Judges to meet on Qatada appeal

EUROPE’S human rights judges will meet next week to consider whether Jordanian terror suspect Abu Qatada’s appeal should be heard by the court’s grand chamber, officials said.

A panel of five judges will meet on Wednesday to decide whether the appeal should be heard, but it may not reach a final decision then and, even if it does, it may not announce it until later, a Council of Europe spokesman said.

Qatada’s appeal against deportation prompted a row with Home Secretary Theresa May over whether the three-month appeal deadline from the original decision by the European Court of Human Rights on 17 January expired on the night of 16 April or 17 April.

The panel is unlikely to reveal whether or not Mrs May was right to say that the Qatada appeal was late as it does not usually disclose reasons for its decisions.