A suspected international terrorist with dual French-Algerian nationality has been deported to France because he was deemed a threat to this country, the Home Office has revealed.

The man, who can only be identified by the initials MK, was removed from Britain yesterday.

Previous hearings in front of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) had been told MK had links with the Abu Doha terror group, an Algerian group connected with al-Qaeda.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "A foreign national who had been identified as representing a threat to the national security of the UK was yesterday deported to France.

"The individual has dual French-Algerian nationality. The British Government is grateful to the French authorities for their co-operation in facilitating the deportation of this individual."

He is the third person to be deported from the UK on national security grounds since the terrorist attacks in London in July last year.

She added: "Our priority is to protect public safety and national security. Where a foreign national living in the UK is a threat to this country we will seek to deport them."

MK, who is 33, was detained under immigration rules on September 23, 2004. He had lodged an appeal to Siac and lost, although he was granted bail. The man then appealed to the Court of Appeal in June this year but on August 4 that appeal was also dismissed.

Siac has heard that the man has a "common-law wife" who is British, and who has a daughter. The couple had undergone a form of Islamic marriage, the court reported.

Mr Justice Ouseley, the Siac chairman, said in a document published in May last year: "I specifically asked the applicant (MK) why he objected to being deported to France and his answer was that it would disrupt his life."

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