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UK frees Al Qaida suspect under tight conditions

A Jordanian who defeated a British government attempt to deport him as a "significant international terrorist" was freed from prison on bail on Tuesday but confined to his home for 22 hours a day.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 00:21 June 18, 2008
  • Gulf News

London: A Jordanian who defeated a British government attempt to deport him as a "significant international terrorist" was freed from prison on bail on Tuesday but confined to his home for 22 hours a day.

Omar Othman, known as Abu Qatada, was among the highest profile terrorism suspects in a British jail.

A special tribunal dealing with foreign terrorism suspects published a seven-page document setting stringent conditions for his release.

He is forbidden from using any mobile telephone or computer, or connecting in any way to the Internet, and may leave home only between 10 and 11 a.m. and 2 and 3 p.m.

The document sets out a list of individuals that he may not contact or receive visits from - headed by Al Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden and his number two, Ayman Al Zawahri.

Othman won a legal battle against being deported to Jordan when the Court of Appeal ruled in April he would not face a fair trial at home.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she was disappointed that he had been given bail and planned to appeal to reverse the decision to bar his deportation.

The ruling was a setback to Britain's efforts to expel suspected Islamist militants it sees as a threat to national security, but against whom it lacks sufficient evidence to mount a prosecution.

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