The UK Special Immigration Appeals Commission granted at the beginning of the week the appeal of Abu Qatada , a Muslim cleric and a controversial figure, believed to be part of Al Qaeda (some have even called him "Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe"). The sentence allows him not to be extradited to Jordan, for the court considered he could not receive a fair trial in the latter country (citing the fact that Jordanian law allows the use of evidence gained as a result of torture), where he is accused of setting up terrorist attacks in 1999 and 2000 (he has been already convicted in absentia there). The cleric was thus released on bail yesterday, though subject to a 16-hout curfew (besides electronic tagging, a ban on Internet use and prohibitions on meeting some people). The thing is that even though the European Court of Human Rights [ECHR] (a very much moot body for many UK politicians) had already blocked his deportation, he was ar...
A blog on Middle Eastern affairs... and everything related to it.