A court in Jordan acquitted radical preacher Abu Qatada of charges
of plotting to bomb millennium celebrations in Jordan in 2000,
semi-state owned newspaper Addustour reported Wednesday.
The court ordered his immediate release if no other cases are raised against him, the newspaper said.
Qatada, whose real name
is Omar Othman, was cleared in July of charges of conspiracy to bomb a
U.S. school in Jordan in the late 1990s, state media reported.
The cleric was deported from the United Kingdom last year, ending a years-long legal battle to force him to leave the country.
A Jordanian national, he
was wanted in his home country, where he had been convicted in absentia
on two charges of conspiracy to cause explosions.
Britain had been trying to deport him since 2001, but his legal appeals kept him there until last year.
In January 2012, the
European Court of Human Rights blocked Britain from sending him to
Jordan over fears that evidence obtained by torture could be used
against him at trial.
British authorities said
he raised funds for terrorist groups, including organizations linked to
al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and publicly supported militants'
violent activities.
Videos of his preaching
were found in a German apartment used by some of those involved in the
9/11 attacks on the United States, including ringleader Mohammed Atta.
Abu Qatada had denied the allegations against him.
He arrived in the UK in
1993 and applied for asylum on the grounds that he had been tortured by
Jordanian authorities. He came to Britain on a forged United Arab
Emirates passport, according to court documents, and claimed asylum for
himself, his wife and their three children.
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