Seven men were detained in London and Manchester early this morning in raids carried out under the Home Secretary's powers to deport foreign nationals who pose a threat to national security.

Six of the men were held after Immigration Service officers and police raided addresses in London, while the seventh was picked up in Whalley Range, Manchester.

The Home Office has refused to name the men or give their nationalities, but it is believed that all the suspects are Algerian and that several of them were among the men accused of plotting to poison Londoners with ricin in a case that collapsed earlier this year.

In the ricin case, four Algerians - Mouloud Sihali, David Aissa Khalef, Sidali Feddag and Mustapha Taleb - were acquitted of any involvement in terrorism, and a further three - Samir Asli, Mouloud Bouhrama and Kamel Mezoug - had the charges against them dropped. Khalid Alwerfeli, 31, a Libyan, also faced no charges.

The Home Office said this afternoon that the men are being held in two prisons: the man detained in Manchester is being held at HMP Full Sutton, a maximum security prison near York; while the six men picked up in London have been taken to HMP Long Lartin, in Worcestershire.

Today's raids bring to 17 the number of foreign nationals currently held by the Home Office with a view to their deportation to their countries of origin, a process the Government admits could take years.

Britain is preparing to agree deals to deport the men to ten countries, including Algeria, that routinely torture terrorism suspects. Under so-called memoranda of understanding, the receiving countries will promise to treat the suspects humanely.

So far, only one agreement has been made public, between Britain and Jordan, under which the Government hopes to deport Abu Qatada, one of the men detained in August, who has been described as al-Qaeda's spiritual ambassador in Europe.

Human rights groups and the UN have all condemned the diplomatic agreements and today a spokesman for Liberty expressed his concern that the men could be deported to Algeria:

"At this stage it’s not clear why these men have been detained today, but we are very concerned that as the majority appear to be Algerian, they are likely to be deported there. International observers and the United Nations have repeatedly pointed out violations of human rights by Algeria."

It is believed that just two of the men accused in the ricin plot have been at liberty the case since collapsed in April. Only one member of the supposed gang, Kamel Bourgass, was found guilty of a crime.

Bourgass, an Algerian, was found guilty of conspiring to cause a public nuisance through the use of poisons and explosives. He was also convicted last year of the murder of Detective Constable Stephen Oake, who was stabbed to death in Manchester in 2003.

Of the remaining eight men on trial, Mustapha Taleb and Kamel Mezoug, who have both been granted asylum in the UK, walked free but the rest were arrested on immigration charges.

After the trial, it emerged that Mr Taleb is a GIA member who has been sentenced to life imprisonment in Algeria. Mr Mezoug, on the other hand, admitted using two false identities in the UK, even after he won his asylum claim.

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