Jordan court clears Abu Qatada of bomb plot charges, orders his release

(CNN) -- A court in Jordan acquitted radical preacher Abu Qatada of charges of plotting to bomb millennium celebrations in Jordan in 2000, semi-state owned newspaper Addustour reported Wednesday.

The court ordered his immediate release if no other cases are raised against him.

Qatada, whose real name is Omar Othman, was cleared in July of charges of conspiracy to bomb a US school in Jordan in the late 1990s, state media reported.

The cleric was deported from the United Kingdom last year, ending a years-long legal battle to force him to leave the country.

A Jordanian national, he was wanted in his home country, where he had been convicted in absentia on two charges of conspiracy to cause explosions.

Britain had been trying to deport him since 2001, but his legal appeals kept him there until last year.