Radical cleric Abu Qatada freed after second acquittal

AMMAN, Jordan, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Radical cleric Abu Qatada was acquitted Wednesday by a Jordanian court that found him not guilty of plotting to bomb millennium celebrations in Jordan in 2000.

The terrorism charges included accusations the 54-year-old cleric planned to target Israeli, American and other Western tourists at the celebrations in Jordan.

When the verdict of not guilty was read, reporters at the hearing said his relatives chanted "God is great" and Abu Qatada's eyes watered.

Abu Qatada, whose real name is Omar Othman, was extradited to Jordan from Britain in July 2013 after a lengthy legal dispute that began in 2005.

He was acquitted in June of separate charges that he plotted to bomb an American school in 1998.

Now free, Abu Qatada went to his mother's home in Amman on Wednesday. A deportation order will not permit him to return to the U.K., and a U.N. travel ban will remain in effect.