FOUR terror suspects facing deportation and branded by the Government as “dangerous men” were given bail by a high-security appeal board yesterday.

The slap in the face for the Government’s counter-terrorist policy and its controversial deportations plans came from the Special Immigration Appeals Commission asked to consider bail for ten men, including Abu Qatada, the radical Islamic cleric.

Britain wants to send the ten back to their home countries after assurances that they would not be tortured or killed. The ten plan to challenge the deportations in court hearings that could take several years.

The commission, chaired by Mr Justice Ouseley, rejected claims by lawyers that all ten were threats to national security but set tough bail conditions for the four who are Algerains.

The bailed men are known by initials: A, G, H, and T. Five others, including Abu Qatada, had their applications refused. The case of the tenth man, B, was adjourned.

Hazel Blears, the Home Office Minister, said: “We are disappointed that Siac has granted bail. We will press Siac to impose strict bail conditions, although it remains our view that these individuals represent a real risk to the national security of this country and should continue to be detained.”

The four men were bailed under strict conditions that amount to virtual house arrest. H will be allowed two hours outside in daylight hours at precise times still to be fixed. He is married to a Briton, has been on suicide watch in Belmarsh prison, in south-east London, and the court.

A has five children and has also been on suicide watch while G tried to hang himself last month because “the spirits were telling him to commit suicide”. Siac said he would be given access to his garden while on bail.

T, who is alleged to have received terrorist training in Afghanistan, was the only one of the ten not to have been previously detained under the Government’s internment powers or a control order.

Releasing the men, Mr Justice Ouseley said Siac did not consider that it should regard the bombings in London in July as evidence of a greater national security risk posed by these applicants than before.

He said Siac also specifically rejected the Home Secretary’s suggestion that there should be a presumption against bail and said the key considerations in granting bail were whether the men would abscond and how they would react to the impending signing of a memorandum of understanding between Britain and Algeria that would allow for their deportation.

Lawyers for the ten told the hearing that none of the men had any links to the bombings in July and had been monitored for months beforehand.

A, who is in his late 30s, came to Britain as a bogus asylum seeker in 1989 and he has been accused of raising funds for an Algerian cell through credit card fraud and supplying satellite phones to jihadists in Chechnya. He has a history of absconding and using false documents.

Siac found that, if it wasn’t for his depression and his wife and five children, he would be likely to abscond and carry on his Jihadist activities.

Mr Justice Ouseley said the decision to grant him bail had been taken after “the most anxious consideration. There were strong and conflicting indicators and we have concluded no period outside the house should be allowed”.

G had been involved in producing false documents, facilitating young Muslims to travel to Afghanistan for jihad and had actively assisted terrorists with links to al-Qaeda.

H came to Britain in 1993 as a refugee. He is accused of involvement with the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, an organisation said to have links to Osama bin Laden.

T is said to have lived at the same address as one of the other detainees and to be closely associated with a group of Islamist extremists.

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