London hearing to decide whether radical cleric should be freed after extradition to Jordan was blocked by Europe court
A radical Muslim cleric described as a grave threat to Britain's national security could walk free on Monday.
Abu Qatada, who is being held at Long Lartin high-security prison in Worcestershire, will apply to be released on bail as he fights deportation to Jordan.
Lawyers for the home secretary, Theresa May, are expected to oppose bail while British diplomats continue to seek assurances from the Jordanian authorities that evidence gained through torture would not be used against him.
Such evidence is the main reason Qatada, once described by a Spanish judge as "Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe", won an appeal to the European court of human rights in January. The judges ruled that sending Qatada back to face terror charges without such assurances would deny him his right to a fair trial and be a "flagrant denial of justice".
May has vowed Qatada, held for six and a half years, will be kept behind bars while she considers all legal options to send him back. The Home Office has said he "poses a real risk to national security".
At a hearing in central London, Qatada's defence team will urge an immigration judge to release him. The judge, Mr Justice Mitting, has said: "Six and a half years of detention requires the eligibility for bail to be considered urgently.
"I accept that it's possible that negotiations with the Jordanian government may produce a rapid solution but past experience ... leads me to believe that is likely to be an unrealistic expectation."
The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) will hold a full bail hearing on Monday morning.
January's verdict is the first time the Strasbourg-based court has found that an extradition would be in violation the right to a fair trial as required by the European convention on human rights, which is enshrined in UK law under the Human Rights Act.
The home secretary has three months to lodge an appeal with the court's grand chamber.
The Henry Jackson Society thinktank has said the ECHR ruling "undermines national security" while the former home secretary David Blunkett said Qatada was "extraordinarily dangerous and we don't want him on our streets".
Qatada, 51, is also known as Omar Othman. He featured in hate sermons found on videos in the flat of one of the 9/11 bombers.
Since 2001, when fears of the domestic terror threat rose in the aftermath of the attacks, he has challenged and ultimately thwarted every attempt by the government to detain and deport him.
Law lords ruled almost three years ago that he could be sent back to Jordan and Lord Phillips, now president of the supreme court, said torture in another country did not require the UK "to retain in this country, to the detriment of national security, a terrorist suspect".
But the European went against that judgment, agreeing with a 2008 decision of the UK court of appeal that there were reasonable grounds for believing Qatada would be denied a fair trial in Jordan.