(Not) Going Home
Abu Qatada is a Jordanian cleric. He is also an alleged terrorist. He was found guilty in a Jordanian court, in his absence, of committing terrorist crimes. He has lived in the UK since 1993, and until yesterday he was in custody in the UK. The British government have been attempting to deport him to stand trial in Jordan, but he claims that his human rights would be breached if he was sent home because some of the evidence against him has been obtained from witnesses who were tortured. UK and European law prevents a suspected criminal being tried in these circumstances. So deportation has been refused by the courts. On Tuesday he was released from prison, although he will be closely monitored, and protected. The UK government are hopping mad and have pledged to continue to fight to send him home to Jordan.
Torture is now constitutionally illegal in Jordan; the Jordanian government amended their constitution to make this so in 2011. It is however still regarded as being widespread by Amnesty International. You can find their latest report here. The concern of the UK court which released him this week was that if he is deported to face a new trial in Jordan the evidence of the tortured witnesses might still be used, although the Jordanian government has promised not to do this.
Prince Saud bin Abdulaziz is a convicted murderer. He is also the grandson of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. In 2010 he was found guilty by a British jury of killing his manservant in a sexually motivated attack in a London hotel and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Last week UK Prime Minister David Cameron was in Saudi on a trade mission. This week it was reported that the Prince will almost certainly be sent home to Saudi in a ‘prisoner transfer deal’ following ratification of a protocol between the two countries last Augu