Court Backs '9/11' Pilot's Claim

A court ruling today means the Government will have to reconsider a previously denied claim for compensation for a 33-year-old pilot's detention over the 9/11 attacks in the USA.

A pilot wrongly accused of training the hijackers is now said to be entitled to claim damages, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

Judges said evidence suggested "serious defaults" in the decision to detain Lotfi Raissi in prison for nearly five months after a US extradition request.

Mr Raissi wants an apology and says his claim may run into millions of pounds. The government has said it may appeal.

Mr Raissi first applied for compensation in March 2004 under a Home Office scheme for people deprived of their liberty because of a miscarriage of justice.

He is claiming compensation for the time spent in prison and the money he paid to train as a pilot, estimated at about £60,000.

Mr Raissi is currently not working and says he is blacklisted from working for any airline. He also intends to claim for compensation for the loss of his career.

He said he also plans to claim for damage to his health and the general effect on his life and his family.

The Algerian pilot was arrested under the Terrorism Act at his home in the UK soon after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.

He was held under an extradition warrant issued at the request of the US government, which accused him of having trained the 19 hijackers.

The US alleged he attended flight training and used a flight simulator at a training school in Arizona at the same time as 9/11 hijacker, Hani Hanjour.

Mr Raissi remained in Belmarsh Prison for four-and-a-half months until he was granted bail. The Crown Prosecution Service, which was representing the US, had objected to bail.

It later emerged that Mr Raissi and Hanjour may have flown on the same day at the flight school and may have trained on the simulator together.

However, there was no evidence he trained Hanjour or had any links with him or any of the other hijackers.

(BMcC)