A Jordanian court acquitted radical cleric Abu Qatada of terrorism charges on Wednesday and ordered the release of the Palestinian-born preacher, who was deported from Britain last year after a long legal battle.
Abu Qatada was found not guilty of conspiring to attack tourists in Jordan during millennium celebrations and granted “immediate release”, a judicial source told AFP.
The source said the court found there was insufficient evidence to convict Abu Qatada, who had pleaded not guilty.
Abu Qatada broke into tears in court following the verdict, while members of his family applauded and shouted Allahu Akbar (God is Greater).
His lawyer, Hussein Mubadeen, called the verdict “a success for Jordanian justice”.
Britain’s Interior Ministry said there was no chance of Abu Qatada returning to the United Kingdom.
“It is right that the due process of law has taken place in Jordan. The UK courts agreed that Abu Qatada posed a threat to national security in the UK, so we are pleased that we were able to remove him,” a Ministry spokesman said.
“Abu Qatada remains subject to a deportation order and a United Nations travel ban. He is not coming back to the UK.”
Abu Qatada — once described as the right-hand man in Europe of late Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin laden — was deported from Britain to Jordan in July 2013 after a 10-year legal fight.
He faced two retrials after he was convicted in his absence on the charges in 1999 and 2000 and sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment.
In the first retrial in June he was acquitted of plotting a 1999 attack on the American school in Amman.