British authorities have put on hold the deportation of an Algerian academic who was arrested after downloading and printing out an Al Qaeda training manual from a U.S. government Web site, Britain’s Press Association news service reports.

Hicham Yezza, a 30-year-old former student who is now a staff member at the University of Nottingham, was due to be deported on Sunday, but the Home Office canceled the plan in order to review his case.

Mr. Yezza was arrested on May 14 and questioned along with Rizwaan Sabir, a student who was writing about the American approach to Al Qaeda in Iraq, a militant group blamed for many attacks on U.S.-led forces there. Mr. Yezza had downloaded and printed the manual on Mr. Sabir’s behalf.

Both men were released without charge six days later, but Mr. Yezza was rearrested on suspicion of an immigration offense and held in a deportation center.

Last Wednesday, hundreds of students and staff members turned out to protest the planned deportation of Mr. Yezza. “The huge campaign that’s built up to support him is really a testament to how popular he is and what an impact he’s had in Nottingham in the 13 years he has been here,” Moussab Younis, a supporter, told the BBC.

Mr. Yezza’s lawyer, David Smith, told the BBC that the deportation had been put on hold because an application had been issued to the High Court in London “seeking a judicial review of the decisions of the Home Office in this matter.” —Andrew Mills