AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - Jordan says it will contest a European ban prohibiting Britain from extraditing to the kingdom a radical Islamist cleric alleged to have close ties to al-Qaida.
The official Petra news agency on Friday quoted government spokesman Rakan al-Majali as saying Jordan will challenge the European Court of Human Rights decision that Britain cannot deport the 51-year-old Abu Qatada.
The court said there was a risk evidence obtained through torture would be used against him in a Jordanian court.
Majali says Jordan will pledge to offer every guarantee of a fair trial for Abu Qatada, a Jordanian national whose real name is Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman.
He is wanted in Jordan in connection to two 1998 attacks in the kingdom.
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