The government will return to court tomorrow in an attempt to compel a freed former Belmarsh detainee to go back to prison, writes Nick Fielding.

Prisoner G, an Algerian who has psychiatric problems and is disabled by polio, had been held without trial in Belmarsh for three years before being released to house arrest last April.

David Blunkett, the former home secretary, had ruled that the prisoner’s mental health might be severely damaged if he stayed in prison.

The man was subject to stringent bail conditions which prevented him from leaving home, contacting outsiders or seeing visitors. The Home Office claims he breached these terms by accepting two unauthorised visitors at his home and wants to return him to prison. The Algerian strongly denies this, saying he knows nothing about it.

The bail hearings follow a House of Lords ruling in December that the detention of prisoners without trial is illegal. Of three appeals heard by the special immigration appeals commission last week, one resulted in an Egyptian, referred to as prisoner C, being released without conditions.

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