Radical Muslim preacher Abu Qatada pleaded innocent to terrorism
charges in Jordan on Sunday, his lawyer said, hours after a decade-long
legal battle ended with his deportation from Britain.
His return
was viewed as a victory in Jordan, whose 2001 extradition request was
blocked in British and European courts over human rights concerns.
Britain and Jordan ratified a treaty last month on torture aimed at
easing those worries, clearing the way for his deportation.
Jordan
convicted Abu Qatada, 53, in absentia over two separate cases involving
al-Qaida linked plans to attack Americans, Israelis and other
Westerners in 1999 and 2000. That conviction now has been suspended
however in light of the new trial.
Lawyer Tayseer Thiab said his
client "told military prosecutors that he is not guilty of terrorism and
rejected the charges against him."
In nearly two hours of
questioning, prosecutors charged Abu Qatada with conspiring to carry out
terror attacks in Jordan twice — once in 1999 for a foiled plot against
the American school in Amman and another time in 2000 for allegedly
targeting Israeli and American tourists and Western diplomats during new
year celebrations.
Abu
Qatada was ordered detained Sunday for 15 days pending further
questioning, according to one of the prosecutors. He said the cleric
will be held at Muwaqar I, a prison in Amman's southeastern industrial
suburb of Sahab. The military district attorney banned the publication
of the prosecutors' names.
Thiab said he will try to free his client on bail Monday.
Abu
Qatada arrived at Amman's civilian airport on a British aircraft and
was whisked away by masked anti-terrorism police in a 12-car convoy to
the nearby premises of the military State Security Court. Police sealed
off the area as the convoy drove against traffic to the court building,
just across the street from the airport. Armed policemen kept a crush of
journalists at bay.
Standing at the entrance of the court
building, Abu Qatada's father, Mahmoud, told the Associated press that
he had "nothing to say, except that my son is innocent and I hope the
court will set him free."
Abu Qatada's younger brother Ibrahim
said he and his father met the cleric for 15 minutes in the prosecutor's
office. He said his brother "looked well and in high spirits." He said
he told them British and Jordanian authorities did not use hand cuffs.
Asked about the reunion, the bearded man in a long Arab robe said: "How do you think I felt seeing my brother after 22 years?
"Look at my eyes and you'll know the answer," he said tearfully.
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