Abu Qatada Leaves UK And Arrives In Jordan

Radical preacher Abu Qatada has arrived in Jordan after being flown out of Britain in the early hours. Home Secretary Theresa May told Sky News that she was "very pleased" to have finally succeeded in deporting Qatada. He left RAF Northolt in west London on a military plane bound for Jordan to stand trial on terror charges. It is understood Jordanian authorities allowed his family to greet him on his arrival. It marks the end of an eight-year legal battle to remove the radical cleric, who the Government has described as a "truly dangerous individual" and a "key player" in al Qaeda-related terrorism. Sky News correspondent Mark White said: "He has been a thorn in the side of five Home Secretaries who have tried to get rid of him. "As far as the British Government and senior politicians are concerned, there will be quiet celebration that he has finally left the country." Qatada used his human rights to make a series of costly challenges to moves to deport him to his native country. The case became a national embarrassment, which critics of European human rights legislation claim has rendered UK politicians powerless to remove someone who they believed to be a clear threat to national security. Ms May said: "Abu Qatada was deported today to his home country of Jordan to face terrorism charges. "His departure marks the conclusion of efforts to remove him since 2001 and I believe this will be welcomed by the British public." Prime MInister David Cameron tweeted: "Deporting Abu Qatada was a priority for this govt,there was a clear plan+a right and stubborn refusal to bow to what many thought inevitable." After spending a total of £1.7m on legal fees from the many court proceedings, the Home Office saw Qatada board a flight from RAF Northolt, in west London, in the early hours of this morning. Mrs May added: "I am glad that this government's determination to see him on a plane has been vindicated and that we have at last achieved what previous governments, Parliament and the British public have long called for. "This dangerous man has now been removed from our shores to face the courts in his own country. "I am also clear that we need to make sense of our human rights laws and remove the many layers of appeals available to foreign nationals we want to deport. We are taking steps - including through the new Immigration Bill - to put this right." It was a treaty signed between the UK and Jordan that finally secured Qatada's departure, giving him the assurances he needed to leave his taxpayer-funded home behind. The agreement, announced by Mrs May earlier this year, aimed to allay fears that evidence extracted through torture will be used against the father of five at a retrial. In a shock decision, Qatada pledged in May to leave Britain - with his family in tow - if and when the treaty was fully ratified, a process that to the relief of many, concluded earlier this week. After landing at an isolated airstrip near the Jordanian capital Amman, Qatada will be transferred to the maximum security Muwaqqar prison, which houses dozens of convicted terrorists. It is understood that Qatada will be held in solitary confinement at the jail, until the Jordanian authorities can put him on trial. Qatada originally fled the Middle East and arrived in the UK in 1993. He was granted asylum the following year. His increasingly radical sermons caught the attention of the security services in Britain and in numerous other countries. A Spanish judge described him as the "spiritual head of the mujaheddin in Britain". A number of people arrested on terrorism offences, including British born "shoe-bomber" Richard Reid, admitted seeking religious advice from him. His sermons were found in the Hamburg flat used by a number of the 9/11 hijackers. In 2001, on the eve of tough new British anti-terror laws allowing for the detention without trial of foreign terror suspects, Qatada went on the run, before later being arrested and held in Belmarsh prison.