[JURIST] Radical Islamic preacher Abu Qatada [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] was cleared Wednesday of terrorism offenses by a court in Jordan, and was released from prison. The court found insufficient evidence to convict the 53-year-old cleric of helping to plan a thwarted terrorist plot against tourists and diplomats during Jordan’s 2000 New Year celebration. Qatada was accused of writing to the men who planned this series of attacks, providing them with spiritual support. He was deported from the UK in order to face trial in Jordan, in compliance with a treaty [text, PDF] signed by both Jordan and the UK in April 2013. In June a three-man civilian panel in Jordan declared the radical preacher not guilty of terrorism offenses [JURIST report] relating to an alleged plot in 1998 on the American school in Amman. Qatada has remained imprisoned in Jordan awaiting a verdict for the attempted 2000 attacks. When the verdict was read aloud in court on Wednesday, Qatada’s supporters erupted in applause. British authorities have already indicated that Qatada will not be allowed back in the UK [The Guardian report].

Qatada, previously described as “Osama Bin Laden’s right hand man in Europe,” was held in the UK [JURIST report] for more than a decade since he was arrested in 2002 under the Anti-terrorism, Crime, and Security Act 2001 [Guardian UK backgrounder]. Qatada was sentenced [Reuters report] in absentia to life in prison by a Jordanian court before his deportation, but when he returned to Jordan at the end of 2013 he pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to terrorism charges. Wednesday’s ruling marked the last of two challenges to overturn this conviction in his home country of Jordan. Both Jordan and the UK [JURIST reports] denied bail to Qatada, and the judicial proceedings surrounding his imprisonment and convictions garnered significant international attention, as the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] in 2009 ordered [JURIST report] the UK to pay £2,500 in damages to Qatada after determining that he was imprisoned by the UK in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights [text].