Legal bid to overturn Qatada ruling

Monday 11 March 2013

Lawyers for Home Secretary Theresa May are asking the Court of Appeal to overturn what they condemn as a legally flawed decision to allow radical preacher Abu Qatada to stay in the UK.

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) decided last November that Qatada could not lawfully be deported to Jordan, where he was convicted of terror charges in his absence in 1999.

Siac judges ruled there was a "real risk" that evidence from Qatada's former co-defendants Abu Hawsher and Al-Hamasher, said to have been obtained by torture, could be used against him in a retrial in Jordan.

Today James Eadie QC, appearing for Mrs May, told three appeal judges the decision could not stand because Siac had taken an "erroneous" view of the position in Jordan and the legal tests that had to be applied when it came to assessing "real risk".Mr Eadie said the evidence was that "Jordan law prohibits clearly and expressly the use of torture and the reliance on any statement obtained under duress, including torture".Lawyers for Qatada, referred to in court papers by the name of Omar Othman, say the appeal should be refused and it is the Home Secretary's legal analysis of the Siac decision that is erroneous.The case, expected to last one day, is being heard by Lord Dyson, the Master of the Rolls, and two other judges. It takes place three days after Qatada was arrested for breaching bail conditions.Mrs May has described Qatada as "a dangerous man, a suspected terrorist, who is accused of serious crime in his home country of Jordan".Mr Eadie began his submissions by saying that, last Thursday, Qatada's home was searched and "a number of mobile phones and electronic media items" were found.Qatada's bail was revoked after it was concluded that he might have been in breach of Siac bail conditions, which include a 22-hour home curfew and restrictions on his ability to communicate with others.Mr Justice Irwin ordered on Saturday that Qatada should remain in custody after hearing "strong prima facie evidence" that mobile telephones or communications equipment had been switched on in his London house.Mr Eadie said there would be a reconsideration of his detention on Thursday next week.Lord Dyson, sitting with Lord Justice Elias and Lord Justice Richards, said the arrest was "irrelevant" to the appeal hearing.Qatada, now in his early 50s, was born in Bethlehem in the West Bank at a time when it was occupied by Jordan.He was granted bail after three Siac judges - including chairman Mr Justice Mitting - blocked his deportation and he was released from HMP Long Lartin, to return to his family home.However, on Friday he was returned to Belmarsh prison.Qatada's wife and five children recently won an injunction preventing protesters demonstrating outside their house.The cleric has used human rights laws to fight deportation for several years, running up a legal bill unofficially estimated at more than £500,000.Over the years, he has been described as an Islamic "preacher of hate" but has never been charged with a crime in the UK.The crucial hurdle to his removal is the Home Secretary's failure to convince Siac that there are sufficient assurances in place that evidence obtained by torture would not be used in his retrial in Jordan.It is understood that, since last November, the Government has been seeking further assurances and, as part of the process, Security Minister James Brokenshire was in Amman for more talks last week.Mr Eadie said the Jordanian courts could be trusted."There is no real risk of a flagrant denial of justice. The Jordanian courts will consider all the evidence," Mr Eadie told appeal judges."They will do so in the light of the fact that there is likely to be a live issue as to whether or not statements were obtained by torture."He said there was a prohibition in Jordan against evidence obtained by torture and added: "There is no reason to suppose that the Jordanian courts would approach these issues in a flagrantly unfair way. There is no reason to suppose they would not consider all the evidence before them."Edward Fitzgerald QC, appearing for Qatada, described Siac's finding that there was a real risk of evidence obtained by torture being used at a retrial as "entirely reasonable and rational".He accused the Home Secretary of "seeking to create points of law where none in fact exist".Mr Fitzgerald said there was now a series of court decisions which all said there was at least "a real risk" that confessions by Al-Hamasher and Abu Hawsher would be admitted in evidence against Qatada.They also found there was cogent evidence that the confessions had been obtained as a result of serious ill-treatment, including beatings involving bastinado - foot whipping - which were characterised as "torture".He submitted that Mr Eadie "has identified no error of law" committed by Siac and was in essence "quarrelling with findings of fact".

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Legal bid to overturn Qatada ruling

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