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Millions Spent to Deport Militant Cleric in Britain, but He Still Hasn’t Left Millions Spent to Deport Militant Cleric in Britain, but He Still Hasn’t Left
(about 2 hours later)
The British government said Friday that it had spent the equivalent of $2.7 million to date on legal expenses related to its efforts over the last decade to deport the militant Islamic cleric known as Abu Qatada, including more than $1 million in legal aid for the cleric’s lawyers. The Jordanian cleric, whose real name is Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman, arrived in Britain on a false passport in 1993. A Jordanian court convicted him in absentia in 1999 on terrorism charges related to bombings in Amman, and sentenced him to life imprisonment. But he won a succession of court rulings in London and at the European court in Strasbourg, France, barring his deportation on the basis that his human rights might have been violated by Jordanian courts using evidence obtained under torture. In his years in Britain, he courted notoriety by issuing a fatwa justifying the killing of converts from Islam, and advocating the killing of Jews and attacks on Americans, and by claiming hundreds of thousands of dollars in government welfare benefits to support his family. Currently held in prison for violating bail conditions, Mr. Othman, above, who is of Palestinian descent, has said he would leave Britain voluntarily if Jordan ratifies a new treaty with Britain this summer banning the use of torture-tainted evidence in a retrial that Jordan plans on the bombing charges. Prime Minister David Cameron has said that he will be “one of the happiest people in Britain” the day Mr. Othman leaves. The British government said Friday that it had spent the equivalent of $2.7 million to date on legal expenses related to its efforts over the last decade to deport the militant Islamic cleric known as Abu Qatada, including more than $1 million in legal aid for the cleric’s lawyers. The Jordanian cleric, whose real name is Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman, arrived in Britain on a false passport in 1993. A Jordanian court convicted him in absentia in 1999 on terrorism charges related to bombings in Amman, and sentenced him to life imprisonment. But he won a succession of court rulings in London and at the European court in Strasbourg, France, barring his deportation on the basis that his human rights might have been violated by Jordanian courts using evidence obtained under torture. In his years in Britain, he courted notoriety by issuing a fatwa justifying the killing of converts from Islam, and advocating the killing of Jews and attacks on Americans, and by claiming hundreds of thousands of dollars in government welfare benefits to support his family. Currently held in prison for violating bail conditions, Mr. Othman, who is of Palestinian descent, has said he would leave Britain voluntarily if Jordan ratifies a new treaty with Britain this summer banning the use of torture-tainted evidence in a retrial that Jordan plans on the bombing charges. Prime Minister David Cameron has said that he will be “one of the happiest people in Britain” the day Mr. Othman leaves.