxpayer will also face a bill of tens of thousands of pounds to keep the cleric under 24-hour watch.
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