Muhammad al-Massari, who has asylum in Britain, runs al-Tajdeed, a radio station that openly backs suicide attacks. His Web site shows the beheadings of Western hostages and attacks on British troops in Iraq. Earlier this month, he named four Italian cities as targets for terror strikes.

Members of Parliament from across the political spectrum and several foreign governments have called for action against him.

Britain previously tried to deport him but courts intervened to prevent him being sent back to Saudi Arabia, a country with a poor human rights record. Under the European Convention on Human Rights, Britain is prohibited from deporting individuals to countries where they may face torture or persecution.

The government has already arrested 10 foreign nationals deemed to be a threat to national security, pending deportation to countries including Jordan, Algeria and Tunisia.

New immigration rules coming into force next week will allow the government to deport individuals advocating violence, or justifying or glorifying terrorism.

However the Home Office has conceded these are unlikely to affect al-Massari as Saudi Arabia is not among countries with which Britain has signed a "memorandum of understanding" that returned individuals will not be mistreated. But they have suggested that action could be taken against him by the Crown Prosecution Service for direct incitement to commit violent or criminal acts.

Al-Massari, who has lived in Britain since 1994, shows footage on his Web site of a suicide bomb attack on a British checkpoint in Iraq which killed three soldiers. The Web site also carries messages from al-Qaida leaders, including Osama bin Laden, and a guide to urban warfare for would-be terrorists.

Last year he told BBC radio it would be legitimate under Islamic law to assassinate Tony Blair as he was the commander of the British army and therefore a proper target. MPs have also called for al-Tajdeed to be closed down, saying it is "demoralizing" for troops fighting in Iraq.

However broadcast regulator Ofcom says as the radio station does not broadcast in Britain but in Iraq and Saudi-Arabia, it has no jurisdiction to do so.

According to ClandestineRadio.com, al-Tajdeed's radio broadcasts are made in London then sent to either France or Holland where they are sent by satellite for broadcast in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Conservative Shadow Minister for Homeland Security Patrick Mercer told BBC Radio Thursday that the station's output was "extremely worrying."

"To hear jihad talk, albeit in Arabic, being broadcast out to Iraq where you are trying to do your job as a soldier, a policeman or whatever, I think it must be desperately demoralizing."

His views were echoed by Labor MP Andrew Dismore, who has been campaigning for action against al-Massari since 1998. He said al-Massari could be dealt with under new legislation proposed by Prime Minister Tony Blair earlier this month, which would create an offense of justifying or glorifying terrorism.

"Once the new law has come into effect, we should be able to deal with him," Dismore said.

However the government is likely to face considerable resistance to some of its proposals, designed to "weed out extremism."

Civil liberties and Muslim groups have signaled strong opposition to some of the measures, while opposition parties have warned the government not to count on their support.

A statement issued earlier this week by 38 organizations, including the Muslim Association of Britain and the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said the crackdown risked creating a "radical subculture." It also questioned the impact of criminalizing expressions of support for terrorism on freedom of speech.

While the Muslim community in Britain unequivocally denounced acts of terrorism, it said, the right of people anywhere in the world to resist invasion and occupation was legitimate. The proposal to criminalize "justification" or "validation" of such self-defense seemed to be intended to stifle discussion about, and support for, such resistance, it said.

"Thus anyone even verbally opposing the illegal invasion of Iraq, for example, could in future be made out to be justifying and supporting 'acts of terrorism' and prosecuted."

Human rights group Liberty said a criminal offense of justifying or glorifying terrorism risked being broad enough to catch moderates as well as extremists.

And Liberal Democrats Leader Charles Kennedy said some of the measures risked alienating Muslims and inflaming inter-community tensions.

Legal and human rights experts have also warned that the "memorandums of understanding" agreed with recipient nations were not worth the paper they were written on.

Liberty Director Shami Chakrabarti said: "What separates us from the terrorists is that we do not torture people or send them to be tortured. It should take more than self serving assurances to demonstrate that countries with a human rights record such as Jordan's are safe."

The United Nations special envoy on torture, Manfred Nowak, agreed, saying such agreements were worthless and would do nothing to protect the human rights of deportees.

The judiciary, which tends to rule on the side of civil liberties, is likely to be sympathetic to such arguments. Blair has warned the courts not to thwart his will with regards to the new anti-terror measures, predicting "a lot of battles" if they do so.

He has threatened to amend or repeal parts of the Human Rights Act, which incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights into law, should they attempt to block deportations.

Calls for action against extremists such as al-Massari are therefore unlikely to be answered soon. The government is facing a lengthy fight, and one that will likely be politically damaging, whatever the outcome.

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