The radical Islamist preacher Abu Qatada is to stay in jail indefinitely after a court ruled yesterday that there was an increased risk that he would abscond while on bail.

Abu Qatada, 48, once described as Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe, will remain in Belmarsh top-security prison pending his deportation.

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission revoked his bail yesterday after hearing evidence in secret from the intelligence service. The court ruled that the evidence had convinced it that there was an increased risk that Abu Qatada would try to abscond if released on bail.

Mr Justice Mitting ruled: “The commission revokes bail and directs that Mohammad Othman \ be detained under immigration powers.”

Abu Qatada and his legal team were not in court for the judgment.

The preacher was released on bail in June to live with his family in West London under a 22-hour curfew after the Court of Appeal ruled that it was unsafe to return him to Jordan. He was arrested last month on suspicion of breaching his bail conditions.

The commission judges said that their decision to revoke his bail was based on the evidence heard in secret. This remains secret and is spelt out only in a separate closed judgment. The open version said that none of the reasons cited by the Home Office in the public hearings would justify revocation of bail.

Before the hearing, it was reported that Abu Qatada was trying to flee the country, but Mr Justice Mitting, sitting with two other immigration judges, said that the cleric’s declared interest in renouncing his Jordanian citizenship and trying to go to the place of his birth — now in the Palestinian territories — did not amount to a breach of his bail.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said: “He poses a significant threat to our national security and I am pleased that he will be detained pending his deportation, which I’m working hard to secure,” she said.

In a statement released to the court at the two-day hearing in November, Ms Smith said that Abu Qatada could raise funds from his “extensive” network of contacts and he was practised at “taking successful measures to avoid detection”.

Abu Qatada arrived in Britain more than 14 years ago on a forged passport and went on the run after the September 11 attacks. He was arrested carrying £170,000, including £805 in an envelope marked “For the Mujahidin in Chechnya”.

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