Ammon News - * The fight to deport Abu Qatada has cost British taxpayers more than £1.7m

LONDON (BBC) - The treaty agreed between Britain and Jordan, which is intended to pave the way for the deportation of Abu Qatada, has become law in the UK.

The treaty will not come into force until other administrative formalities are completed.

The document must also be published in an official newspaper in Jordan and there must be an exchange of diplomatic letters between the two countries.

The treaty could then lead to the deportation of Abu Qatada next week.

The cleric has already indicated he will not challenge deportation if the treaty is passed because the document guarantees him a fair trial.

'On a plane'
The Home Office said: "We welcome the approval of the treaty by both the UK and Jordanian Parliaments. Our focus remains on seeing Qatada on a plane to Jordan at the earliest opportunity."

Britain has been trying to deport Abu Qatada since 2005, and he has been detained and released several times during the legal battle.

The Home Office recently revealed the eight-year legal fight to deport the cleric has cost taxpayers more than £1.7m so far.

Abu Qatada arrived in Britain and claimed asylum in 1993, but became notorious for preaching radical views such as support for the killing of Jews and people who leave Islam.

In 1999, the cleric was convicted of terrorism charges in his absence in Jordan and sentenced to life in prison.

He now faces a retrial on those charges, but his lawyers have said some of the evidence may have come from people who were tortured to make them implicate him.

The European Court of Human Rights and senior British judges had ruled that before Abu Qatada could be deported, Jordan must he would not face a trial that relied on evidence obtained by torturing others.

Abu Qatada is currently in London's Belmarsh Prison after breaching a bail condition in March which restricted the use of mobile phones and other communication devices.