A Jordanian man described by Britain as a "significant international terrorist" won a court appeal on Wednesday against deportation.

Abu Qatada, linked by Britain to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, is one of a group of Middle Eastern men the government has been attempting to deport on grounds of national security, while acknowledging it does not have sufficient evidence to put them on trial.

The Court of Appeal also upheld the cases of two Libyan men against deportation. The rulings are a setback to British efforts to deport suspected Islamist militants to nations where human rights groups argue they would be at risk of torture.

Home Office Minister Tony McNulty expressed disappointment. "We will continue to push for deportations for people who pose a risk to national security," he said in a statement.

He said the government would seek to challenge the ruling on Abu Qatada, whom Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon once described as "Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe".

"We are seeking to overturn that point, and I believe that we will be able to secure his deportation to Jordan and we will push for it as soon as possible. In the meantime, he will remain behind bars," McNulty said.

The government has sought to counter rights groups' fears of torture by securing special agreements with the countries concerned that deportees will not be ill-treated.

Gareth Peirce, lawyer for Abu Qatada and one of the two Libyans, said such assurances were unenforceable and offered no redress against "regimes that continue to practice torture".

Asked if the rulings would effectively kill off the government's deportation programme, she said: "That remains to be seen."

RULING REVERSED

The Abu Qatada decision reversed a court ruling in February 2007 that he could be deported to Jordan despite the likelihood he would face a flawed trial there.

In that ruling, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) had said that while Abu Qatada would likely be interrogated on his return by Jordanian security and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, the cleric would benefit from intense local and international media scrutiny.

"We take the view that all the relevant Jordanian authorities would be scrupulous to observe the law, under the spotlight," it said.

The government case against Qatada described him as a "significant international terrorist" whose presence posed "a continuing threat to national security and a significant terrorism-related risk to the public".

He has twice been convicted in absentia in Jordan of involvement in terrorist plots.

His lawyers argued that if sent home to Jordan, he would be subject to a "flagrant denial of justice" and retried using evidence obtained from witnesses under torture.