AMMAN: Radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada told a Jordanian court yesterday he was not guilty of terrorism charges and he challenged its authority to try him under the terms of his deportation from Britain.
Appearing in court in brown prison fatigues, Abu Qatada said the presence of a military judge in the panel of three violated the agreement under which he was flown back to Jordan in July after many years of legal battles in Britain.
The Islamist cleric had already been sentenced in absentia by a Jordanian court to life imprisonment for conspiracy to carry out Al Qaeda-style attacks against US and other targets inside Jordan.
He is now being retried, with the prosecution arguing he was a mentor to jihadist cells in Jordan while he was in Britain, providing both spiritual and material support to a campaign of violence during the late 1990s inside Jordan, whose pro-Western policies made it an Al Qaeda target.
“I have been prevented from defending myself for a long period, and God knows that I am innocent,” said Abu Qatada, saying that the charges against him were fabricated.
“There has been a betrayal of the agreement under which I have come. There is now a military judge...I have come to be tried by civilian judges.” “This court is a betrayal of the agreement and I don’t recognise it,” said Abu Qatada, whose real name is Mahmoud Othman.REUTERS
