Abu Qatada: a profile of 'Osama Bin Laden's right hand man in Europe'

Abu Qatada has been described as "al Qaida's spiritual leader in Europe", "Osama Bin Laden's right hand man in Europe", "the most significant extremist preacher in the UK" and "a truly dangerous individual".

But since 2001, when fears of the domestic terror threat rose in the aftermath of the World Trade Centre attacks, he has challenged, and ultimately thwarted, every attempt by the Government to detain and deport him.The Jordanian father of five, real name Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman, claimed asylum when he arrived in Britain in September 1993 on a forged passport.He was allowed to stay and preach his extremism, calling on British Muslims to martyr themselves in a holy war on "oppression".A 1995 "fatwa" he issued justified the killing of converts from Islam, their wives and children in Algeria.In October 1999 a sermon in London called for the killing of Jews and praised attacks on Americans.The same year he was convicted in his absence of planning terror attacks in Jordan.Videos of his sermons were found in the Hamburg flat used by some of the September 11 hijackers.He was arrested by anti-terror police in February 2001 and found in possession of £170,000 in cash, including £805 in an envelope marked "For the mujahedin in Chechnya".In the aftermath of the New York attacks he went on the run to avoid being detained without trial or charged under new anti-terror laws...more..http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7459773.stm