Jordan talks over Qatada deportation ‘positive’

TALKS aimed at ensuring the UK can deport radical cleric Abu Qatada to face terrorism charges in Jordan have been “positive”, the Home Secretary has said.

Theresa May, who is in Jordan for talks with senior officials until tomorrow, said the government had more work to do to ensure Qatada could be sent home “once and for all”.

Speaking from Jordan, she said she wanted to send Qatada back and bring the situation “to a satisfactory end soon”.

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Qatada, who is considered a threat to UK national security, has been released from jail under a 22-hour curfew while the government seeks assurances from Jordan that evidence gained through torture would not be used in any trial against him.

Mrs May has less than three months to show a judge she has made progress in the talks or risk Qatada being freed from his stringent bail conditions.

Qatada was released from a high-security prison on 13 February after applying for bail when human rights judges in Europe ruled he could not be deported without the assurances now being sought.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that sending Qatada, 51, back to Jordan without such assurances would be a “flagrant denial of justice”.

Mrs May said: “Jordan has made significant human rights advances. Sadly, the court failed to recognise this.”

Qatada, described by a judge as Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe, was convicted in his absence in Jordan of involvement with terrorist attacks in 1998.