As sensationalist tabloid headlines lambast Britain’s Home Secretary Theresa May for her failure to get Abu Qatada, the country’s number one terrorist suspect, deported, relatively little attention has been paid to how counter-terror policy undermines the rule of law. Abu Qatada, a Jordanian national, was arrested and held in October 2002 under The Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, which allowed the indefinite detention without trial of international terrorist suspects. Ten years later, he has yet to face an open trial.
He is accused of fundraising on behalf of terrorist organizations and making public statements in support of their violent activities. In Jordan he has been tried in absentia and found guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions.
