A RADICAL Muslim cleric described as al-Qaeda’s spiritual ambassador in Europe has lost his appeal against being detained as a suspected terrorist under David Blunkett’s emergency powers.

Mr Justice Collins yesterday told the Special Immigrations Appeals Commission (Siac) that he will dismiss Abu Qatada’s appeal against the decision to hold him without trial or charge at Belmarsh top-security prison.

Government ministers claim that he is the most significant spiritual leader of Islamic militants in Britain. Investigators from half a dozen European countries are anxious to question him over his contacts with suicide bombers and senior al-Qaeda terrorists.

MI5 and foreign intelligence agencies have placed him at the centre of an al-Qaeda network stretching across the Continent. Government lawyers say that some of the September 11 hijackers were inspired by him.

Mr Blunkett has offered evidence that the cleric has links with extremist groups around the world and has allegedly helped to fund terrorist operations and recruitment.

Abu Qatada, 43, born Omar Othman, embarrassed security officials by going missing on the day before the controversial law under which he is being held, The Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001, was rushed through Parliament.

The father of five, who lived in Acton, West London, was on the run for ten months before being found hiding in a flat in Bermondsey, South London, in October 2002.The authorities claim that he arrived in Britain in 1993 using fraudulent identity documents to claim asylum.

Abu Qatada, a Palestinian with Jordanian nationality, “entirely denies” any involvement in terrorism, his counsel Ben Emmerson, QC, told an earlier hearing. Mr Emmerson said that he was refusing to take part in person in any hearings, as he believed that the outcome of his appeal was “a foregone conclusion”.

He is one of 16 suspected foreign terrorists detained without trial because human rights laws make it impossible to deport them to countries where they may be maltreated. None has yet won an appeal.

No date has yet been set for the formal ruling on Abu Qatada. The Home Office said that it will not comment until after that hearing.

Mr Justice Collins revealed that Abu Qatada’s appeal had been refused while he was delivering the judgment of another of those detained who for legal reasons can only be referred to as “M”. He is an Algerian who arrived in Britain in February 1999 from Afghanistan, travelling on a fake French passport.

“M” is a double amputee, his left arm having been amputated at the wrist and his right just below the elbow.

His asylum claim was rejected in 2001 and he has been accused of having links with Algerian extremists and providing false documents.

After yesterday’s ruling on “M”, Mr Blunkett said: “I am pleased that following close scrutiny of all the details of the case, Siac has agreed to uphold my decision to certify and detain this individual under the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act.

“These powers are used extremely sparingly and only in the most serious circumstances in order to protect the public from the activities of foreign nationals we believe to be international terrorists, but who we cannot deport for a variety of reasons.”

He added that the decision to detain “M” will be reviewed again in six months and every three months thereafter.

Last month, an all-party committee of MPs said that the internment powers should be scrapped.

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