THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Abu Qatada, a radical Muslim cleric accused of posing a grave threat to Britain's national security, should be released regardless of the risk he poses, his lawyers said today.
Qatada, who is being held in high security conditions, wants to be released on bail as he fights deportation to Jordan.
But lawyers for Home Secretary Theresa May are battling to keep him behind bars while British diplomats continue to seek assurances from the Jordanian authorities that evidence gained through torture would not be used against him.
Ed Fitzgerald QC, representing Qatada, told an immigration judge in central London that Qatada had now been held for six-and-a-half years while fighting deportation.
He told the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) that that was "against a background of almost nine years detention without charges on the grounds of national security".
Mr Fitzgerald said: "The detention has now gone on for too long to be reasonable or lawful and there is no prospect of the detention ending in any reasonable period.
"However the risk of absconding, however the risk of further offending, there comes a point when it's just too long.
"There comes a time when it's just too long, however grave the risks."
Mr Fitzgerald added that the eight-and-a-half years Qatada spent in custody was equivalent to a 17-year jail sentence.
The bail hearing was ordered after Qatada, once described by a Spanish judge as "Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe", won an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) last month. » | Monday, February 06, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Abu Qatada to be released within days: Abu Qatada, a radical Muslim cleric accused of posing a grave threat to Britain's national security, will be back on the streets within days after judges granted him bail. » | Tom Whitehead, Security Editor | Monday, February 06, 2012
