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By Jeremy Lovell

MANCHESTER, England, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Britain's immigration policy was under fire on Thursday after it emerged at least one man arrested in a terror raid in which a police officer was murdered was a failed asylum seeker.

MANCHESTER, England, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Britain's immigration policy was under fire on Thursday after it emerged at least one man arrested in a terror raid in which a police officer was murdered was a failed asylum seeker.

Police were questioning three north African suspects after Manchester officer Stephen Oake was stabbed to death on Tuesday in an anti-terrorism operation which was linked to the discovery in London last week of the deadly poison ricin.

Newspapers said one of the three men was believed to be a key figure in an Algerian network suspected of being behind the manufacture of ricin in London. Police declined to comment on the reports.

But as outrage grew over the killing of father-of-three Oake, the spotlight turned to the background of the suspects.

Home Secretary (Interior Minister) David Blunkett confirmed one of the men arrested during the raid was on the run from authorities after being refused asylum.

"A Bloody Disgrace", read a front-page headline in the mass-selling Sun tabloid, which blamed Britain's "soft" asylum laws for the murder.

The Daily Express said public concern about terror attacks should not turn into a witchhunt against asylum seekers but said something had to be done to tighten the asylum process.

"Identifying terrorists who seek to enter Britain will never be straightforward. However, more can be done to prevent applications for asylum being used as a smokescreen for terrorists," it said.

More than 200 people have been arrested in Britain under anti-terror legislation since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Most were released without charge but several are awaiting trial.

Police sources say most of those arrested are north Africans and the majority come from Algeria.

Many of those arrested in several raids around the country since traces of ricin were found in a north London flat this month were also recent immigrants or asylum seekers.

The terror crackdown and the resulting media attention on the background of those arrested has raised fears of a backlash against foreigners in general and asylum seekers in particular.

But Irene Khan, secretary general of human rights organisation Amnesty International, blamed the media for whipping up anti-immigrant sentiment.

"Inflammatory headlines have demonised, stigmatised and dehumanised an entire category of people who are genuinely in fear of their lives," she told Reuters.

Khan said there was nothing to suggest a high degree of criminality among asylum seekers.

Immigration experts say there are up to one million illegal immigrants living in Britain, while some 72,000 people applied for asylum in 2001.

Last week the government introduced tough new immigration measures designed to combat abuse of the system by withholding benefits from those who do not claim asylum immediately upon arrival within Britain, or explain why they didn't. 

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