This is bad news for Home Secretary Theresa May, who had appealed to overturn a decision allowing him to reside in Britain, reports The Huffington Post.
At a recent hearing in London, May’s legal team claimed that Abu Qatada he was a “truly dangerous” individual who escaped deportation through “errors of law”.
The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) decided in November that Abu Qatada could not be removed to Jordan, because of the “real risk” that evidence from Abu Qatada’s former co-defendants, who were allegedly tortured, could be used against him at a retrial.
The Home Office said it plans to appeal the decision made unanimously by the judges and will continue to seek assurances from Jordan to ensure Abu Qatada receives a fair trial.
Lawyer Roger Smith, Director of JUSTICE, says this is a highly unlikely outcome: “Every agency that has looked at Jordan’s human rights record has had severe reservations” he told the Huffington Post UK.
“Any prosecution has to be based on evidence from around 1990s so I think it’s very difficult to see how they could now get new and untainted evidence.”
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