Abu Qatada acquitted of plotting attacks in Jordan

Abu Qatada, the radical Islamic preacher deported from Britain after an eight-year legal battle, has been cleared by a court in Jordan of terrorism charges.

A military court in the capital Amman ruled there was insufficient evidence against the 53-year-old cleric, who was charged with planning to target Israeli and American tourists and Western diplomats in 2000 in the so-called “millennium plot”.

Lawyers for Abu Qatada - who had previously been acquitted in June of charges relating to a foiled plan to attack an American school in Amman in 1999 - said they expected him to walk free within hours.

Britain’s Home Office insisted that there was no question of him returning to the UK.

“The UK courts agreed that Abu Qatada posed a threat to national security in the UK, so we are pleased that we were able to remove him.

“Abu Qatada remains subject to a deportation order and a United Nations travel ban. He is not coming back to the UK.”

The ruling capped a lengthy legal fight for the cleric who was known for his fiery pro-al Qaeda speeches before emerging as a critic of Islamic State in recent months.

As the ruling was announced in the Amman courtroom, Qatada’s relatives erupted into cheers while women wept with joy and embraced each other.

Qatada, who had been taken from a defendants’ cage for the verdict guarded by heavily armed police, was promptly taken out of the courtroom and made no remarks to media.

The man described as a one-time lieutenant to Osama bin Laden had recently criticised IS militants who have killed thousands of people and captured large areas of Syria and northern and western Iraq in a blitz this summer.

The West Bank-born preacher - real name Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman- fled a Jordanian crackdown on militants more than 20 years ago, arriving in Britain on a forged passport in 1993. He was granted asylum a year later but eventually wore out his welcome because of his suspected militant activities.

PA