News from Algeria 2007

[Al-khiyal]

Algeria's National Higher Education Council (CNES) announced on Wednesday (February 21st) that it will begin a week-long national strike on Saturday. If the first protest fails to bring results, others will be held on March 4th and 5th and March 13th-15th. The country's university professors are demanding a wage increase and a change in statutes related to both teachers and researchers. Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem said Wednesday that the government has earmarked $1.4 billion for the promotion of research and development. He said that adequate education and research sectors are essential to boosting the competitiveness of the Algeria’s industries.

Algeria's National Higher Education Council prepares general strike

[Al-khiyal]

Lotfi Raissi had modest aspirations for a life in Britain - to work as an airline pilot, watch Premiership football and visit the theatre occasionally. Then British security services pulled him from his bed in a Berkshire flat at 3am on the morning of 21 September 2001.

It was the beginning of a six-year ordeal in which he would be named as a flight instructor of the 9/11 hijackers, locked up in Belmarsh jail for five months to await extradition to the US and, ultimately, be released when no evidence of his involvement materialised.

With his reputation irrevocably sullied - more than 500 news reports worldwide named him as the first person accused of participating in the New York attacks - the best Mr Raissi had hoped for was the right to seek compensation. But this was denied him yesterday by two High Court judges, who ruled that the Home Secretary was entitled to exclude the 32-year-old Algerian from a Home Office ex-gratia compensation scheme for victims of miscarriages of justice.

Lord Justice Auld and Mr Justice Wilkie, sitting at the High Court in London, ruled that the scheme, designed to compensate those who have been detained in the UK for the loss they have suffered as the result of a formal and wrongful accusation of crime, did not cover those held pending extradition. Mr Raissi's case was not in "the domestic criminal process", they said.

Mr Raissi's solicitors, Tuckers, have lodged an appeal. They argue that those involved in his arrest - the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service, which advises the police from the outset of investigations - were "domestic" agencies. Mr Raissi said he was prepared to take his case to the House of Lords. "The actions of the police have ruined me," he said. "I've applied for hundreds of jobs but I don't even get replies. Who - if not the British police - was responsible for my arrest?"

Mr Raissi insists that the police, whose conduct in the case remains under investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, were involved in seizing evidence from his flat which the US considered integral to its extradition case. This included video footage from his laptop which the US said captured Mr Raissi, a flying instructor, in Arizona with Hani Hanjour, the Saudi pilot who is thought to have flown American Airlines flight 77 into the Pentagon and who, the US initially claimed, was trained by Mr Raissi.

After Mr Raissi's lawyers pointed out that the poor quality webcam footage actually showed him with a cousin and a friend at his flat, the US made no further mention of the video and gradually other "evidence" evaporated in the same way. Claims that the two men had flown in the same aircraft on 8 March 1999, and that Mr Raissi had been funded by al-Qa'ida, were both unfounded.

After the serious charges collapsed, Mr Raissi faced extradition to the US on minor charges that he failed to declare an old theft conviction and a tennis injury when applying for his US pilot's licence. In April 2002, a British judge said there was "no evidence" to suggest he was involved in terrorism and ordered his release.

"I was arrested because they were looking desperately for somebody to arrest, wanted a scapegoat and I - an Algerian in Britain - fitted the bill," Mr Raissi said yesterday, reflecting on the collapse of the bright hopes he had when his US student visa ran out in 2000 and he moved to Britain to convert his US flying qualification to European standard.

He has been blacklisted by all airlines, and his wife, Sonia, who was also arrested in 2001, has been sacked from her ground-staff job with Air France. The only financial compensation has been a pay-out from The Mail on Sunday which, while publishing details of the case against Mr Raissi, added the allegation that he had also stolen the identity of a 74-year-old grandmother who had died four years earlier.

The assumption of guilt which Mr Raissi says he faces is worse in Britain than in Algeria, where his father, a retired pilot, and his mother both live. "Many Algerian people are frustrated by what they see as a miscarriage of justice," he said.

He insists he will not leave Britain. "I'm not going anywhere with my tail between my legs," he said. "The court's decision allows the Home Secretary to ignore the part played by those public bodies in ruining my life. But I have no choice but to keep my faith in British justice and pray that it won't be too much longer in coming."

Raissi's six-year ordeal

1996: Lotfi Raissi leaves Algeria for the US with ambitions to be a pilot

October 2000: With a US commercial pilots' licence, he and wife, Sonia, leave US for life in Britain

21 September 2001: In 3am raid, he is arrested on suspicion of involvement in New York attacks. His wife and brother are also arrested. They are released after four days but Mr Raissi is sent to Belmarsh

12 February 2003: Judge allows Mr Raissi bail, after saying there seemed to be no credibility to US claims about him

21 April 2003: All charges are dropped. Successfully sues The Mail on Sunday for libel

October 2006: Mr Raissi pursues Government for compensation

February 2007: Compensation denied. Mr Raissi to appeal. Algeria refuses to sign agreement with UK over extradition of hijackers until it acknowledges its treatment of Mr Raissi was flawed

Algerian accused of training 9/11 pilots refused compensation for a shattered life

[Al-khiyal]

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin on Thursday hailed the "strong ties" between France and Algeria, during a meeting with visiting Algerian National Assembly Speaker Amar Saadani.

"We have strong relations, even if they have been marked by painful episodes. Algeria occupies a very special place in French people's heart," the prime minister said.

"There are many areas of common interests in economic, cultural, social and security fields," Villepin said, adding that "we share very close concerns and desire to work together."

Villepin declined to comment directly on the future of the friendship treaty between the two countries, saying the two countries "must move forward and work" to develop bilateral relations.

French President Jacques Chirac and his Algerian counterpart Abdelaziz Bouteflika had proposed a friendship treaty in 2004, in order to seal reconciliation efforts between the two countries, but the treaty has not been concluded to date.

French PM hails "strong ties" with Algeria

[Al-khiyal]

Algeria, Feb 23rd. 2007 (WAM) - - Algerian News Agency (WAG) commended today the success achieved by of the 8th edition of the International Defence Exhibition (IDEX 2007) which was concluded yesterday in Abu Dhabi.

A report by WAG said IDEX 2007 which established itself as one of the world's biggest defense exhibitions attracted around 40,000 local and international visitors and saw the signing of defense and military equipment contract worth around AED 3 billion (920 million USD).

IDEX 2007 highlighted in Algerian media

[Al-khiyal]

ALGIERS, Feb 23 (KUNA) -- Algeria declared on Friday it had made its financial contribution to the financing of the Arab media action plan on the international arena which is aimed countering anti Arab western media campaigns.

In a statement, the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the paid amount represented Algeria's outstanding share of the USD 22 million program plan approved by the Arab information ministers.

By this payment, Algeria has paid its financial obligations to the Arab League and its funds and council's that are concerned with joint Arab action, the statement said.

During the past three days, Algeria has paid a total of USD 640,000 representing its contribution in the league's budget for the year 2007 as well as financial arrears of the period from 2000 to 2006, the statement noted.

Algeria pays share in financing Arab media action plan abroad

[Al-khiyal]

Bomb experts exploded on Thursday a bomb planted just outside of the Mustapha Bacha teaching hospital, Algiers. The explosion shook the area, leaving a heavy cloud of smoke in the sky, and provoked a terror climate among the passers-by and the drivers. The operation took place only 24 hours after another bomb had been defused. It was put in a backpack not far from Mustapha Bacha hospital.

Thursday’s bomb was defused at around 4:30 pm, a rush hour, especially in that place. To make things worse, the bomb was put at a corner of a wall connecting a garden to a tunnel situated just in front of the teaching hospital. Terrorized, car drivers and pedestrians rushed in all directions. People were wondering why police had suspended traffic and sealed the area off until they heard the blast. This brought back the scenario of the day before (Wednesday morning) when police exploded another bomb at the same place. But this one was nearer to the hospital and at a time large numbers of patient’s visitors were leaving the hospital and workers were returning home.

An atmosphere of terror was then prevailing among inhabitants of Algiers which has recorded a number of false bomb alerts. Police have been receiving false information about booby-trapped cars and bombs planted in different districts of the capital. In addition, a bomb has been exploded by experts in Wed Semmar, Algiers, early last week.

Algiers inhabitants terrorized

[Al-khiyal]

French PM hails "strong ties" with Algeria

Algerian National Assembly Speaker Amar Saadani wrapped up his visit to France on Thursday (February 22nd), which aimed at strengthening parliamentary co-operation between the two countries. Saadani and his delegation attended a congress of the French Parliament Monday in Versailles. Saadani also met with French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. "We have strong relations, even if they have been marked by painful episodes. Algeria occupies a very special place in French people's heart," De Villepin said, adding that both countries share common interests in the economic, cultural, social and security fields. And "desire to work together".

Algeria's Saadani wraps up visit to France