Video: Theresa May 'should have acted sooner on Abu Qatada' Ahead of a Commons statement by the Home Secretary on the arrest and possible deportation of Abu Qatada, Ms Cooper said: "If the Home Secretary had acted faster in January, Abu Qatada might not have been released at all." The Government has come under intense criticism for failing to find a way around the ruling of seven judges at the European Court of Human Rights who decided, in January, that the preacher would not receive a fair trial in Jordan because evidence against him may have been obtained using torture. "I hope we will see action now from the Home Secretary both to see Abu Qatada deported but also in the meantime to get him back behind bars where her own security assessment and the courts have suggested he should be," said Ms Cooper.