Al-Qaida Warns UK Not to Deport Radical Cleric Al-Qaida has threatened Britain against deporting a radical Islamist preacher considered a leading figure in the terror network. An al-Qaida statement posted on a militant website Tuesday says Abu Qatada's expulsion would open a "door to evil" that will harm British subjects everywhere in the world. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in January that Palestinian-Jordanian Abu Qatada cannot be sent back to Jordan because of a risk that evidence obtained through torture would be used against him if he is put on trial there. He was freed from a British jail last month on strict bail conditions, which expire in three months, making British officials eager to find a solution. Al-Qaida denied Abu Qatada is linked to it but says the group defends him as a Muslim.