Abu Qatada arrested for breaking bail conditions

Following a police raid on his North London home, the radical cleric Abu Qatada, who was once likened to Osama Bin Laden, was arrested on Friday for appearing to break bail conditions placed on him by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC).

A spokesman for the Home Office released a statement on Saturday announcing, “The UK Border Agency arrested a 52 year old man from north London for alleged breaches of his bail conditions by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission”.

Despite continuous attempts by Teresa May to send Qatada back to Jordan where he awaits trail for numerous terrorism charges, in November of 2012 the Commission ruled against deportation over concerns of mistreatment if Qatada were to return to Jordan.

Indeed, whilst The Financial Times pointed out that since arriving in the UK back in 2001, Qatada has been in and out of jail, SIAC have been unwilling to deport the suspected terrorist and instead chose to place the cleric under stringent bail conditions.

These conditions include an electric tag to monitor the clerics movements, restrictions on who Qatada can meet and a 16:00 curfew.

According to BBC reports, however, the government look set to once more challenge the court ruling against the deportation of the cleric and are due in court on Monday 11^th of March for an appeal.

Whilst it has not been announced how Abu Qatada is thought to have broken his bail conditions, the timing of the arrest will no doubt be brought into consideration at the scheduled appeal hearing. 

Sarah Aston