Abu Qatada can be deported, says Theresa May Terror suspect Abu Qatada can be deported to Jordan after the Government received the assurances it needed to ensure his deportation was lawful, Home Secretary Theresa May said today. Mrs May said the radical cleric "deserves to face justice" in Jordan but warned that successive governments have been trying to deport him for 10 years and it may still take some time before he can be put on a plane. But Mrs May said: "We now have the material we need to satisfy the courts and continue with deportation." Mrs May warned any appeal by Qatada could take "many months," but added it would have to be based on "narrow grounds" and the Government has confidence in its "eventual success." "We can soon put Qatada on a plane and get him out of our country for good," she said. As Mrs May was delivering her statement to MPs, Qatada, who was arrested at his London home by UK Border Agency officials this morning, was appearing at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission in central London. Europe's human rights judges have ruled that Qatada cannot be deported to Jordan without assurances that evidence gained through torture will not be used in his terror trial. Lawyers for the Home Secretary will need to convince the commission that it has secured the assurances before Qatada can be deported. The earliest he could be deported is April 30, it is understood. But Qatada's legal team could still appeal, possibly even taking the case back to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) before he could be put on a plane in a process which could take months. He was released from Long Lartin high-security jail in Evesham, Worcestershire, on February 13 after applying for bail following the ECHR ruling. Qatada, also known as Omar Othman, was convicted in his absence in Jordan of involvement with terror attacks in 1998 and now faces a retrial in his home country. He has also featured in hate sermons found on videos in the flat of one of the September 11 bombers. Mrs May said: "Deportation may still take time. The proper process must be followed and the rule of law must take precedence. But today Qatada has been arrested and the deportation is under way. Mrs May said she and David Cameron had had talks with King Abdullah of Jordan and his officials to secure the assurances required by the courts. "The result is that we now have the material we need to satisfy the courts and to resume deportation," she said. The state security court is not a quasi-military court as the judges in Strasbourg suggested, she said, but a key part of the Jordanian justice system which hears a wide range of cases. Qatada's case "will be heard in public with civilian judges" and "his conviction in absentia will be quashed immediately" upon his return to Jordan, she added. Mrs May told MPs Qatada would be held in a "normal civilian detention centre" with access to independent defence lawyers. His co-accused will be able to give evidence against him, but "what they say in court will have no effect upon the pardons they have been granted," Mrs May said. We can therefore have confidence that they would give truthful testimony. The Home Secretary also pointed to a change in the Jordanian constitution last autumn "that includes a specific ban on the use of torture evidence." She went on: "I believe continuing with the deportation of Qatada on the basis of these facts will provide us with the quickest route to remove this man from our country." Earlier, Mrs May was cheered in the Commons as she told MPs Qatada had been arrested.