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Qatada 'key bin Laden contact'Cleric subject of anti-terror attention since September 11
 One of those held is al Qaeda "spiritual ambassador" Abu Qatada, British media reports say. RELATEDSPECIAL REPORT
QUICKVOTEYOUR E-MAIL ALERTSLONDON, England (CNN) -- Abu Qatada, believed to be among those detained by British authorities, was once described by a Spanish judge as being the "spiritual leader" of Osama bin Laden's group in Europe. In 2001 Judge Baltasar Garzon accused the Muslim cleric of being a "key contact" of the al Qaeda leader and of having links to those behind the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York. Qatada, 44, has been in Britain since 1993, arriving as a political refugee after fleeing Jordan, where he was later convicted in absentia and sentenced to death for explosions terrorist plots. Some reports at the time said the sentence was life. Described in media reports as both a Palestinian and a Syrian national, Qatada also uses the aliases of Omar Mohammed Othman and Omar Abu Omar. He was first arrested by anti-terror police in Britain in February 2001 but was later released without charge. However, the father of five's benefits payments were stopped after anti-terrorist officials found he had assets totaling £180,000 ($307,000). In December 2001 he disappeared from his home and in July 2002 Qatada and his family were reported by Time magazine as being held by British intelligence in a safe house in northern England. He spent three years in a high security British prison without being charged, under anti-terrorism powers introduced after the September 11 attacks, the UK's Press Association reported. He was released in March this year after Britain's highest court ruled the legislation breached the European Convention on Human Rights, media reports said. The British government wants new powers to impose control orders on suspects without trial -- including restrictions on using the Internet or telephone, curfews, house arrest and electronic tagging. Qatada has repeatedly denied having links to any terror organization. In a November 2001 interview with CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour Qatada said: "I belong to no organization, neither al Qaeda nor any other organization," he said. "But being a scholar and teaching people about religion, there is nothing to stop anyone who belongs to al Qaeda or any other organization to listen to me, ask my opinion or learn from me. This is a normal relationship within Muslim communities." The UK government has long described him as one of the two most influential al Qaeda-linked radical clerics in Britain. In court papers, Britain has said Qatada is a "truly dangerous individual ... at the center in the United Kingdom of terrorist activities associated with al Qaeda." In November 2001, Spanish authorities arrested eight men in connection with the September 11 attacks on New York, and listed Qatada in official documents as having met with one of those arrested at least 20 times in Britain before the attacks. Jordan signed a deal with Britain on Wednesday that enables British courts to deport Jordanians who incite or condone acts of terrorism in preaching or writing. (Full story) British authorities say 18 videotapes of his sermons were found in an apartment in Germany used by three of the hijackers who carried out the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001. 
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