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Algerian accused of training 9/11 pilots can claim millions in damages
Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor14 Feb 2008
An Algerian man who was wrongly accused of training five of the 9/11 hijackers today won the right to claim millions of pounds in compensation.
Lotfi Raissi, who lives in Chiswick, was held in jail for four and a half months shortly after the New York attacks as the US authorities tried to extradite him for questioning over his alleged terrorist links.
He was freed after a judge ruled there was no evidence to support the allegations, despite objections from prosecutors acting on behalf of the American government.
The Home Office had previously rejected a bid for compensation by Mr Raissi, but today the Court of Appeal ordered ministers to reconsider that decision.
It said there had been "serious defaults" by the Crown Prosecution Service and police in presenting the case against Mr Raissi and that the "exceptional circumstances" meant that he was entitled to claim under a discretionary compensation scheme for those who were wrongly prosecuted or convicted.
Although the ruling does not mean Mr Raissi will automatically receive a payout, his claim, which will include damages for loss of earnings, time in jail and effects on his life and health, is expected to run into millions of pounds.
As he celebrated today's decision, Mr Raissi, 33, called for an apology from the Government, but insisted he had always believed the courts would support his case.
"I wept with relief when I heard the judgment. I have always said I believed in British justice and I finally got it today," he said. "Surely I can expect to hear from the Home Secretary with the longawaited apology very soon. They destroyed my life, they destroyed my career. For this I will never, ever forgive them. I abhor terrorism in any shape or form."
Mr Raissi, a pilot, was arrested at his home under the Terrorism Act on 21 September 2001. He was released after seven days but rearrested under an extradition warrant issued at the request of the US government. Although the charges listed covered only his failure to declare his true medical history and a conviction for stealing a briefcase at Heathrow Airport, he was remanded in custody after CPS lawyers said he had trained four of the 9/11 hijack pilots.
It had also been alleged that he had undergone flight training in Arizona with one of the hijackers on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon and that he had links with another terror suspect being sought over the 9/11 attacks. None of the terrorist allegations was substantiated, however, and Mr Raissi was released in February 2002 after a senior judge ruled there was no evidence against him.
In today's judgment, Lord Justice Hooper said the Government - which argued it was not liable because it was acting on behalf of the US - had been wrong to reject Mr Raissi's previous attempt to claim compensation and declared he had been the victim of "serious default" by the British authorities. "The public labelling of the appellant 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," Lord Justice Hooper said.
"He considers that, unless he receives a public acknowledgement that he is not a terrorist, he will be unable to get his life back together again. We have allowed the appellant's appeal ordering that his application for compensation be referred back to the Home Secretary for reconsideration in the light of this judgment."
