Radical cleric Abu Hamza and four other terror suspects could be put on a plane to the United States within days after Europe's human rights judges rejected their bid for an appeal.

A panel of five judges yesterday threw out their request to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, clearing the way for extradition.

The Home Office said Hamza and Babar Ahmad, with Seyla Talha Ahsan, Adel Abdul Bary and Khaled Al-Fawwaz, would be "handed over to the US authorities as quickly as possible".

Hamza and the others, who have racked up a multi-million pound bill in detention and legal costs, could be handed over to US authorities and put on a plane within days.

But putting in place the practical arrangements for extradition is likely to take up to three weeks, it is understood.

The ruling amounts to the first green light for US top security prisons and the right of European governments to approve US extradition requests for high-risk suspects.

Hamza, who was jailed for seven years for soliciting to murder and inciting racial hatred, has been fighting extradition since 2004.

Shadow immigration minister Chris Bryant said: "These dangerous men have remained on British soil too long, and I am glad that they will finally face deportation from our shores."

But Labour MP Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, warned that extradition to the US was "a complicated business".

Vaz said: "I welcome the decision on Abu Hamza, his case has taken far too long to resolve."