One of the two Libyan suspects, who will be freed after winning a controversial appeal in the UK, was smuggled from Malta to Britain in February 2002.

One of the men was found with a map marked with the flight path to Birmingham International Airport and a jihad video.

A court heard how the Libyan man paid £2,000 to be smuggled from Malta to Britain in 2002. He claimed asylum in April of that year. But the following month he was arrested under immigration powers and later prosecuted for two offences relating to forged and stolen travel documents, which he admitted.

Documents show that the man is an Islamic extremist who, as a senior member with a terrorist group, clearly engaged in support work for jihadist activities.

He was involved with a serious terrorist group based in Milan and monitored by the Italian authorities.

The two men won appeals against Home Office attempts to deport them after they had been kept at Long Latrin maximum security prison under immigration laws.

The decision was made by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission. It also granted them bail in principle under strict conditions, including a daily 12-hour curfew. The Home Office had opposed bail on grounds they would abscond.

On their part, the men had opposed deportation, arguing they could be jailed and tortured if sent home.

The Home Office claimed that the brother-in-law of one of them blew himself up in a raid by Spanish police in the wake of the 2003 Madrid train bombings.

Another brother-in-law is serving 18 years in Morocco for his part in bombings in Casablanca in May 2003 that killed 45 people.