Terror suspect with 'direct links' to Bin Laden released on bail in Britain as deportation bid fails

A major international terror suspect with 'direct links' to Osama bin Laden has been freed on bail from a British high-security prison, officials have revealed.

The Algerian citizen, said to have run terror training camps in Afghanistan and led a group plotting atrocities in Germany and the US, walked free from Long Lartin prison in Worcestershire after seven years in custody awaiting deportation from Britain.

The Home Office last night stressed that 'extremely tough' bail conditions were in place.

The suspect is under 24-hour house arrest, wears an electronic tag and will be unable to contact other extremists, officials said.

Legal restrictions mean the 45-year-old can be referred to only as 'U', and judges have banned any mention of the town where he will live, as well as publication of any photographs or even details of exactly when he was released.

It comes two weeks after firebrand cleric Abu Qatada - described as Bin Laden's 'ambassador in Europe' - was also freed from prison under some of the toughest bail conditions every seen, including a 22-hour a day curfew, with round-the-clock surveillance expected to cost the taxpayer £500,000 a year.

Lawyers acting for 'U' successfully argued at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) that it was unfair to keep him behind bars while the legal battle over attempts to deport him to Algeria rumbles on.

He won an Appeal Court hearing last year, arguing that 'diplomatic assurances' from the Algerian Government that he would not be tortured on his return to his home country were worthless.

But the Home Office remains determined to throw 'U' out of Britain and SIAC is delaying awaiting further hearings in the House of Lords before making a final ruling.

The man came to Britain from France in 1994 and claimed asylum, but then spent three years in Afghanistan. He was arrested in 2001 as he tried to board a flight to Saudi Arabia with a false passport.

The US authorities claim he was involved in a plot to bomb Los Angeles Airport in 1999 - although the extradition case collapsed - and his followers are said to have plotted to blow up the Christmas Market in Strasbourg a year later.

SIAC concluded last year there were 'credible grounds' for believing that the suspect had 'direct links to Osama bin Laden' and held a 'senior position' at a mujahideen training camp in Afghanistan, adding that he had never renounced any of his extremist views.

The only remaining terror suspect in British custody awaiting deportation - an Algerian referred to as 'Y' who was acquitted of involvement in the Ricin plot - is expected to be freed in the next few days once the Home Office and his lawyers have agreed a deal on bail conditions.