Britain 'sheltering al-Qaeda leader'

A senior al-Qaeda leader and his family are reportedly
being looked after by British intelligence in a safe
house in northern England.

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_2115000/2115371.stm

Abu Qatada is accused by the United States, Spain,
France and Algeria of being a key influence in the 11
September attacks on the US.

Mr Qatada faces a death sentence in Jordan after being
convicted in his absence of funding a bombing
campaign, and is said by US and Spanish investigators
to be Osama Bin Laden's ambassador in Europe.

He disappeared in mid-December after British
authorities confiscated his passport, froze his assets
and ordered him confined to his home in Acton, west
London.

In April the Sunday Times said Mr Qatada had turned
"supergrass" for MI5 - a theory fuelled by the arrests of
several Muslim extremists in Germany who had met
him.

Now senior European
intelligence officials have
reportedly told Time
Magazine that Mr Qatada
and his family are being
lodged, fed and clothed by
British intelligence services.

"The deal is that Abu Qatada
is deprived of contact with
extremists in London and
Europe but can't be arrested
or expelled because no one
officially knows where he is," says the source, whose
claims were corroborated by French authorities according
to the magazine.

"The British win because the last thing they want is a
hot potato they can't extradite for fear of al-Qaeda
reprisals but whose presence contradicts London's
support of the war on terror."

Asylum seeker

British security services officials declined to comment to
Time.

And a Home Office spokesman told BBC News Online:
"We never comment on the activities of the security
services."

Mr Qatada, a
Jordanian-born Palestinian,
was granted asylum in
Britain in 1994 after
claiming he was fleeing
persecution for his
religious beliefs.

Also known as Sheikh
Omar Abu Omar and Omar
Mohammed Othman, he
appeared on the United
Nations' list of suspected
Islamic terrorists issued
after 11 September.

'Spiritual head'

Baltasar Garzon, a Spanish
National High Court judge
charged with leading Spain's al-Qaeda crackdown, called
the Muslim cleric the "spiritual head of the mujahideen
in Britain".

Judge Garzon, who questioned al-Qaeda suspects in
Madrid last year, said Mr Qatada was the most
important British contact of Spain-based terror suspect
Abu Dahdah.

Dahdah, whose real name is Imad Eddin Barakat
Yarbas, was one of eight suspected members of a
group charged with preparing and carrying out the 11
September attacks.

Judge Garzon added that Mr Qatada had links with
terror suspects in Germany, France, Italy, Belgium,
Britain and Spain.

Following the judge's comments, Mr Qatada told BBC
Radio 4's Today programme Bin Laden "had a point" in
his desire to rid his home country, Saudi Arabia, of any
American influence.

"I believe in Jihad," he said.

"And I believe in the necessity of liberating our nation
and freeing it from bondage."