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Abu Qatada al-Filistini (Arabic: أبو قتادة الفلسطيني), sometimes called Abu Omar (ابو عمر) is a takfiri Muslim who has been accused of terrorist activities by a number of governments^[1]. Under the name Omar Mahmoud Othman (عمر محمود عثمان), he is under worldwide embargo by the United Nations Security Council Committee 1267^[2] for his affiliation with al-Qaeda. He is wanted on terrorism charges in Algeria^[3], the United States, Belgium, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, and his native Jordan^[4].

After the liberation of Kuwait from Iraq (which Abu Qatada opposed) he was expelled from Kuwait to Jordan. From there he travelled to the UK in 1993 on a forged UAE passport, and requested asylum on grounds of religious persecution. He was granted asylum the following year. He has been in British custody since his most recent arrest, in August of 2005, shortly after the London transit bombings. A British court ruled on February 26, 2007 that he may be deported to Jordan^[5]. Appeals are pending.

Abu Qatada is a Jordanian national, having been born in Bethlehem in 1960^[6], at which time the West Bank was part of Jordan. Al-Filistini means the Palestinian.

One of Qatada's books, Islamic Movements and Contemporary Alliances, which is widely cited by Sunni terrorists^{[citation needed]}, argues essentially for no affiliation whatsoever between Muslim and non-Muslim countries.

Dozens of writings and a few audio recordings of Abu Qatada are stored on the Tawhed website, which is al-Qaeda's online library, run by the organization of Abu Qatada's fellow Jordanian Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi (who is the chief cleric of al-Qaeda in Iraq^{[citation needed]}).

He wrote regularly for the al-Ansar magazine in the early 90s which was the official mouthpiece of the GIA.^[7] His writings and speeches have been critical assessed by a contemporary Muslim scholar Shaykh Abdul-Malik ar-Ramadani al-Jaza'iri in his book Takhlis al-Ibaad min Wahshiyyat Abi'l-Qataad [Liberating the Servants from the Father of Thorns], Jeddah: Makatabah al-Asaalah al-Athariyyah, 1422 AH, The Savage Barbarism of Abu Qatada

Abu Qatada has been described by Jamal al-Fadl, in his testimony in the Southern District Court of New York on February 6, 2001, as a member of al-Qaeda’s "Fatwa Committee". According to the indictment of the Madrid al-Qaeda cell, Abu Qatada was the spiritual leader of al-Qaeda in Europe, and the spiritual leader of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), and the Tunisian Combat Group.^[8] (One of Abu Qatada's Tunisian admirers is Sami Essid.)^{[citation needed]}

The Middle East Media Research Institute claimed that, in 1997, Abu Qatada called upon Muslims to kill the wives and children of Egyptian police and army officers.^[9]

While free in the UK Abu Qatada was the editor-in-chief of GIA's Al-Ansar magazine, and contributed fatwas to that magazine authorizing the indiscriminate mass murder of random Algerians. (Mustafa Setmariam Nasar was an editor and contributor at the same time, when he too was in England with political refugee status.)^{[citation needed]}

Abu Qatada is reported by the British press^[10][11] to have been a preacher or advisor to al-Qaeda terrorists Zacarias Moussaoui and Richard Reid.

When questioned in the UK in February 2001, Abu Qatada was in possession of £170,000 cash, including £805 in an envelope labelled "For the Mujahedin in Chechnya". He was not charged.^[10]

Abu Qatada has been affiliated with Mohammed Omran, who heads the fundamentalist Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jemaah organization in Melbourne.^{[citation needed]}

Nineteen audio cassettes of Abu Qatada's sermons were found in the apartment of Mohamed Atta when it was searched after the September 11, 2001 attacks, which he led^[12].

In early 2004, an immigration appeals committee, convened to decide whether Abu Qatada should be allowed at large at that time, ruled in part, "The appellant was heavily involved, indeed was at the centre in the United Kingdom of terrorist activities associated with al-Qaeda" and remarked also on "his passionate exposition of jihad and the spread of Islam to take over the world."^[13] But soon thereafter, the Law Lords struck down the basis on which he was being held, and he was again released.^[14]

Jordan sentenced Abu Qatada in absentia in 2000 to life imprisonment^[6] for his involvement in a plot to bomb tourists who would be in Jordan to attend the Millennium celebrations.

BBC journalist Alan Johnston was kidnapped, in Gaza by Muslim extremists on March 13, 2007.^[15][16][17] Johnston's captors demanded the release of dozens of captives, including Abu Qatada.

Abu Qatada offered to help negotiate Johnston's release.^[15][16][17]