Bomb suspect has UK passport revoked for a second time in Home Office bid to stop him returning to Britain

An Iraqi terror suspect has become the first person to have his British passport revoked twice by the Home Secretary.

Hilal Al-Jedda, alleged to be an explosives expert, previously won a Supreme Court battle to have his citizenship restored, on the grounds that he had been rendered 'stateless'.

But Theresa May has now ordered him to have his passport taken away again, claiming his terror links make him dangerous to the British public.

The move will be welcomed by campaigners who have argued that Al-Jedda should be banned from returning to Britain.

However, human rights activists have spoken out against the decision, saying that it is unfair to strip someone of citizenship if they do not have a passport from another country.

Al-Jedda, 56, first came to Britain as an asylum seeker in 1992, and eight years later he and his family were granted UK citizenship.

In September 2004, he travelled to Iraq, where he was captured by U.S. forces during the height of the insurgency.

He spent three years in British military detention, and on his release was stripped of his citizenship by Labour Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

This prevented him from returning to the UK, and he has since been living in Turkey with his third wife and eight children.

In October, the Supreme Court ruled that Al-Jedda should be given his passport back because he automatically lost his Iraqi citizenship when he became British.

Judges were told that he belonged to an Islamic terrorist group which had plotted 'atrocities' against Western troops.

War: Al-Jedda was captured by U.S. forces in Iraq, pictured, at the height of the insurgency in 2004

Now Mrs May has re-opened the case by ordering that Al-Jedda should once again lose his passport.

Home Office lawyers say that he could easily re-apply for Iraqi citizenship and would have to be given a passport by the country's officials.

However, his own lawyers insist that he is currently stateless and the decision breaches his human rights.

Solicitor Tessa Gregory told the Independent: 'Mr Al-Jedda was given less than an hour's notice of the deprivation order and has not been provided with any detail of the allegations against him save for the vaguest of references to Islamist extremism, an allegation he flatly denies.'

A spokesman for the Home Office said: 'The Home Secretary has the power to remove a person's UK citizenship where she considers it is conducive to the public good.

'This individual has lodged an appeal against the Home Secretary's decision to do so in his case and it would not be appropriate to comment further while litigation is ongoing.'

Mrs May has used her powers to strip suspected criminals of their British passports 20 times since the Coalition came to power in 2010.

The previous Labour Government carried out the procedure just five times in 13 years, including in the case of Al-Jedda.