April 9 (Bloomberg) -- A British appeals court has rejected two sets of deportation orders, saying there's no guarantee the suspects wouldn't be tortured upon their return to Jordan and Libya.

The court overturned a February 2007 ruling by the U.K.'s Special Immigrations Appeals Commission approving the deportation of Omar Othman, also known as Abu Qatada, a Jordanian-born cleric accused of being an al-Qaeda recruiter in Europe.

At the same time, the court today upheld a 2007 decision blocking the deportation of two Libyans identified only as DD and AS. Britain has signed a similar memorandum with Libya.

The British government said it will continue to pursue the deportations.

While Britain has signed ``memorandums of understanding'' with Jordan and Libya saying that the men wouldn't be mistreated, the appeals court concluded today that the memorandums aren't an adequate guarantee. It ruled that while Libya had signed the memorandum in good faith, ``Libya's motivation and reasoning might change, and that as such there was real risk of the respondents being tortured on return.'' The Abu Qatada decision cited the use of torture by Jordan's General Intelligence Department.

``I am pleased that the courts dismissed all but one of Abu Qatada's reasons for appeal,'' Home Office Minister Tony McNulty said in a statement. ``We are seeking to overturn that point, and I believe that we will be able to secure his deportation to Jordan. In the meantime, he will remain behind bars.''

Human rights groups welcomed the court's ruling.

Recruiting Base

``These cases show that the British government should stop trying to deport people to countries whose justice systems are deeply tainted by torture and other abuses,'' Julia Hall, a lawyer with Human Rights Watch's terrorism and counterterrorism program, said in a statement. ``The court was right to ignore the Jordanian government's fair trial promises, and find that a trial would likely be tainted by torture.''

The U.K. government said Abu Qatada used his British base for recruitment and backing for al-Qaeda and other Islamic militant groups. He's been convicted twice in Jordan for involvement in terrorist plots, including attacks on two hotels in Amman in 1998.

Abu Qatada was born in 1960 in Bethlehem, which was then administered by Jordan and has been occupied by Israel since 1967. He came to Britain in 1993 on a forged passport.

The unidentified Libyans were members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which seeks to replace Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi's regime with an Islamic state. They also had links to Al Qaeda, the court ruled.

``I am disappointed that the courts have found that the deportations to Libya can't go ahead for now,'' McNulty said in his statement. ``We will continue to push for deportation for people who pose a risk to national security.''

To contact the reporter for this story: Gregory Viscusi in Paris at gviscusi@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 9, 2008 11:59 EDT