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Home Office officials consider using terror suspect's frozen assets as cost of deportation battle soars past £500,000
Home Office officials are investigating whether more than £217,000 in frozen bank accounts and assets belonging to Abu Qatada could be used to offset the cost of keeping him in Britain, the home secretary Theresa May has said.
Qatada's legal aid bill already exceeds £500,000 as the 52-year-old continues to resist government moves to deport him to Jordan.
May has made strenuous attempts to win sufficient assurances from Amman that evidence obtained under torture would not be used against him. Qatada, whom May has described as a "serious risk to our national security", was convicted of terror offences there in his absence in 1999.
The Home Office appeal against the decision of the special immigration appeals commission last month in Qatada's favour is to be held early next year.
May told the Commons select committee on home affairs she had asked officials to look at the possibility of recovering some of the costs.
The committee chairman, Keith Vaz, said: "Bank accounts that have been frozen and seized assets are worth £217,000. Is there anything we can do to defray against what has been seized?"
May said: "There has been an attempt to defray against what has been seized. This is something we have asked officials to look at."
Qatada remains in the UK on bail conditions including a 16-hour curfew, wearing an electronic tag, not using the internet, and restrictions on where he can go and people he can meet. May said "appropriate measures" were in place to ensure safety and security.
"The support from Jordan continues to be as good as it has been throughout this process. They've been very supportive," she added. "From the Jordanian point of view, they've made changes in the constitution to the use of evidence obtained through torture. They want to show that's had an impact."
Vaz, referring to MI5 papers found in Libya revealing that Qatada had issued a fatwa against UK and US citizens, asked if May had looked closely at possibilities of prosecuting Qatada in the UK. She said she was satisfied that was not possible.
