Abu Qatada

Abu Qatada Al-Filistini أبو قتادة الفلسطيني
Born	Omar Mahmoud Othman 1959 or 1960 (age about 52) Bethlehem, West Bank (then occupied by Jordan)
Nationality	Jordanian citizen
Other names	Abu Omar
Known for	Terrorist involvement, imprisonment without trial

Abu Qatada al-Filistini (Arabic: أبو قتادة الفلسطيني‎, 'Abū Qatāda al-Filisṭīnī; born 1959/60), sometimes called Abu Omar (ابو عمر Abū 'Umar), is a Palestinian Islamist militant of Jordanian citizenship. Under the name Omar Mahmoud Othman (عمر محمود عثمان 'Umar Mamūd 'Uthmān), he is under worldwide embargo by the United Nations Security Council Committee 1267 for his affiliation with al-Qaeda. Although imprisoned in the UK since 2005, he has not been prosecuted for any criminal or conspiracy offences. According to the Algerian government, Qatada oversaw and organised the deployment phases of al-Qaeda-linked groups both inside Algeria and abroad, as well as being the ideologue of al-Qaeda and the leader of terrorist groups in the Maghreb region, the United States, Belgium, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, and his native Jordan.

Background and Imprisonment

Abu Qatada has Jordanian nationality because he was born in Bethlehem in the West Bank in 1960, which at that time was occupied by Jordan In 1989 he went to Peshawar and it is alleged that he met Osama Bin Laden, although Qatada has always publicly distanced himself from links to Al Qaeda and insisted he has never met with Osama Bin Laden. Jason Burke has written that, "Qutada [sic] has impeccable traditional and modern Salafist credentials and had acted as the in-house alim to radical groups, particularly in Algeria, from his base in northwest London since 1994". He became famous after 1994 when he supported the fatwa of an Algerian cleric that the killing of women and children by the militants in the Algeria was justified. In 2001, after bin Laden was criticised by a Salafist faction for issuing fatwas, he turned to Qatada for support, and the support was forthcoming. In 1991, after the 1st Gulf War, Qatada was expelled from Kuwait along with many other Palestinians. He returned to Jordan, but in September 1993 he fled with his wife and five children to the UK, using a forged UAE passport. He requested asylum on grounds of religious persecution and this was granted in June 1994.

In February 2001, Qatada was arrested and questioned in connection with a German terror cell. As there was insufficient evidence against him, all charges were dropped. However, tapes of his sermons were later discovered in a Hamburg flat used by the 9/11 hijackers The Home Office believed that Qatada was the spiritual guide to the 9/11 ringleader Mohamed Atta. In the wake of 9/11, new anti-terror legislation was quickly introduced in the UK. Qatada, who had hitherto lived with his family in Acton, west London, disappeared. His disappearance and his previous alleged contacts with MI5, prompted speculation that he was working with British intelligence and had agreed to provide them with information on suspects in the "war on terror". The Times reported that:

Britain ignored warnings — which began before the 11 September attacks — from half a dozen friendly governments about Abu Qatada’s links with terrorist groups and refused to arrest him. Intelligence chiefs hid from European allies their intention to use the cleric as a key informer against Islamic militants in Britain.

However, in October 2002 he was arrested at a council house in south London and taken to Belmarsh Prison. Here he began a long legal battle against deportation.

Abu Qatada says he fears he will be tortured if he is returned to Jordan. Since his arrest in 2002, because of the British authorities' security concerns, he has lived in a legal twilight, explained Asim Qureshi, of UK-based human rights group CagePrisoners: "He has not been able to see the evidence against him neither has his lawyer. The only person representing him is a special advocate who is not allowed to speak to him or his solicitor. There you have the bizarre situation where someone is representing him who has never met him or his lawyer," he said.

Qatada was kept in prison from 2002 until 2005, when he was released under strict bail conditions. After 5 months, he was re-arrested and kept in prison until May 2008. A British court ruled on 26 February 2007, that he may be deported to Jordan. In April 2008, Qatada won an appeal against deportation but remained in prison. On 8 May 2008, he was granted bail by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission. In November 2008 Qatada's bail was revoked and he was sent back to prison pending his deportation from the United Kingdom. However, following a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights that he may not be deported to Jordan, Qatada was released under strict bail conditions on 13 February 2012.

British press reports state that Abu Qatada's residence in Britain is estimated to have cost the British taxpayer at least £500,000 in benefit payments to his family and other expenses by early 2012.

Activities, affiliations and influence

According to the indictment of the Madrid al-Qaeda cell, Abu Qatada was the spiritual leader of al-Qaeda in Europe, and the spiritual leader of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), and the Tunisian Combat Group.

When questioned in the UK in February 2001, Abu Qatada was in possession of £170,000 cash, including £805 in an envelope labelled "For the Mujahedin in Chechnya".

Videos of Abu Qatada's sermons were found in the Hamburg apartment of Mohamed Atta when it was searched after the 11 September 2001 attacks, which Atta led.

Mr. Justice Collins, then chairman of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission that rejected his appeal against detention in 2004, said that Abu Qatada was "heavily involved, indeed was at the centre in the United Kingdom of terrorist activities associated with al-Qaeda. He is a truly dangerous individual ...".

Abu Qatada is reported by the British press to have been a preacher or advisor to al-Qaeda terrorists Zacarias Moussaoui and Richard Reid.

Abu Qatada's name is included in the UN al-Qaeda sanction list pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267.

Legal status

In 1999, Qatada was sentenced in absentia by Jordan to life imprisonment with hard labour for conspiracy to carry out terror attacks, and subsequently in 2000 to a further 15 years for his involvement in a plot to bomb tourists attending Millennium celebrations in Jordan.

In October 2002, the then Home Secretary, David Blunkett, detained Qatada indefinitely without trial under Part 4 of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (ATCSA), which at that time provided for such detention. The Special Immigrations Appeals Commission subsequently rejected an appeal by Qatada to be released from detention without trial. In 2005, Part 4 of ATCSA was replaced by the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005, which replaced detentions with control orders, and Qatada was released under such a control order. On 12 August 2005, Qatada was detained again pending deportation to Jordan.

On 9 April 2008, the Court of Appeal ruled that Qatada could not be returned to Jordan as he would face a further trial where there was a strong probability that evidence obtained by torture might be used that would amount to a breach of the United Kingdom's obligations under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. He was released on bail by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission on 8 May 2008, subject to a 22-hour home curfew and other restrictions. His bail security was provided by former terrorist hostage Norman Kember, whose release Qatada had requested before Kember's rescue by the SAS in 2006.

In November 2008, he was rearrested at his home. The Special Immigration Appeals Commission revoked his bail, stating he had not broken bail conditions, but might do at some time in the future. The commission accepted the government's claim that Qatada posed a significant risk of absconding, and returned him to prison pending his possible deportation.

In February 2009, Law Lords ruled that Qatada could be deported to Jordan. In the same month, Qatada was awarded £2,500 by the European Court of Human Rights in a lawsuit he filed against the UK, after judges ruled that his detention without trial in the UK breached his human rights.

On 17 January 2012, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Qatada could not be deported to Jordan as that would be a violation of his right to a fair trial under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This was the first time the court has ruled that such an expulsion would be a violation of Article 6. The Special Immigration Appeals Commission subsequently ruled that Qatada should be bailed on highly prescriptive terms for three months while the British government sought further reassurances from Jordan. Under the UN Convention Against Torture, to which the UK is a signatory, states are obliged to refrain even from complicity in torture, and thus are forbidden from deporting people to places where a real risk of torture exists. "Torture is rife in Jordan", according to Human Rights Watch, though the prospect of torture did not stop the UK from deporting people to Libya under Colonel Gaddafi.

Abu Qatada was released on bail on 13 February 2012. He is prohibited from using a mobile phone, computer or the internet, and subject to an electronically monitored 22-hour curfew that only allows him to leave home twice a day for a maximum of one hour.

Relation with the BBC

BBC journalist Alan Johnston was kidnapped in Gaza on 13 March 2007. Johnston's captors, the infamous Doghmush clan who headed the Army of Islam (Gaza Strip), a terrorist group, demanded the release of dozens of captives, including Abu Qatada. Abu Qatada offered to help negotiate Johnston's release.

On 7 February 2012, The Daily Telegraph reported that a senior manager at the BBC had instructed its journalists not to call Qatada an extremist. The BBC subsequently used the form of words "accused of being one of the UK's most dangerous extremist preachers".

Works

• Islamic Movements and Contemporary Alliances, argues essentially for no affiliation whatsoever between Muslim and non-Muslim countries.
• al-Ansar magazine, the official mouthpiece of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), to which he contributed in the early 90s.

External links

• The Savage Barbarism of Abu Qatada: a critical assessment of his writing and speeches by a Salafi Muslim scholar.