Post by Focus on Apr 23, 2013 15:45:58 GMT
* Government cannot take deportation campaign to the Supreme Court
* Decision means it is very likely Qatada can stay in UK indefinitely
* Home Office to appeal again to kick out 'dangerous man'
Hate preacher Abu Qatada appears to have won his battle to stay in Britain for good after the Government was blocked from taking its fight to deport him to the Supreme Court.
Home Secretary Theresa May had launched a final attempt to get the radical cleric kicked out of the UK.
But the Court of Appeal have today refused the Government permission to take the case to the highest court in the land, making it almost certain he can stay in Britain permanently.
Remaining in Britain? Abu Qatada has won the latest court case today in his long running legal battle to avoid deportation
The Home Office today said it will now request permission to appeal against the decision to allow Abu Qatada to remain in the UK directly from the Supreme Court.
It is still open to the Government to apply directly to the Supreme Court in a bid to take the case further.
The normal process is to submit a permission to appeal application which would then be considered by three Supreme Court justices.
They would decide whether or not the application raised a point of law of general public importance.
But if Qatada's legal team have followed procedure properly it seems very unlikely the Government will be successful after the latest failure.
A Home Office spokesman said: 'We are disappointed with the Court of Appeal’s decision but will now request permission to appeal directly from the Supreme Court.
'The Government remains committed to deporting this dangerous man and we continue to work with the Jordanians to address the outstanding legal issues preventing deportation.'
The Government launched their appeal after the court rejected the latest in a long line of attempts to deport the terror suspect to Jordan last month.
The hate peacher has variously described as a ‘truly dangerous individual’ and Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe.
Appeal : Theresa May had hoped to take the case against Qatada to the Supreme Court
Qatada claims he can not be sent to Jordan because evidence said to have been obtained by torture could be used against him in a terror trial.
The UK government wanted to appeal to the Supreme Court to send Abu Qatada to Jordan where he was convicted of terror charges in his absence in 1999.
In March, Court of Appeal judges backed an earlier ruling that Qatada, also known as Omar Othman, could not be deported.
The judges at the Court of Appeal said that while Qatada’s deportation was ‘long overdue’, his risk to the public was not ‘a relevant consideration’ under human rights laws.
The verdict drew a furious response from the Tories and sparked new demands for the Government to ignore the courts and simply throw him out of the country.
The Appeal Court upheld an earlier verdict that sending the hate preacher to face a terror trial in Jordan would not be fair.
But in a statement today, the Judicial Office said they had been refused permission to appeal to the highest court.
Ministers have been trying for a decade to send Qatada to Jordan, where he is accused of plotting a terrorist atrocity to coincide with the Millennium.
His removal was originally approved by the British courts, only to be halted by the European Court of Human Rights last year. Judges in Strasbourg said he would not get a fair trial because some of the evidence used against him may have been obtained by torture. Controversially, Mrs May opted not to appeal against this verdict.
Instead, she and her ministers secured personal promises from the Jordanian authorities there would be no use of torture evidence, and began the deportation process again in the UK legal system.
But last November, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) said it was not satisfied with the assurances, and halted Qatada’s removal. The court said it must reflect the Strasbourg ruling.
That decision was yesterday unanimously upheld by Lord Dyson, the Master of the Rolls, and two other Appeal Court judges.
Qatada, who featured in hate sermons found on videos in the flat of one of the 9/11 bombers, has ultimately thwarted every attempt by the Government to put him on a plane.
A resident in the UK since September 1993, he was returned to jail last month after he was arrested for alleged bail breaches.
Still smiling : Labour and Conservative ministers have been trying to deport Qatada for a decade but have failed
KEY EVENTS IN ABU QATADA'S BATTLE AGAINST DEPORTATION
September 16 1993 - The Jordanian father of five claims asylum when he arrives in Britain on a forged passport.
June 1994 - He is allowed to stay in Britain.
March 1995 - Qatada issues a 'fatwa' justifying the killing of converts from Islam, their wives and children in Algeria.
May 1998 - He applies for indefinite leave to remain in Britain.
April 1999 - He is convicted in his absence on terror charges in Jordan and sentenced to life imprisonment.
October 1999 - The radical cleric speaks in London advocating the killing of Jews and praising attacks on Americans.
February 2001 - He is arrested by anti-terror police over involvement in a plot to bomb Strasbourg Christmas market. Officers find him in possession of £170,000 in cash, including £805 in an envelope marked 'For the mujahedin in Chechnya'.
December 2001 - Qatada becomes one of Britain's most wanted men after going on the run from his home in Acton, West London.
October 2002 - He is arrested by police in a council house in south London and detained in Belmarsh high-security jail.
March 2005 - He is freed on conditional bail and placed on a control order.
August 2005 - The preacher is arrested under immigration rules as the Government seeks to deport him to Jordan.
April 2008 - The Court of Appeal rules that deporting him would breach his human rights because evidence used against him in Jordan may have been obtained through torture.
May 2008 - Qatada is granted bail by the immigration tribunal but told he must stay inside for 22 hours a day.
June 2008 - He is released from Long Lartin jail in Worcestershire and moves in to a four bedroomed £800,000 home in West London.
November 2008 - He is rearrested after the Home Office tells an immigration hearing of fears he plans to abscond.
December 2008 - Qatada's bail is revoked by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) after hearing secret evidence that the risk of him absconding has increased.
February 18 2009 - In a landmark judgment, five Law Lords unanimously back the Government's policy of removing terror suspects from Britain on the basis of assurances from foreign governments. It is ruled he can be deported to Jordan to face terror charges.
February 19 2009 - Qatada is awarded £2,500 compensation by the European Court of Human Rights after the judges rule that his detention without trial in the UK under anti-terrorism powers breached his human rights.
January 2012 - European judges rule the firebrand cleric can be sent back to Jordan with diplomatic assurances but he cannot be deported while 'there remains a real risk that evidence obtained by torture will be used against him'.
February 6 2012 - SIAC rules he can be released on bail, despite posing a risk to national security.
February 9 2012 - David Cameron and King Abdullah of Jordan agree on the 'importance of finding an effective resolution' to his case, Downing Street says.
February 13 2012 - It emerges Qatada has been released on bail from Long Lartin prison.
April 17 2012 - The cleric is arrested as the Government prepares to deport him to Jordan.
April 18 2012 - Abu Qatada lodges an appeal - potentially delaying his deportation by months.
March 6 2013 - He is returned to jail over fears the terror suspect was trying to communicate with associates, in breach of bail conditions.
March 27 2013 - Court of Appeal admits hate preacher is 'very dangerous' but rules sending him to face a terror trial in Jordan would not be fair.
April 17 2013 - Home Office says it will take its battle to the Supreme Court.
WHAT THE F**K IS GOING ON HERE?? .. WHAT KIND OF A MESSAGE IS THIS SENDING OUT TO TERRORISTS!! - Fx
