Abu Qatada al-Filistini: what Wikipedia removed
A Jordanian Salafi cleric convicted in absentia in Jordan of planning terror plots, who long fought deportation from the United Kingdom. The 2010 opening stated flatly that he “is an Islamist militant.” The word survives twice in the article today but is gone from the opening, which now says he “was accused of having links to terrorist organisations.” A reader today learns he is accused of links to terrorism, and not that Wikipedia once identified him outright as a militant.
The word “militant” appeared 1 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2010. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 2. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.
The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot
Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”| word | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 6 October 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| militant | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| terror | 1 | 7 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| islamist | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.
What was taken out
Section titled “What was taken out”- The flat identification of him as an Islamist militant is gone from the opening.
- This exact sentence introducing his legal name is gone, though the current opening leads with that name.
- The list of countries wanting him on terrorism charges, including Algeria and the United States, is gone from the opening.
How it opened then, and now
Section titled “How it opened then, and now”2010 (revision 354785582):
Abû-Qatâda al-Filisṭînî ( Template:Lang-ar ), sometimes called Abû-Omar ( ابو عمر ) is an Islamist militant. Under the name Omar Mahmoud Othman ( عمر محمود عثمان ), he is under worldwide embargo by the United Nations Security Council Committee 1267 for his affiliation with al-Qaeda . He is wanted on terrorism charges in Algeria , the United States , Belgium , Spain , France , Germany , Italy , and his native Jordan . ^ “UN list of affiliates of al-Qaeda and the Taliban” . Un.org . Retrieved 8 April 2010 . ^ Statement from the Algerian government to the UN 1267 Committee , English translation by Nuclear Threat Initiative ^ Britain’s most wanted (meaning Abu Qatada, who was missing at the time…
2025 (revision 1288935343):
Islamic cleric, alleged al-Qaeda member (born 1959) For other uses, see Qatada . Omar Mahmoud Othman ( Arabic : عمر بن محمود بن عثمان , romanized : ‘Umar ibn Maḥmūd ibn ‘Uṯmān ; born 30 December 1960), better known as Abu Qatada al-Filistini ( / ˈ ɑː b uː k ə ˈ t ɑː d ə / AH -boo kə- TAH -də ; Arabic : أبو قتادة الفلسطيني , romanized : ‘Abū Qatāda al-Filisṭīnī ) , is a Jordanian Salafi cleric. Abu Qatada was accused of having links to terrorist organisations and frequently imprisoned in the United Kingdom without formal charges or prosecution before being deported to Jordan, where he was acquitted of multiple terrorism charges. Abu Qatada claimed asylum in the United Kingdom in 1993 on a for…
Related
Section titled “Related”- The drift report: what changed across all 61,944 watched articles
- The case file for this article, with every snapshot and every marked removal
- Who made the cuts: removals grouped by the account that made them
- The live article on Wikipedia
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