9/11 Scapegoat Pilot cleared

[TonyGosling]

Pilot wrongly accused of training 9/11 hijackers wins appeal to claim millions

Daily Mail - 15th February 2008


Lofti Raissi yesterday: In line to claim millions

An Algerian airline pilot wrongly accused of training the September 11 hijackers is preparing to claim millions of pounds in compensation from British taxpayers following an Appeal Court victory.

Lofti Raissi was the first suspect arrested over the atrocities when he was seized by UK police acting on an FBI request ten days after the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon in 2001.

He was held for months awaiting extradition before judges ruled there was no evidence linking him to the plots, but his claims for compensation over his ruined prospects were turned down by the Government and later by the High Court.

Yesterday three Appeal Court judges overturned that ruling, criticising the Crown Prosecution Service and declaring that Mr Raissi is entitled to claim for the devastating effect his arrest had on his career after he was blacklisted by all airlines.

Emerging from the court, the 33-year-old who lives in Chiswick, West London, said: "I wept with relief when I heard the judgment. I have always said that I believed in British justice and I finally got it today. They destroyed my life, they destroyed my career. For this I will never, ever forgive them.

"Surely I can expect to hear from the Home Secretary with the longawaited apology very soon?"

Mr Raissi was arrested in a pre-dawn raid on September 21, 2001, along with his wife and brother, because the FBI wrongly suspected him of helping teach four of the hijackers to fly airliners.

He was held for four-and-a-half months at Belmarsh top-security prison, confined to his cell for 23 hours a day, awaiting extradition to the U.S. But the Crown Prosecution Service was unable to present any evidence against him or tell a court when he would be charged or extradited, and eventually a judge ordered his release.

By then his career was in tatters, and he has not worked since. He applied for compensation in 2004 under a scheme covering miscarriages of justice, but the Home Office argued that he fell outside the rules because he was held awaiting extradition.

Yesterday senior judges dismissed that argument, paving the way for a huge compensation claim against the Ministry of Justice, including the £60,000 cost of Mr Raissi's pilot training as well as the damage to his career - in terms of lost past and future earnings - and his health.

There is no cap on the amount of compensation he could receive. At the time of his arrest he was 27 and could have expected up to £100,000 salary for the next 20 years or more.

He could also receive payments recognising the damage to his health, reputation and family life.

The Ministry of Justice said it was considering whether to appeal against the ruling.

In his judgment, Lord Justice Hooper said the public labelling of Mr Raissi "as a terrorist by the authorities in this country, and particularly by the CPS, over a period of many months has had and continues to have, so it is said, a devastating effect on his life and on his health".

The ruling added that there was a "considerable body of evidence" to suggest that the police and the CPS were responsible for 'serious defaults' in handling the case.

Mr Raissi said: "I have been through an appalling tragedy and I have suffered a miscarriage of justice. America decided my guilt but they didn't provide any evidence and I believe the British government were following that order. That's not acceptable in a world of democracy.

"I abhor terrorism in any form. My family has been fighting terrorism back home in Algeria for decades.

'I believe I was used as a scapegoat because of my profile - because I'm an Algerian, a Muslim, a pilot and a pilot instructor."

James Welch, legal director of the human rights group Liberty, said the case highlighted serious issues surrounding anti-terrorist legislation, including problems with a more recent extradition deal between Britain and the U.S. struck in 2003.

He said: "If Mr Raissi were arrested now he would have been whisked off to the U.S. without a British court considering the strength of the charges against him. Our Parliamentarians should bear this case in mind when considering whether to increase pre-charge detention."

The Appeal Court ruling that detainees held pending extradition can claim compensation if their case later collapses could bring other terror suspects within the scope of the scheme.

Babar Ahmad - the prisoner at the centre of the recent MP bugging scandal - is awaiting extradition to the U.S., as is Abu Hamza, the hook-handed cleric suspected of supporting Al Qaeda and masterminding kidnappings abroad.


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