本·拉登助手，基地组织欧洲头目被引渡到约旦

Twenty years after he fled Jordan, Abu Qatada is back here, forced to return to face terrorism charges. An armed motorcade carrying the radical cleric arrived at the main military court house in Amman. Also there, membersof Qatada’s family allowed into the heavily guarded court for the 53-year-old first appearance there,as he faces charges of involvement in a plot to attack American and Israeli tourists.

It is a common issue of nearly a decade long battle by the U.K. authorities to deport Qatada who is finally placed on a flight out of RAF Northolt in the early hours this morning. Although described as a truly dangerous individual, Abu Qatada managed to use human rights laws to mount appeal after appeal against his removal.

“This is something this government said it would get done and we have got it done. And it’s anissue, like the rest of the country, has made my blood boil. That this man, who has no right to be in our country, who is a threat to our country, and that it took so long and was so difficult to deport him.”

Aboard the plane,there was a final glance towards the cameras, and contemplation perhaps of the fate he now faces in Jordan.

A couple of hours earlier, an armed police convoy escorted Qatada from the high security Belmarsh prison in southeast London, 24 miles across the capital to RAF Northolt.

Prison life is something he’s had to get used to of the past decade. Family members paid him a last visit yesterday afternoon, as he spent his final few hours here.

Just after 1:00a.m., Qatada’s police escort arrived to this west London air base. A few many cops and photographers, the only witnesses to the deportation of one of the country’s most notorious figures.

“I’m very pleased that Abu Qatada has been deported. I was clear that we wanted to deport him andthat we would deport him and an awful lot of work has gone into that. I wentout to Jordan myself, Minister for Security James Brokenshire went out to Jordan, we’ve had a lot of Home Office officials working very hard on it, the Ambassador in Jordan working hard on it and I’m clear we had a clear intent to deport him and that’s what we’ve done.”

Finally leaving Britain behind, Abu Qatada may never be back here again, but he leaves behind a battered and bruised political and legal establishment more determined than ever to overhaul the UK’s human rights laws to ensure no one in future can manipulate the courts to avoid justice.

Murnaghan, Sky News.