Qatada appeal rejected

Judges at the EuropeanCourt of Human Rights have rejected terror suspect Abu Qatada's appeal against his deportation from the UK to Jordan.

Mr Qatada had lodged an appeal contesting the court's view that he would not face torture in Jordan, but the panel of five Strasbourg judges said the case could not be referred to the Grand Chamber.

Theresa May has insisted that the deadline for an appeal had already passed when Qatada’s legal team lodged the appeal, but since then many have claimed the Home Office got the date wrong.

Today's decision is a victory for the Government's deportation strategy, although in a blow to Ms May she was found to have got the date of the appeal deadline wrong.

In a statement, the court said Abu Qatada's appeal had arrived approximately 45 minutes before the deadline on Tuesday 17 April."The Panel found that the request had been submitted within the three month time-limit for such requests," said the court. "However, it considered that the request should be refused.

Reacting to the news, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman said: "We are obviously very pleased with the decision. It means that the case will now be heard in a British court."

In response to the ruling that the Home Office got the deadline date wrong, the Government "had consistent legal advice" on the date.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles told the BBC: "We clearly felt that we had an arguable case. But I think the really important thing is that Mr Qatada will be leaving this country, to go to Jordan, something that the previous Government and this Government is very keen to see."

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper welcomed the decision, but accused the Home Secretary of getting the deadline "catastrophically wrong".

"The Home Secretary’s mistake allowed Qatada to appeal in the first place," Ms Cooper said.

"She was adamant that she had got the date right, and instead it appears to be catastrophically wrong. To take risks and make errors on something this important is deeply worrying, I think she should apologise for it and make sure we get it right in the future."

Keith Vaz welcomed the decision of the court, but said the Home Secretary had been proven wrong over the deadline and had questions to answer.

"I'm afraid this is embarrassing for the Government, obviously it’s good that we’ve won the case, but the fact that the Home Secretary went out on a limb, she went round the television studios, she came to the Home Affairs Select Committee and she said that they were outside the deadline – this was proved to be wrong."

Tory MP Dominic Raab welcomed the Courts’ decision to reject Qatada’s appeal, but criticised its failure to publicise the reasons why the appeal had been heard in the first place.

"Certainly if the UK court or any other national court behaved that way, it would be looked at, frowned upon rather gravely by the Strasbourg court, but it doesn’t seem to follow its own proscriptions.”