The government deported an alleged top terror suspect to Indonesia today hours before a High Court hearing seeking his release, a government lawyer said.

Indonesian preacher Mohamad Iqbal Abdul Rahman, also known as Abu Jibril, was sent back by the immigration department, which had been holding him since he was released from a detention camp last August, Deputy Public Prosecutor Fadzilah Begum told the High Court.

The court had directed that Mohamad Iqbal be produced before it today afternoon after his lawyers sought a habeus corpus ruling pressing for his release.

Mohamad Iqbal, 46, who has a Malaysian wife, was arrested in June 2001 under the Internal Security Act, which allows indefinite detention without trial, for alleged militant links.

He was suspected of being a senior member of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah network, which has staged a series of attacks in the region including the Bali bombing in October 2002 which killed more than 200 people.

Iqbal was released last August but immigration officers revoked his permanent resident status and immediately arrested him pending deportation to Indonesia.

The alleged militant appealed to the High Court against a declaration that he is an undesirable person and a prohibited immigrant.

Indonesia has said it would question Mohamad Iqbal about his possible links to terrorism if he were sent home. - AFP