He is a fanatic now get him out of here

PREACHER of hate Abu Qatada launched a desperate 11th-hour bid to stay in Britain last night – at yet further cost to the taxpayer.

Abu Qatada Hate preacher Abu Qatada: Hate preacher

The move came despite Law Lords giving the go-ahead last night for him to be kicked out.[>

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Dubbed Osama Bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe, Qatada faced immediate deportation to Jordan after losing a House of Lords appeal.[>

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But within hours of the decision, the father-of-five’s legal team vowed to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights meaning a delay of at least a year – and yet more cost to the taxpayer through benefits. While the Law Lords ruling was a victory for Home Secretary Jacqui Smith in the four-year Government campaign to get rid of one of the world’s most dangerous terrorists, the delaying tactics sparked fury.[>

I have signed Abu Qatada’s deportation order

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith

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Susie Squire, campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “It shouldn’t be up to Europe to decide if and when we can deport this poisonous hate preacher. It is taxpayers who are footing the bill for his presence in our country, and if our courts say he needs to go, he goes now.”[>

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Former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said it was vital that the ruling was now carried out. He said: “Abu Qatada has been convicted of terrorist offences in Jordan” and the UK has every right to deport him now that there is a memorandum of understanding that he will not be tortured on his return. The onus now lies on the Government to ensure that Jordan fully adheres to its obligations.”[>

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Shadow Counter-terrorism Minister Crispin Blunt said: “This is a victory for common sense. We hope his deportation proceeds as soon as possible and that there are no further delays.”[>

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In theory, yesterday’s ruling clears the way for Qatada – whose family in the UK are receiving around £47,000 a year in benefits – to be booted out of the country.[>

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Five Law Lords also dismissed appeals by two suspected Algerian terrorists – known only as RB and U – over returning them to their native land.[>

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Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said: “I have signed Abu Qatada’s deportation order. I am keen to deport this dangerous individual as soon as I can.[>

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“I’m delighted with the Lords’ decision in the cases of Abu Qatada and the two Algerians. It highlights the threat these individuals pose to our nation’s security and vindicates our efforts to remove them. My top priority is to protect public safety and ensure national security.”[>

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Palestinian-born Qatada, 48, has lived in Britain at the taxpayers’ expense since he slipped into the country on a false passport in 1993.[>

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In 1999, he was convicted in his absence of conspiracy to carry out bomb attacks on two hotels in the Jordanian capital Amman and providing finance for other terror attacks. He was jailed for life.[>

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Qatada, who says he fears torture if he returns, was ordered to be deported last year. The decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal in June on the grounds that some of the evidence against him was obtained by torture.[>

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In a sensational move, the judges freed Qatada on bail. But he was back inside a top security cell at HMP Belmarsh in December after MI5 uncovered a plot involving him.[>

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Yesterday, the five Law Lords reversed the Court of Appeal decision and ruled there were no reasonable grounds for believing Qatada would be denied the right to a fair trial.[>

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Lord Hope said: “Most people in Britain, I suspect, would be astonished at the amount of care, time and trouble that has been devoted to the question whether it will be safe for aliens to be returned to their own countries.[>

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“On their heads be it if their extremist views expose them to risk ill-treatment when they get home.” But Lord Hope said the freedoms guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights are for everyone.[>

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The Home Secretary signed Qatada’s deportation order last year after the Government signed understandings with countries, including Jordan, that deportees would not be tortured or ill-treated on their return.[>

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But fellow controversial figure, the cleric Omar Bakri warned that the decision by the Law Lords would “badly backfire”. The fanatic, who fled Britain after praising the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorists, said the whole Islamic world would now see the UK as an enemy.[>

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Speaking from his Beirut bolthole he said: “It is inhumane and shows that the British Government is anti-Muslim. The world is like a small village now and this news will reach everyone.”[>

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Bakri said he was a good friend of Qatada but claimed the cleric was not as outspoken as he himself had been in Britain. He added: “I was involved in public activity in the UK for the last 20 years but Abu has never done anything to deserve this sort of treatment. He has never been charged with any ­offence.[>

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“You could understand people in Britain being anti-Bakri but not anti-Qatada. Most of them don’t even know who he is. He came to the UK as a political refugee and now he faces life in prison in Jordan where they will just leave him to die or even kill him.”[>

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Last night Qatada’s lawyer Gareth Peirce, confirmed that the case would now go to the European Court.[>

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She said: “This judgment will pour a dose of cold water on our belief that we have indeed advanced in our willingness to confront the ugly issue of the use of torture.[>

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“It puts into reverse the ethos created by an earlier Lords decision. This was a chance to reaffirm that decision, instead it is a backwards step.”[>

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