Radical cleric wins bid for freedom (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Radical cleric wins bid for freedom

3:38am Tuesday 7th February 2012 in National News © Press Association 2011

Abu Qatada should be released on bail within days, an immigration judge has ruled (Prison Service/PA Wire)

The decision to release a radical Muslim cleric described as "Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe" on bail has been branded "a disgrace".

Abu Qatada will be free and walking his child to school next week despite the fact the Home Secretary considers him "a real threat to our security".

The Home Office said it disagreed with freeing the preacher on bail, while politicians and think-tanks described it as an "astonishing" decision with serious implications for national security.

Qatada has been held for six-and-a-half years, more than any other detainee in modern immigration history, while fighting deportation to Jordan. But he will be released from a maximum security prison after applying for bail when human rights judges in Europe ruled he could not be deported without assurances from Jordan that evidence gained through torture would not be used against him.

The Home Office clashed with senior immigration judge Mr Justice Mitting on Monday, saying: "Qatada should remain in detention, our view has not changed." A spokesman said: "This is a dangerous man who we believe poses a real threat to our security and who has not changed in his views or attitude to the UK. This is not the end of the road and we are continuing to consider our legal options in response to the European Court's ruling."

Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, said that most people would be "astonished" by the move, while Ukip said Britain had been forced to let Qatada back on the streets, adding "our defences have been emasculated by our subservience to the European courts".

Mr Justice Mitting, president of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) which considered the case, said that while Qatada's detention to date had been justified, "the time will arrive quite soon when continuing detention or deprivation of liberty" would have to stop.

Ruling that Qatada should be "bailed on highly prescriptive terms", he gave the Home Secretary three months to show British diplomats were making progress in negotiations with Jordan or risk seeing Qatada's bail conditions removed. He added that the bail conditions would need to be tough as the "risks to national security and of absconding are not significantly changed".

Qatada must stay at a home address, which will be checked by MI5, will be on a 22-hour curfew and must stay within a prescribed area at all times. Ne will be allowed to walk one of his five children to school, Mr Justice Mitting said. All visitors must be approved, as must all meetings outside his home, and he will have no access to the internet or electronic communications devices.

Attorney General Dominic Grieve said the Government was bound by the rule of law "as much as anybody else". He told BBC Radio 4: "The Government is obviously very concerned about this case and very much wishes to see Abu Qatada deported to Jordan and, when he is in Jordan, tried fairly if the Jordanian authorities wish to put him on trial."