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 Appearing in court in brown prison fatigues, Abu Qatada said the
presence of a military judge in the panel of three judges violated
the agreement under which he was flown back to Jordan in July after
many years of legal battles in Britain.
While in Britain he was convicted and sentenced in absentia by a
Jordanian court to life imprisonment for conspiring to carry out
terrorist attacks against U.S. and other targets inside Jordan. He
is now being retried on those charges.
"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 — this is the first betrayal by you. I
have come to be tried by civilian judges," said the Islamist cleric,
whose real name is Mahmoud Othman.
"This court is a betrayal of the agreement and I don't recognize
it," he said.
His lawyer Ghazi Thuneibat called for Abu Qatada's release, saying
his client's rights had been violated by the presence of a military
judge. But prosecutor Fawaz al-Atoum said Jordan's state security
court law allowed for military tribunals in cases of terrorism.
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Linked by a Spanish judge to the late al Qaeda leader Osama Bin
Laden, Abu Qatada was in and out of jail in Britain since first
being arrested in 2001. He was sent back to prison last March for
breaching his bail conditions.
His return was made possible by an extradition treaty adopted by
Jordan and Britain that satisfied the concerns of British judges
about the use of evidence obtained through torture.
Sermons of the heavily bearded Abu Qatada were found in a Hamburg
flat used by some of those who carried out the September 11, 2001,
attacks on the United States.
(Reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi; writing by Dominic Evans;
editing
by Angus MacSwan)
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