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Home secretary will travel to Jordan, after Home Office minister James Brokenshire flew out this week
Theresa May is to travel to Jordan to continue talks on the possible deportation of Abu Qatada, but there is no sign that the Muslim cleric will be removed from Britain in the near future.
Abu Qatada was released on bail this week following European court of human rights ruling. The home secretary is to seek clearer commitments from the Jordanians that prosecutors will not use evidence obtained by torture in any retrial. He was convicted in 1999 in his absence of conspiracy to carry out bomb attacks
The government believes that if such assurances can be presented to the European court, it would be possible to restart deportation proceedings, which in turn would allow Abu Qatada to be re-detained.
He is under a 22-hour curfew after he was bailed following nearly six years in detention without trial, one of the longest such periods in modern times.
Home Office minister James Brokenshire visited Jordan this week and reported to David Cameron on the progress of talks. The fact that May is willing to travel as well suggests progress is being made. Brokenshire met three senior Jordanian officials to discuss how a trial might be conducted.
May said: "James Brokenshire has led useful discussions with the Jordanian authorities and talks with officials will continue.
"The UK and Jordan remain committed to ensuring that Abu Qatada must face justice and are pursuing all options with regard to his deportation and it is my intention to travel back to continue those negotiations shortly."
It was conceded that even if credible Jordanian assurances were provided and Abu Qatada were re-arrested, there seemed a good likelihood that his lawyers would appeal to the special immigration appeals commission (Siac), and then through the British legal system, opening up another legal quagmire. These hearings in the UK courts could take another year.
It has been stressed by the Home Office that there is no prospect of the UK simply ignoring the European court ruling, and it is seeking an outcome that provides certainty.
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said: "The home secretary still needs to explain why she has not appealed against the European court decision given a month ago and what assurances she has had from Jordan and when she thinks an agreement will be reached.
"The government failed to do everything possible to stop Qatada leaving the high-security prison that their security assessment shows is still needed. They now need to act far more swiftly to make sure he can be taken off the streets and deported."
Putting the cleric on a plane to Jordan without the European court's endorsement would merely lead to his being put back on a plane to London.
If Abu Qatada took his case back through the UK courts, the European court could refuse him an appeal on the grounds that the British and Jordanians had met the terms of its previous ruling.
The court ruled that in two previous trials of Abu Qatada in Jordan, conducted in absentia, the bulk of the evidence used was obtained by torture. The Jordanians have insisted they do not employ torture and have written this undertaking into the country's constitution.
The government has been silent on whether Brokenshire had been told the Jordanians had enough other evidence not obtained by torture to prosecute Abu Qatada on terrorism charges.
The British are anxious to keep details of the negotiations private since the Jordanian government deeply resents suggestions that it does not possess a credible human rights record.
Britain has three months to come up with a fresh legal course or the UK courts have said they may relax the bail conditions on Abu Qatada. The UK could appeal against the European ruling to the court's grand chamber, but this is a hazardous course since the issue would be examined by fresh judges looking at the entire case again.
Britain had thought it had sealed Abu Qatada's deportation by signing a memorandum of understanding in 2005 with the Jordanians that committed both sides to monitor the treatment of any prisoners deported from the UK, alongside independent oversight. Ministers believed this satisfied article 3 of the European Convention regarding the right to freedom from torture or degrading treatment.
But Britain feels that the European court in Strasbourg moved the goalposts by ruling that his deportation could be blocked on the basis that article 6 requires that fair trials cannot be based on evidence extracted from witnesses by torture.
In 2008, Abu Qatada's deportation was blocked by the court of appeal which had grave doubts about whether his human rights would be protected in Jordan. This decision was overturned by the law lords the following year, at which pointhe appealed to the European court of human rights.
The UK has no cause to try him since he has not been charged with any offence in this country. Theresa May is to travel to Jordan very soon to continue talks with the Jordanian government on the possible deportation of Abu Qatada, but there is no sign that the Muslim cleric will be removed from the UK in the near future.
Abu Qatada