However, proceedings have been put back due to arguments over legal aid and a full hearing will not start until January - 21 months after Hamza launched his appeal.

In a tense hearing over legal matters, judge Mr Justice Ouseley said the delays were "particularly regrettable". Hamza and his lawyer, Mudassar Arani, who were not present at the hearing, applied for legal aid, which was approved by the Legal Services Commission last week.

The Treasury must now consider the granting of aid, and if agreed, it will then go to the UN Sanctions Committee for final approval. The full hearing will then start on 10 January and is expected to last up to two weeks.

Meanwhile, new controversy surrounds Hamza today with the publication of secret tapes calling for suicide bombers to launch a holy war in Britain.

In a series of recordings sent to his most dedicated followers, Hamza encourages bombers to become martyrs "on your own doorstep".

The tapes were obtained by investigative author Neil Doyle and form the basis of his book Terror Tracker.

Though Mr Blunkett considers the cleric to be a serious threat to national security, police have never had enough evidence to support his deportation.

His publ ic speeche s, delivered every Friday outside Finsbury Park mosque, are worded carefully to avoid committing a criminal offence by calling for direct terrorist acts. The tapes, however, which are sent to people who have attended meetings or contacted Hamza via the internet, are uncensored.

Recorded between 2000 and 2002, they use a number of Islamic phrases such as shaheed (meaning martyr) and jihad. One message says: "Our immediate duty now is to correct our own homeland. You don't have to travel thousands of miles to become a shaheed - you can be shaheed right on your own doorstep. This is the best jihad."

Hamza calls for all Israelis aged over 15 to be killed and accuses George Bush and Tony Blair of killing millions of children.

He mocks the September 11 attacks and says Islam must strive for world domination. He also boasts he does not have papers to be in Britain, and says that followers should forge passports. Labour

MP Andrew Dismore, who has campaigned for Hamza to be deported, said: "These tapes... show he is a racist, anti-semitic and a supporter of terrorism."

Hamza came to Britain as a student and obtained UK citizenship when he married a British woman he has since divorced. He was a resident preacher at Finsbury Park mosque until it was shut down after a police raid in January last year.