Abu Qatada saved from expulsion

Abu Qatada, once described as “Osama bin Laden’s right hand man in Europe”, cannot be extradited to Jordan the European Court of Human Rights has ruled.

Radical cleric Abu Qatada cannot be sent back to Jordan while "there remains a real risk that evidence obtained by torture will be used against him", judges have ruled.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled there would be a breach of his right to a fair trial "given the real risk of the admission of evidence obtained by torture at his retrial".

It is the first time that the Strasbourg-based court has found that an expulsion would be in violation of Article 6, the right to a fair trial.

He was first arrested in 2002 and is currently held in Long Lartin jail after breaching his bail conditions.

The court ruled that key diplomatic assurances received meant there would be no violation of Article Three which bans the use of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment.

It also said there would be no violation of Article Five, the right to liberty and security and no violation of Article 13, the right to an effective remedy.

The judgment is not final. There is a three-month period in which the government may request that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber of the Court for a final judgment, although the request may be refused.

The European Court agreed with the English Court of Appeal but overturned a decision in the House of Lords.

It said that the use of evidence obtained by torture during a criminal trial would amount to a “flagrant denial of justice.”

“Allowing a criminal court to rely on torture evidence would legitimise the torture of witnesses and suspects” before a trial, it added.

“Moreover, torture evidence was unreliable, because a person being tortured would say anything to make it stop.”

The court found that torture was widespread in Jordan, as was the use of torture evidence by the Jordanian courts.

It also found that the evidence of his involvement in the two terrorist conspiracies with which he is charged, had been obtained by torturing one of his co-defendants.

When those two co-defendants stood trial, the Jordanian courts had not taken any action in relation to their complaints of torture.

The Court said there was a high probability that the incriminating evidence would be admitted at Qatada’s retrial and that it would be of “considerable, perhaps decisive, importance.”

In the absence of any assurance by Jordan that the torture evidence would not be used against Qatada, the court decided that his deportation to Jordan to be retried would give rise to a flagrant denial of justice in violation of Article Six.

On 18 February 2009 the House of Lords upheld findings by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) the diplomatic assurances would protect Qatada from being tortured.

They also found that the risk that evidence obtained by torture would be used in the criminal proceedings in Jordan would not amount to a flagrant denial of justice.

©Press Association 2012

GUANTANAMO PRISON A 'TOXIC LEGACY'

The US government's failure to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay naval base is leaving "a toxic legacy for human rights", a charity said today.

Amnesty International condemned the failing on the 10th anniversary of the first detainees arriving at the American detention centre in Cuba.

In a new report, entitled Guantanamo: A Decade of Damage to Human Rights, the charity said the unlawful treatment of Guantanamo detainees underlines reasons why the detention centre continues to represent an attack on human rights.

It called for an end to indefinite detention at Guantanamo and the charity has set up an online petition to President Barack Obama calling for its closure.

Of the 171 men still held at the camp at least 12 were in the original group first transferred to Guantanamo on January 11 2002, Amnesty said.

One of them is serving a life sentence after being convicted by a military commission in 2008 but none of the other 11 has been charged, the charity added.

Londoner Shaker Aamer, 43, is among them and his father-in-law Saeed Siddique said it has torn their family apart.

Mr Aamer, who has been held at Guantanamo since February 2002, is originally from Saudi Arabia but is married to a British citizen and has four British children.

He said: "It is a great injustice for the family. The family has been torn apart for 10 years. Shaker has been detained without being charged for 10 years. What kind of justice is this?"

Supporters have written to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling for a fair trial for Mr Aamer or his immediate release.

Kate Allen, UK director for Amnesty International, said: "It's an absolute disgrace that Shaker Aamer is still behind bars at Guantanamo - without a trial, without access to his family, almost without hope.

"Britain needs to put its foot down with the Americans. We know that the Foreign Secretary William Hague has already called for Shaker's release. He should now insist on a specific timetable for this to happen - within days or weeks, not months or years."

In 10 years, only one of the 779 detainees held at the base has been transferred to the US for prosecution in a federal court. Others have faced unfair trials by military commission and the administration is currently intending to seek the death penalty against six of the detainees at such trials, Amnesty said.

Current Guantanamo detainees include those who were subjected to torture and enforced disappearance prior to being transferred to the camp, the report added


©Press Association 2012