Radical cleric Abu Qatada deported from UK for trial in Jordan

PanARMENIAN.Net - Radical cleric Abu Qatada has arrived in Jordan to face terrorism charges after being deported from the UK. His plane left RAF Northolt at 02:46 BST to take him to his home country, which he has not visited in 20 years, BBC News reported.

Prime Minister David Cameron said he was "delighted" that his removal had been achieved.

Abu Qatada was first arrested over alleged terror connections in 2001 and the UK has been battling to deport him for eight years.

The Palestinian-Jordanian cleric's deportation was finally able to proceed after the UK and Jordan signed a treaty agreeing that evidence obtained through torture would not be used against him.

Home Secretary Theresa May said she was glad that the government's determination to remove him had been "vindicated".

"This dangerous man has now been removed from our shores to face the courts in his own country," she said.

She added that she wanted to streamline such deportation processes in future.

"I am also clear that we need to make sense of our human rights laws and remove the many layers of appeals available to foreign nationals we want to deport.We are taking steps - including through the new Immigration Bill - to put this right."

Abu Qatada was accompanied on the flight of around five hours by six people from Jordan, comprising three security officials, a psychologist, a medical examiner and his Jordanian lawyer, the BBC says.

The 53-year-old had been held at Belmarsh prison in south-east London, from where a convoy of three police vehicles left at midnight.

A family friend who went with relatives including Abu Qatada's father and brothers to Jordan's Marka military airport said that he was taken straight to the state security court.

He faces a retrial for plotting bomb attacks against American and Israeli tourists during Jordan's millennium celebrations.

A Jordanian government spokesman confirmed the legal process against him had started and reiterated assurances that the trial would meet international standards.

Abu Qatada, whose real name is Omar Othman, was granted asylum in the UK in 1994 but the Security Service came to view him as a threat as his views hardened.