I think the next time we hear from him will be from his lawyer when he claims his compensation from the British government.
You'd be waiting a long time for that. That's the problem (well, one of them) with Islam - the moderates don't pipe up and are entirely drowned out by extremists. Who is the leading moderate cleric in the Islamic world? Who is the guy everyone listens to? No name springs to mind.
"Abu Qatada" [aka Omar Othman] had been convicted in absence in Jordan of complicity in an alleged terrorist offence years before, but the conviction had depended entirely on evidence obtained under torture. If AQ had consented to being sent to Jordan at the start of the process, he would have been simply locked up on the basis of the previous conviction in absence, or perhaps there would have been a new trial but still based solely on the evidence obtained under torture. How would you like to be sent to Jordan under those conditions? After the highest courts in England had ruled that it would be wrong to remove him to Jordan in these circumstances, the UK government negotiated with the Jordan government at length. Eventually (this took some years) the Jordan government gave an acceptable undertaking that AQ would get a fresh trial and a fair trial (i.e. no torturing), whereupon AQ agreed to leave UK for Jordan willingly. The fresh trial duly took place, without torture evidence, and AQ was duly acquitted - predictably, given that there was no other evidence against him. He has since been placed on trial again for some other separate alleged offences, and has been again acquitted - that is the recent news. The whole exercise is a win-win for all involved. AQ is free and exonerated. Jordan has demonstrated it is capable of honouring its undertakings, treating prisoners decently, and conducting fair trials. And the UK government and courts have demonstrated that the rule of law still prevails here, even when dealing with very unpopular and threatening individuals. Pleasing outcome, really. There is zero chance of AQ coming to the UK again.
Actually quite the opposite, very confusingly he has publicly condemned IS. To say that was a surprise doesn't even start to cover it..... I'm glad he is not in the UK any more, but you have to wonder if things were safer with him under lock and key in the UK as opposed to wandering free in the Middle East.
