The ECtHR judgment overturned the 2009
House of Lords judgment
RB (Algeria) v Secretary of State for the Home Department. This case involved deportation;
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; Jordan; memorandums of understanding; retrials; right to fair trial; right to liberty and security; and torture. Othman, aka Qatada, was born in Jordan and came to the United Kingdom in September 1993. He made an application for asylum and was recognised as a refugee on 30 June 1994 and granted leave to remain to 30 June 1998. On 8 May 1998 he applied for
indefinite leave to remain. In April 1999, he was convicted in absentia in Jordan of conspiracy to cause explosions, in a trial known as the "reform and challenge" case, and in the autumn of 2000 he was again tried in absentia in a case known as the "millennium conspiracy". In both cases, Qatada maintains that the only evidence against him comes from testimonies from co-defendants who had been tortured while in custody. On 23 October 2002 he was arrested and detained under the
Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001. This Act was repealed in March 2005 and the applicant was released on bail and subjected to a
control order. On 11 August 2005, while his appeal against that control order was pending, the Secretary of State served the applicant with a notice of intention to deport. Qatada was eventually set to be deported from the UK to face retrial in Jordan after a
memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two countries that evidence obtained by torture would be discarded. The ECtHR found that the deportation of Qatada would not be in violation of Article 3 on prohibition of torture (by itself or in conjunction with Article 13) nor of Article 5 on the right to liberty and security. However, it found that deportation to Jordan would be in violation of Article 6 (right to a fair trial) since there was a real risk that Othman would be retried on "evidence obtained by torture of third persons". ==Aftermath==