Police in Dublin are interrogating a 44-year-old Muslim convert in connection with alleged threats to kill US President Barack Obama.

The suspect, Khalid Kelly, who is a converted Muslim, made the alleged remarks in a Sunday newspaper article.

Mr Kelly was arrested at his home in Dublin's north inner city early yesterday and taken to a police station for questioning. He can be held in custody for up to three days without charge.

Born Terry Kelly, from the Liberties area of Dublin, he converted to Islam while serving a jail sentence in Saudi Arabia for illegally distilling and selling alcohol. He later travelled to Pakistan, where he claimed he trained with tribal warlords with the intention of going to Afghanistan.

While in Britain he associated with radicals and became a member of the now banned British group al Muhajiroun, and during several TV and newspaper appearances defended attacks on New York and London.

His arrest yesterday arose from an article published last weekend in which he allegedly said al-Qaida had chosen Ireland as a perfect place to launch an attack on Mr Obama, and that the terrorists would pay up to €1m (£0.9m) to anybody prepared to kill Mr Obama.

Meanwhile, it emerged last night that special court sittings are to be held to deal with arrests arising from protests over the visits of the Queen and Mr Obama.

The sittings will be held day and night from Monday until the following Tuesday week.

The nine days of district court sittings have been sanctioned as part of contingency plans to cope with a spate of arrests of potential attackers or demonstrators deemed to have broken the law.

Gardai have advised protesters that peaceful demonstrations against the visits will be policed in the normal manner.

But they have warned the groups that breaches of the law will not be tolerated and any attempt to disrupt the schedules of the two VIPs by blocking their intended routes or interfering with the detailed planning will be dealt with robustly.