Home Secretary Theresa May flew to Jordan today for high-level talks over the deportation of radical cleric Abu Qatada.
Her trip, which could last three days, immediately raised hopes of an agreement which would see Qatada forced to return from Britain to the Middle Eastern country to face trial there on terrorism charges.
The Standard understands no deal has yet been struck but that there has been some progress towards one.
Junior Home Office minister James Brokenshire recently visited Jordan and Mrs May decided to go herself to take the talks to a higher level. She will meet senior Jordanian figures. Qatada, who was described by a judge as “Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe”, has been released from jail under a
22-hour a day curfew while the Government seeks assurances from Jordan that evidence gained through torture would not be used in any trial against him.
A judge ordered the release of Qatada, 51, from six years of detention in Britain after the European Court of Human Rights blocked his deportation to Jordan last month.
The Strasbourg-based court had ruled that sending Qatada back without guarantees about a fair trial would be a “flagrant denial of justice”.
He was released from Long Lartin jail in Worcestershire on February 13 under strict bail conditions. The ruling sparked outrage and Mrs May has stressed she is “pursuing all options with regards to his deportation”.
Both countries want the extremist to face justice and Ayman Odeh, the Jordanian legislative affairs minister, has emphasised that his country now outlaws use of evidence obtained through torture.
An Immigration Appeals Commission last month gave Mrs May three months to show significant progress in talks over Qatada or risk him being freed from his current conditions.
At present he can only leave his London home for two one-hour periods a day, is banned from taking his child to school, and cannot talk to anyone not vetted by security services.
