Abu Qatada denied bail in Jordan

A military court on Sunday rejected a bail application by Islamist cleric Abu Qatada, who faces terror charges in Jordan following his deportation from Britain, his lawyer said. "The state security court today refused to release Abu Qatada on bail," Taysir Diab said. "The court gave no reason for its decision. I will meet with Abu Qatada on Wednesday to look into the issue and decide future steps," Diab said, without elaborating. Abu Qatada, 53, was charged on July 7 with "conspiracy to carry out terrorist acts," just hours after his deportation from Britain. He pleaded not guilty. The next day, Diab asked the military tribunal to release on bail the Palestinian-born preacher. He is currently in the Muwaqqar prison, a maximum security facility that houses more than 1,000 inmates, most of them Islamists convicted of terror offences. Abu Qatada was condemned to death in absentia in 1999 for conspiracy to carry out terror attacks, including on the American school in Amman. But the sentence was immediately commuted to life imprisonment with hard labour. In 2000, he was sentenced in his absence to 15 years for plotting to attack tourists in Jordan during millennium celebrations. Britain's expulsion of Abu Qatada came after Amman and London last month ratified a treaty guaranteeing that evidence obtained by torture would not be used in his retrial Diab said in he has already been to visit Abu Qatada in Muwaqqar prison. "I visited him twice, the ?first was about 15 minutes and the second was about 30 minutes, as Abu Qatada was very reserved ?with his answers because he I wasn’t allowed – despite good treatment from the prison ?management – to stay alone with my client." "I have already filed a complaint ?to the Jordanian lawyers syndicate about the issue," he added. Diab said Abu Qatada is comfortable with his return to Jordan and he is not being abused or ?harassed whilst in prison, nor is he in a solitary confinement but instead he is staying in a cell block with about 20 other ?prisoners.? According to the lawyer, Abu Qatada had expressed his wish to return to Jordan before any agreement was signed between Jordan and Britain, since he wanted a legal and fair trial and he insisted upon his innocence.? He denied rumours of receiving a telephone call about Abu Qatada from anyone connected to an al-Qaeda organisation. Additional source: AFP