The European Court of Human Rights (Echr) concluded that the hate cleric’s eleventh hour appeal bid against deportation was submitted within time but ruled there were no grounds to hear it.
However, the decision could clear the way for the hate cleric to now sue the Home Office over the blunder.
Mrs May was accused of taking an “unacceptable risk” and faced calls to apologise for “a potentially catastrophic error of judgment”.
Despite the ruling, Qatada will remain in the country for at least another year because of a separate, ongoing legal challenge against deportation to Jordan, where he faces trial for alleged terror offences.
His lawyers also launched a fresh bid to have him re-released on bail while the court battles continue.
It means yet another legal merry-go-round in a ten year saga that has already cost the taxpayer up to £3 million. » | Tom Whitehead, Security Editor | Wednesday, May 09, 2012
