LONDON, April 18 (UPI) -- Investigators are trying to determine if the radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada can be prosecuted in Britain, Home Secretary Theresa May said Thursday.
May told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee that Qatada, who is fighting extradition to Jordan, is back in the high-security Belmarsh Prison for violating bail conditions, The Daily Telegraph reported. She said police found communications equipment he is banned from possessing at his home.
Investigators are now looking through evidence seized from the home to determine if he has made statements that violated the law, she said. Because the material is in several languages, the process is a lengthy one.
Qatada, a Palestinian who holds Jordanian citizenship and has alleged ties to al-Qaida, has been in Britain for 20 years, seeking asylum on the grounds of religious persecution. He was first arrested in 2001.
The European Court of Human Rights banned Britain from sending him to Jordan on the grounds that courts there would use evidence obtained through torture.
