Britain's plans to release a leading Islamic insurgent with ties to Al Qaida after a court ruled anti-terror laws violated human rights.

Algerian officials said the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair plans to free Abu Qatada after nearly four years in prison.

Abu Qatada is regarded as being aligned with Al Qaida. Officials said Abu Qatada was suspected of being Osama Bin Laden's envoy in Britain during the 1990s.

The planned release of Abu Qatada has alarmed Algerians in Britain as well as in Europe. This has included Reda Hassaine, cited as an MI5 agent who infiltrated Abu Qatada's group in the late 1990s, Middle East Newsline reported.

"The decision to let him out was like a death sentence on me," Hassaine told the London-based Evening Standard. "Qatada has sworn that he will have me killed, and now he has the freedom to do it."

Abu Qatada has been described as the spiritual adviser to the Armed Islamic Group, or GIA, the leading insurgency organization in Algeria in the 1990s.

Abu Qatada has been approved for release as part of the response to a court's ruling against anti-terrorism laws. The court ruled that Britain's anti-terrorism laws violated human rights standards and the government plans to release suspected insurgents as a result.

Abu Qatada, 44, was arrested after the Al Qaida suicide strikes on the United States in September 2001. He has been wanted in Jordan in connection with a series of bombings. So far, Britain has refused to extradite Abu Qatada because of the prospect that he would be executed in the Hashemite kingdom.

Abu Qatada, a Palestinian, arrived in Britain on a forged passport in 1993 and claimed political asylum for his family. The following year, British authorities allowed him to stay and he was provided with a house and benefits.

"He sent hundreds, possibly even thousands, to the training camps in Afghanistan," Hassaine, a former journalist, said. "People were mesmerised by him. When you left his meetings you felt you could pick up a gun and kill, kill, kill."