Theresa May today launched what could be a final attempt to kick hate cleric Abu Qatada out of Britain.
The Home Secretary is to take the legal battle to the Supreme Court after judges last month put the fanatic’s human rights ahead of protecting the public – even though they accepted he was ‘very dangerous’.
Qatada claims he can not be sent to Jordan because evidence said to have been obtained by torture could be used against him in a terror trial.
The UK government is to appeal to the Supreme Court to send Abu Qatada to Jordan where he was convicted of terror charges in his absence in 1999
In March, Court of Appeal judges backed an earlier ruling that Qatada, also known as Omar Othman, could not be deported.
Today a Home Office spokesman said: 'We have today asked the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal its recent decision on Abu Qatada to the Supreme Court.
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'The Government remains committed to deporting this dangerous man and we continue to work with the Jordanians to address the outstanding legal issues preventing deportation.'
The judges at the Court of Appeal said that while Qatada’s deportation was ‘long overdue’, his risk to the public was not ‘a relevant consideration’ under human rights laws.
The verdict drew a furious response from the Tories and sparked new demands for the Government to ignore the courts and simply throw him out of the country.
The Appeal Court upheld an earlier verdict that sending the hate preacher to face a terror trial in Jordan would not be fair.
If the latest bid fails, it would raise the prospect of Qatada – variously described as a ‘truly dangerous individual’ and Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe – never being deported. He could apply to be freed within days.
Home Secretary Theresa May has vowed to rid Britain of 'this dangerous man'
Qatada – described by Mrs May’s legal team as ‘truly dangerous’ – has now defied the wishes of six Labour and Tory home secretaries over eight years.
Ministers have been trying for a decade to send Qatada to Jordan, where he is accused of plotting a terrorist atrocity to coincide with the Millennium.
His removal was originally approved by the British courts, only to be halted by the European Court of Human Rights last year. Judges in Strasbourg said he would not get a fair trial because some of the evidence used against him may have been obtained by torture. Controversially, Mrs May opted not to appeal against this verdict.
Instead, she and her ministers secured personal promises from the Jordanian authorities there would be no use of torture evidence, and began the deportation process again in the UK legal system.
But last November, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) said it was not satisfied with the assurances, and halted Qatada’s removal. The court said it must reflect the Strasbourg ruling.
That decision was yesterday unanimously upheld by Lord Dyson, the Master of the Rolls, and two other Appeal Court judges.
Lord Dyson, sitting with Lord Justice Richards and Lord Justice Elias, said Qatada was ‘considered to be a dangerous and controversial person’.
He added: ‘It is entirely understandable that there is a general feeling that his deportation to Jordan to face trial is long overdue. But the principles that we have to apply do not distinguish between extremely dangerous persons and others who may not constitute any danger in the UK and whom the Secretary of State wishes to deport to face trial in another country.
‘The fact that (Qatada) is considered to be a dangerous terrorist is not relevant to the issues that are raised on this appeal.’
Labour and Conservative ministers have been trying to deport Qatada for a decade
Qatada, who featured in hate sermons found on videos in the flat of one of the 9/11 bombers, has ultimately thwarted every attempt by the Government to put him on a plane.
A resident in the UK since September 1993, he was returned to jail last month after he was arrested for alleged bail breaches.
A hearing over whether he should be granted bail again was due to be held last month but was delayed.
Police searched the hate preacher's family home in London before he was held and have since said that he is being investigated over extremist material.