A FRESH wave of arrests of Islamic radicals is expected next week when Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, introduces tough new immigration rules to deal with recently-arrived preachers of hate.

Ministers want to see the young foreign imams swiftly thrown out of the country. How they manage the fast-track expulsions will be seen as a test of Tony Blair’s assertion that the rules have changed.

Immigration officials and the security services are understood to have compiled a list of extremist clerics who have moved to Britain in recent months. They are not such high-profile figures as Abu Qatada, who was among the first to be arrested as a threat to national security after the London bombings.

Most of the new wave are believed to come from Pakistan or North Africa and are accused of stirring up hate among young followers in their own communities.

Muslim leaders are said to have helped to identify some of the suspects, although there are concerns about a backlash in some Islamic communities if there is a mass round-up of imams.

The wanted list is said also to include owners of radical bookshops, website operators and a number of teachers of different nationalities. Many are being kept under surveillance for fear that they may go into hiding before the arrest orders are given.

Small groups of extremists are known to target mosques for takeover, driving out worshippers and replacing an imam with their own choice of preacher, who is usually imported from countries such as Pakistan and does not speak English.

Influential Islamic leaders say that there is a demand for imams here to speak English. Abduljalil Sajid, the chair of the Muslim Council for Religious and Racial Harmony, has said that there are no figures for how many imams speak English but he estimates that 90 per cent probably preach in their mother tongue.

Tarique Ghaffur, assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said that Muslim communities were still not doing enough to help police to rid themselves of preachers of hate who draw young people to radicalism.

Britain’s highest-ranking Asian officer said that the police needed new powers to shut down “back-street mosques” that stir up hatred. Home Office officials are conscious of the need to have the support of Muslim communities but ministers are determined to show that they are getting tough with those accused of fostering hatred.

The promised two-week consultation period on the rules to exclude people from Britain ended last night and the Prime Minister has signalled that he wants the new regulations implemented as soon as possible.

Ministers want to be able to revoke the asylum status of militants, as they did with Omar Bakri a week ago while he was on holiday in Lebanon. Officials know that it is harder to do the same with suspects who are in Britain.

Because some of the foreign clerics are alleged to have arrived in Britain with dubious documents of identification, they may be deported for immigration offences, which could obviate lengthy appeals.

The ten men, including Abu Qatada, arrested on Mr Clarke’s orders just over a week ago have begun their appeals, which under existing rules could take up to three years to resolve. It is this legal muddle that ministers want to sort out.

In future unacceptable behaviour will include fomenting terrorism or seeking to provoke others to terror, justifying terrorism, fomenting other serious criminal activity, fostering hatred that may lead to intracommunity violence, advocating violence in support of particular beliefs and expressing what the Government considers to be extreme views conflicting with Britain’s culture of tolerance.

The regulations will apply to anyone who preaches, delivers speeches, writes, publishes, distributes or operates a website that contains such material.

British diplomats have been told to speed up their negotiations to get more countries to sign a deal to accept militants that Britain wants to expel.

So far only Jordan has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding not to mistreat British deportees. Discussions with Algeria and Lebanon have not produced a deal.

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