Hilal Al-Jedda, 47, who has dual British and Iraqi citizenship, had asked two judges in London to rule that his detention was unlawful and breached his human rights.

His lawyers told a hearing on July 20 that after nine months in detention, he should be allowed to return to his home in Britain, but in their ruling Friday, justices Sir Alan Moses and Sir Stephen Richards dismissed his claim.

"We reject the case advanced on the claimant's behalf in these proceedings that his continued detention in Iraq and the failure to return him to the United Kingdom are unlawful," they said.

Al-Jedda, who was born in Iraq but now lives in London after gaining asylum in Britain, was detained by US military forces in Iraq, then handed over to the British army -- deployed in southern Iraq -- last October.

Last October he took his children to Baghdad via Dubai to meet his new wife, having divorced his first wife in 2001.

The Ministry of Defence in London suspects Al-Jedda of being a member of a terrorist group involved in weapons smuggling and attacks with explosives.

He denies the accusations, and remains at the Shaibah Divisional Detention Facility in Iraq's main southern city of Basra.

There is no connection between his detention and either the July 7 bombings in London that killed 56, including four apparent suicide bombers, or a failed attempt on July 21 to repeat the attacks.