The 45-year-old man was released under bail conditions, made public last Thursday, which restrict him to a single, undisclosed address and state that he "shall remain in the residence at all times".

Although his name has been widely publicised in European trials, U.S. extradition proceedings and past media reporting, the man can be identified only as "U" under British legal restrictions covering deportation cases against foreign terrorism suspects.

He is the second alleged al Qaeda figure to be freed by Britain in just over two weeks, following the release on June 17 of Jordanian militant preacher and "Bin Laden's lieutenant in Britain" Abu Qatada.

While the government says they are dangerous, it lacks enough evidence to put them on trial in Britain and has so far failed in legal battles to deport them.

Neither man is allowed to use a computer or mobile phone, or to receive visitors except by approval from the Home Secretary (interior minister). But U's restrictions go even further than those on Abu Qatada, who can leave home for two hours a day.

Now aged 45, U was arrested at London's Heathrow airport in February 2001 when attempting to fly to Saudi Arabia on a false passport. The British government calls him a "leading organiser and facilitator of terrorist activity aimed mainly at overseas targets", with direct links to bin Laden and other senior al Qaeda figures.

Ahmed Ressam, convicted of a plot to blow up Los Angeles International Airport on the eve of the millennium, was carrying U's phone number on him when he was arrested with 60 kg (130 lb) of explosives on the Canadian-U.S. border on Dec. 14, 1999.

Germany and France described U as the man who incited a December 2000 plot to bomb a Christmas market in the French city of Strasbourg. The two countries convicted four and 10 men, respectively, in connection with that conspiracy.

British authorities say U was a senior al Qaeda trainer in Afghanistan in the late 1990s.

The special tribunal dealing with his case said last year he posed a "significant risk to national security" and had "shown no sign of disavowing his former beliefs or associates".

It added: "There are credible grounds for believing that U has been, and could again become, a senior organiser and facilitator of Islamic international terrorism."

U's lawyers declined to comment on Thursday.

He was among a group of foreign nationals who were at one time imprisoned without charge under sweeping British counter-terrorism powers. After these were ruled illegal and expired in 2005, U and Abu Qatada remained in jail pending deportation until they were granted bail.

U is still fighting against deportation in a case due to be decided by the country's highest court, the House of Lords.

Conspiracy theorists might look back to the forced speeches of hostages, such as the BBC's Alan Johnson. Johnson, kidnapped and held hostage in Gaza until his release last year, was forced to demand Qatada's release in a May 2007 videoed statement: ""We want Britain to free our prisoners and specially Sheikh Abu Qatada al-Felestiny." Could it be that the British government is finally coming good? Could it be that Al Qaeda has done a deal - no attacks in Britain in exchange for prisoners and unbeknownst other offerings?

More likely that the government finds itself haunted by human rights laws it signed up to through the EU.  The duty of Britain to follow ECHR guidelines is entirely the fault of the Labour party-led government, which in 1988 introduced the Human Rights Act. This act enshrined the tenets of ECHR into UK law. This has crippled anti-terrorism rulings. Article 3 prohibits torture, and as a result Islamists have defied deportation to their home countries, as they feared possible torture. After 7/7 and the problems that the then-Home Secretary Charles Clarke faced in trying to deport foreign-born preachers of hate, Blair mooted the idea of derogation from ECHR, but nothing happened on this account.

With Britain's current government more prone to U-turns, compromises and - as with the recent 42 day terror deal with Northern Irish MPs - buy-outs, one can see why conspiracists interpret the release of "U" and Qatada as acts of appeasement.

Dominic Whiteman is the Editor of the Westminster Journal. He runs the investigative network VIGIL.

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