Abu Qatada Jordan Extradition Ruling Due

Will Jordan's Human Rights Record Halt Abu Qatada's Extradition?

Radical cleric Abu Qatada will find out on Monday if he will to be deported to Jordan to face trial.

Qatada is fighting extradition to the Middle East country, where he was convicted of terror charges in his absence in 1999.

Home Secretary Theresa May claims to have been given assurances by Jordan that no evidence gained through torture would be used against him. Despite this, Qatada's legal team claim he will not get a fair trial in Jordan.

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac), which will give its ruling at noon on Monday, heard evidence last month from Professor Beverley Milton-Edwards, who has studied Jordan's political situation for 25 years.

She said Qatada remained a "controversial" figure in Jordan and a fair trial was unlikely.

"In my view I don't believe there is any credible evidence that the state security court has engaged in a significant amount of reform to have any confidence of him having a fair trial," she said.

Tribunal judge Mr Justice Mitting asked Prof Milton-Edwards whether Jordan's memorandum of understanding with Britain to ensure that Qatada will receive a fair trial could be broken.

Prof Milton-Edwards said that, under the current political and judicial structure, it would be difficult to give "anybody" a fair trial despite international promises or widespread publicity of a case such as this one.

Qatada is wanted in Jordan over allegations that he conspired to carry out terror attacks and was involved in a plot to bomb tourists

In October, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch told the Huffington Post UK torture in Jordan is practised "with impunity" and there is no guarantee Abu Qatada will get a fair trial,

Christoph Wilcke said changes to the Jordanian constitution, which have made gathering evidence by torture illegal, are not being enforced.

He added Jordan "continues to have a torture problem," and described some of the brutal methods used to extract so-called confessions.

"Most commonly prisoners are subjected to falaka or 'ghosting'" he said.

Abu Qatada was described by a Spanish judge as Osama Bin Laden's "right hand man in Britain"

Falaka is so called after the wooden block used to a hold a prisoner's ankles in place, after which they are beaten on the soles of their feet with a bullwhip or a cane, often until they bleed. It's favoured as a method of extremely painful torture that leaves few marks.

Ghosting is also popular, where prisoners are suspended by the wrists from metal grates, sometimes with their feet barely touching the ground. Prisoners can then be flogged or just left in the crucifix-like position for hours at a time.

But lawyers for the government have told the hearing that Qatada is "scraping the barrel" in the appeal against his deportation.

Theresa May has suffered a number of embarrassing setbacks over her bid to deport Abu Qatada

Qatada, who is said to have wide and high-level support among extremists, featured in hate sermons found on videos in the flat of one of the September 11 bombers.

He has challenged and ultimately thwarted every attempt by the government over the last decade to put him on a plane.

In December 2001, Qatada became one of Britain's most wanted men after going on the run from his home in Acton, west London.

In October 2002, he was arrested by police in a council house in south London and detained in Belmarsh high-security jail.

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