Abu Qatada, the radical cleric who is being tried in Jordan on terror charges, on Sunday denounced the beheading of American journalists by jihadists of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil), calling the group a "killing machine".
Abu Qatada was once described by a Spanish judge as the right-hand man in Europe of Osama bin Laden.
He was deported from Britain to Jordan in July 2013, after a 10-year legal battle, to face two separate trials.
In June he was acquitted of plotting a 1999 attack on the American school in Amman but is still being tried on another terror charge of conspiring to attack tourists in Jordan during millennium celebrations.
Speaking to reporters from the dock at a Amman courthouse Sunday, Abu Qatada - a supporter of the rival al-Nusra Front - repeated his condemnation of Isil that controls swathes of territory in Iraq and neighbouring Syria.
Asked about the beheading claimed by IS of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, he said: "Journalists should not be killed because they are messengers of the truth."
He lambasted Isil, branding it "a killing and demolition machine" and likened its fighters to "dogs of hellfire".
Nevertheless Abu Qatada said he opposed plans by the United States to set up an international coalition to destroy the jihadist group, saying: "I am against any coalition opposed to any Muslim."
The court, meanwhile, postponed his trial to September 24.
Read more:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/jordan/11080863/Abu-Qatada-Jordan-Isil-Islamic-State-Al-Nusra-Front.html
