Qatada to be banned from school run (From Craven Herald)

Qatada to be banned from school run

9:31am Monday 13th February 2012 in National News © Press Association 2011

A radical cleric described as Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe will be banned from taking his youngest child to school when he is released from prison, sources said.

Abu Qatada, who will be released from a maximum security prison this week while he fights deportation to Jordan, will not be allowed out of his home during school opening and closing times.

Under the terms of his release, Qatada, who Home Secretary Theresa May has said poses a real threat to the UK's national security, must obey a 22-hour curfew and will be kept in during the school run, sources said.

In a small victory for the Home Secretary, the two hours a day in which Qatada will be allowed outside his London home within a prescribed area will not coincide with school opening and closing times.

It is understood the details were agreed by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac), which ruled that the cleric should be released, on Friday.

Qatada, 51, must also wear an electronic tag, is banned from using the internet and telephone, and any visitors to his home apart from his wife and children must be vetted beforehand by the security services. The conditions are some of the toughest imposed since the September 11 terror attacks.

Last week, David Cameron and King Abdullah of Jordan agreed on the "importance of finding an effective resolution" to his case. The Prime Minister told King Abdullah of the "frustrating and difficult" position Britain was in over its efforts to deport the Islamist radical.

The cleric has been held for six-and-a-half years, more than any other detainee in modern immigration history, while fighting deportation. However he will be released from Long Lartin jail in Evesham, Worcestershire, after applying for bail when human rights judges in Europe ruled he could not be deported without assurances from Jordan that evidence gained through torture would not be used against him.

Downing Street said that the Government was considering "all the options" for removing Qatada "at the earliest opportunity". "We will take all measures necessary to protect the public," Prime Minister David Cameron's official spokesman said. "We are committed to removing him from the country. We want to see him deported and we are looking at all the options for doing that. I'm not going to go into specifics."

However, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said it was "clear the Government has not done all it can to stop Abu Qatada being released from high-security prison". She added: "As soon as the European Court judgment was delivered a month ago now, the Government could have appealed the decision and begun urgent negotiations with the Jordanian government. Instead the Government did nothing, leaving a judge to decide there was little progress being made in deporting Qatada and that bail was the only option."