Judges free four terror suspects

HOME Secretary Jacqui Smith today attacked immigration judges after they ordered the release of four foreign terror suspects despite fears that they will go on the run.

The four men, plus a fifth who will stay in detention, are due to be deported as a threat to national security and were arrested overnight because of concern that they might abscond before being sent home.

One of them is a 42-year-old Algerian known as Z who came to Britain in 1992 on a visitor visa and overstayed. He was arrested in London in 1997 on terrorism and fraud charges. Chemicals, catalogues showing military equipment, including night vision goggles, radios and rockets, and bombmaking literature were found in his home. He later admitted leading a London group of the GIA Algerian Islamic extremist organisation, which had links with al Qaeda.

Today, however, judges at the Government's Special Immigration Appeals Commission ordered the men to be freed on bail, prompting an angry response from the Home Secretary.

"I am extremely disappointed that the courts have allowed these individuals to be released," said Ms Smith. "My top priority is to protect the public and I have argued that, given a recent ruling by the House of Lords which was favourable to the Government's efforts to deport people from the UK, there is a risk that these individuals will abscond if they are not detained."

She added: "We are bound by the court's decision. These people already face restrictions under their bail but, naturally, we will take any other steps necessary to maintain national security now that they are being released."

The four men were freed because they the Government failed to prove that they might abscond. They are three Algerians, Z, BB and RB, and a Jordanian known as W. An Algerian called U will remain behind bars.

They were arrested after a landmark legal ruling last week in which the Law Lords backed the Government's bid to deport radical cleric Abu Qatada. Like Qatada, the five argue that they are at risk of torture and unfair trial in their home countries.

BB, U and RB are failed asylum seekers, all of whom have been judged by the British courts to be a threat to national security.

Evidence accepted during earlier hearings revealed that U, who was originally detained at Heathrow trying to board a flight to Saudi Arabia wearing a false beard, had direct links to Osama bin Laden and had held a senior position at a Mujahideen training camp in Afghanistan

Despite their known hostility towards Britain, each of the suspects has argued that they would risk torture or other unfair treatment if returned to their home countries.

The Government has struck a "memorandum of understanding" with Jordan and a similar deal with Algeria under which the two governments have committed to protect the men's human rights if they are returned.

Lawyers for the five men had claimed that these assurances could not be relied upon, but the Law Lords' decision over Abu Qatada, which also covered the cases of RB and U, means that the British courts have now accepted that these agreements can be trusted.

Qatada, who has been described as Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe, and the five others will be deported eventually unless they succeed in a final appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.