The government has been granted permission to appeal against the decision to allow radical preacher Abu Qatada to stay in the country, court officials said today.

Home Secretary Theresa May has been given the go-ahead by the Court of Appeal.

A date for a hearing in London has not yet been set.

Last month the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) ruled that Qatada should not be deported to Jordan where he was convicted of terror charges in his absence in 1999.

A panel of three judges found that there was a risk that evidence obtained using torture would be used against the controversial cleric in a re-trial.

Qatada was immediately granted bail following the ruling and released from HMP Long Lartin, returning to his family home in Brent.

He is said to have wide and high-level support among extremists, and featured in hate sermons found on videos in the flat of one of the September 11 bombers.

The extremist has battled deportation for over a decade and has so far thwarted every attempt by the Government to remove him.