WHY IS ABU QATADA STILL HERE ?

The utter lunacy which has allowed a man known to be hostile to our country to be released on bail rather than being deported defies belief.

 

So called 'Muslim Cleric' Abu Qatada is a Jordanian citizen, wanted by the Jordanian government on allegations of terrorism. However, he has spent the last 19 years in the UK, having entered the country on a forged passport but been granted asylum on the grounds of religious persecution. He has been repeatedly linked with Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden, and was also said to have had an involvement in the "9/11" attacks in the USA. For most of the last 10 years he has been in prison in the UK, fighting every inch of the way to avoid extradition to Jordan.

 

This man has already been tried and convicted, in absentia, in Jordan and should now be serving a life sentence, having been found guilty of various terrorism offences. Despite this, an assortment of courts, both British and European, have ruled that he cannot be deported for fear of mistreatment. Consequently, he and his family have existed on state support for most of their time in this country, running up a bill variously estimated at somewhere between £500,000 and £3m.

 

Abu Qatada has no affinity for the UK and is here only because it is not Jordan. He does not, and has not, contributed anything to British society and may well have been involved in terrorist activities both here and abroad; the Jordanians certainly believe this. Why is he still here, being kept at the taxpayers' expense ?