Radical Islamist cleric rebuffed by 2 judges in bid for release in UK as he fights deportation

LONDON - Two judges on Tuesday rejected the latest bid by radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada to be freed from detention in Britain, which has been trying to deport him for years.

Lord Justice Anthony Hughes said he and Judge Stephen Silber were "quite satisfied" that the cleric's bid should be rejected. Lawyers for Abu Qatada said they would seek to appeal.

The U.K. has been trying for more than a decade to deport Abu Qatada, a Palestinian-Jordanian preacher described in both Spanish and British courts as a leading al-Qaida figure in Europe and a threat to national security.

Both the British and Jordanian governments want Abu Qatada to stand trial on terror charges in Jordan, but he claims he will be tortured if he is deported there. Over the years, the cleric, who is also known as Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman, has been detained in various ways, including being placed under house arrest. He is currently being held in a high-security prison. (...)