Jordan delays terror verdict on radical cleric
AMMAN - The judge in the trial of a radical Jordanian cleric accused of a 2000 plot to attack Israelis, Americans and other Westerners has delayed issuing his verdict on Sunday pending further examination of the case.
A decision on the charges against Abu Qatada was expected Sunday, but the judge said it will now be issued September 24.
Abu Qatada, whose real name is Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman, has been described in courts in Britain and Spain as a senior al-Qaeda figure in Europe who had close ties to the late Osama bin Laden.
An Amman court acquitted him in June of charges linked to a foiled 1999 plot to attack an American school there, but reserved judgment on a second set of charges.
