UK and Jordan sign deal on radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada

The Jordanian parliament approved Wednesday a treaty with the United Kingdom stipulating the deportation of Abu Qatada. This agreement is now pending the approval of the Jordanian head of state, King Abdullah before it becomes valid.                  

The process of the cleric’s deportation is likely to resume within week following this benchmark decision.                               

Abu Qatada, a fundamentalist Muslim cleric has already directed he will not challenge deportation if the treaty is passed because the document guarantees him a fair trial.
                      
The UK-Jordan Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance has already been placed before MPs and Peers at Westminster and it is expected to be moved to ratification on Thursday 20 June.                           

Abu Qatada has previously fought against deportation from the UK for almost eight years, arguing he would face inhumane treatment and the denial of a fair trial.         

This as the European Court of Human Rights and senior British judges ruled Jordan must ensure Abu Qatada would not face a trial that relied on evidence obtained by torturing others.          

The Treaty, signed in March, states that anyone deported from the UK must be treated humanely and be given a fair trial. It includes specific guarantees designed to ban the use of torture evidence.         

A Palestinian Muslim of Jordanian citizenship, Abu Qatada is under worldwide embargo by the United Nations Security Council Committee 1267 for his alleged affiliation with al-Qaeda.      

He faces a re-trial on terror charges on his return to Jordan in connection with two bombing attacks dating back to the late 1990s for which he has been convicted in absentia.             

The radical cleric, who has been described as at the center of al-Qaeda-linked activities in Britain, and also the right-hand of Osama bin Laden in Europe remains currently at Britain’s Belmarsh prison in southeast London for previously breaching his bail condition.