British court rules radical preacher should be freed on bail
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February 6, 2012, Los Angeles Times
A British appeals court on Monday ordered the government to release on bail a radical Muslim cleric who had been detained as a threat to national security for much of the past decade.
Abu Qatada, also real name is Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman, could walk free within a week following the ruling by Judge John Mittings of the Special Immigration Appeals Court.
Qatada’s defense lawyer Ed Fitzgerald told the court that his client’s detention “has gone on for too long to be reasonable or lawful and there is no prospect of the detention ending in any reasonable period.”
Qatada will face strict bail conditions in accordance with the demands of the government’s Home Office, including a curfew that will require him to remain at home for 16 hours a day. He had disobeyed similar bail conditions in 2008, which led to his return to Long Lartin high security prison.
Qatada, a 51-year-old Jordanian, arrived in Britain seeking asylum in 1993. He was arrested in 2002 on suspicion of inciting terrorism under anti-terror laws imposed after the Sept. 11 attacks that authorized the detention of those suspected of conspiring in or supporting terrorism. READ...
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