Lotfi Raissi wins compensation battle

[Al-khiyal]

An Algerian pilot wrongly jailed in Britain for allegedly training the September 11 hijackers says the British government is unfairly refusing to pay him compensation.

Lotfi Raissi, 32, claims the ordeal ruined his life, damaged his reputation and caused lasting psychological damage.

Raissi's lawyers have asked the High Court to overturn the government's 2005 decision not to compensate him. The two-day hearing wrapped up Wednesday, with a ruling expected within a few weeks.

The government says its compensation plan for miscarriages of justice does not apply in extradition cases. "Ex gratia" payments are made out of compassion and do not mean the government accepts legal responsibility.

Raissi was arrested near London's Heathrow Airport shortly after the 2001 attacks, having been indicted by a United States federal grand jury in Arizona.

United States prosecutors described him as a prime suspect in the September 11 case, claiming he offered pilot training to the hijackers.

His lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, told the court the charges were "completely without foundation."

"His basic complaint arises from the fact that he was detained for four-and-a-half months without any justification on the basis of a United States extradition request," Fitzgerald said.

Raissi was held in the high-security Belmarsh prison in London, and refused bail at a series of court hearings.

He was eventually released on bail in February 2002, and in April 2002 a judge ruled there was no evidence linking him to terrorism.

Fitzgerald said the government was taking "a literal and restrictive interpretation" of its compensation rules and said Raissi deserved compensation because his case was exceptional.

"He has been accused of the worst imaginable crime: Training pilots for these atrocities, and detained for four-and-a-half months," Fitzgerald said. "To say that is nothing exceptional is plainly irrational."

But government lawyer Khawar Qureshi said the compensation policy did not apply in extradition cases. He said Raissi could not claim his case was exceptional because he had never been completely exonerated of the charges and might still be arrested if he went to the United States.

Wrongly accused Algerian pilot sues Britain

[liberte]

A pilot wrongly accused of training the 9/11 hijackers has lost his fight for compensation for his ordeal.

Lotfi Raissi was detained for nearly five months at London's Belmarsh prison after being arrested following the 2001 attacks in the United States.

Two High Court judges ruled against his challenge to the government's decision to deem him ineligible for a Home Office compensation scheme.

The Algerian said the refusal of bail for him amounted to wrongful detention.

Lord Justice Auld and Mr Justice Wilkie ruled that Mr Raissi's detention was as part of an extradition case that was not "in the domestic criminal process" and thus did not come within the compensation scheme.

Mr Raissi said the ruling was "a body blow".

His lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald QC, had previously told the High Court there was "not a shred of evidence" against his client, and that the sole reason for his detention was a US extradition request.


Because of my profile of being Algerian, Muslim, Arabic and an airline pilot, I suffered this miscarriage of justice
Lotfi Raissi

Mr Raissi has said he was traumatised by his time in custody and that the whole episode had left him unable to pursue his ambition to be a commercial pilot.

He was released on bail in February 2002, and, two months later, a judge declared there was no evidence linking him to the attacks.

Mr Raissi wanted compensation from a government fund for those who have been victims of miscarriages of justice, but government lawyers said this did not apply to extradition cases.


Mr Khawar Qureshi, appearing for the home secretary, also argued that the pilot could not claim a payment as an "exceptional case" because he had never been fully exonerated.

Life 'ruined'

Though a judge in Britain had found there was no offence for which he could be extradited, that did not amount to exoneration.

The judge's view would not necessarily prevent the US authorities commencing a prosecution "if Mr Raissi were to set foot in America".

Speaking after the ruling, Mr Raissi said: "The Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service are 'domestic', and they played a key role in the extradition proceedings by wrongly naming me as an international terrorist and by ensuring that I spent almost five months in Belmarsh.

"The court's decision allows the home secretary to ignore the part played by those public bodies in ruining my life.

"I have no choice but to keep my faith in British justice and pray that it won't be too much longer in coming.

"The reality is that because of my profile of being Algerian, Muslim, Arabic and an airline pilot, I suffered this miscarriage of justice."

BBC NEWS | UK | Pilot loses compensation battle

[Al-khiyal]

An Algerian-born pilot wrongly jailed in Britain on accusations that he trained the September 11 hijackers lost a legal bid for compensation Thursday at London's High Court.

Two judges ruled that the government was entitled to exclude Lotfi Raissi, 33, from its compensation policy for victims of miscarriages of justice because he had been held on a US extradition warrant. The judges said the legal proceedings did not fall "in the domestic criminal process."

Raissi said he planned to appeal, arguing he had suffered a miscarriage of justice "because of my profile of being Algerian, Muslim, Arabic and an airline pilot."

Raissi was arrested near London's Heathrow Airport shortly after the 2001 attacks after being indicted by a federal grand jury in the US state of Arizona. United States prosecutors described him as a prime suspect in the 9/11 case, claiming he offered pilot training to the hijackers.

However, the United States had sought to extradite Raissi on charges of falsifying applications for a pilot's license - he allegedly failed to disclose a knee operation - and other documents.

A British judge refused to extradite Raissi to face trial and released him after almost five months in custody, claiming there was no evidence to link him with terrorism.

Raissi has claimed the ordeal ruined his life, damaged his reputation and caused lasting psychological damage.

The British government told Raissi in 2005 he was not eligible for compensation, saying its compensation policy did not apply in extradition cases. Government lawyers said Raissi could not claim his case was exceptional because he had never been completely exonerated of the charges and might still be arrested if he went to the United States.

Raissi said British police and prosecutors had played a big part in his detention.

"The court's decision allows the Home Secretary to ignore the part played by those public bodies in ruining my life," he said.

"I have no choice but to keep my faith in British justice and pray that it won't be too much longer in coming."

Last year, an appeal hearing granted him the right to challenge that decision.

Algerian pilot falsely linked to 9/11 loses compensation bid

[nedjma95]

This is pure discremination if mr Riassi was british or american , he would have had his compensation .

It is true they did damage him emotionally , and maybe professionally .

But his reputation I dont think so .

Hope he will get what he needs . Good luck to him.

[Al-khiyal]

Wrongly jailed pilot loses compensation bid

[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]

November 12, 2007 -- The wife and brother of a pilot falsely accused of involvement in the September 11 terror attacks have begun a courtroom battle for damages.

Sonia Raissi, whose Algerian husband Lotfi was the first person accused of participating in the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, and Mohamed Raissi, are each seeking damages in excess of £150,000 in their High Court action against the Metropolitan Police.

Mrs Raissi, of Chiswick, west London, and her brother-in-law, of Heston, Hounslow, say their arrests by anti-terrorist police on September 21, 2001, were "unlawful" and that they were falsely imprisoned.

Lotfi Raissi was arrested 10 days after September 11 following an extradition request from the United States. He and his wife were living at Colnbrook, Berkshire, at the time. He was eventually released in February 2002 and a judge ruled that there was "no evidence" to suggest that he was connected to 9/11 or any form of terrorism.

Mr Justice McCombe, sitting in London, is being asked to rule on the issue of liability in the case brought by Mrs Raissi and Mohamed Raissi, which is being contested by the police.

French-born Mrs Raissi, a dancer who was working at Heathrow as a customer service agent for Air France at the time of her arrest, was released without charge after five days. Mohamed Raissi was detained for around 42 hours and also released without charge after being arrested at the home he shared with his wife in Hounslow. He had been due to start a new job as a cleaning supervisor at Heathrow airport on the morning he was arrested but the offer was withdrawn.

Lotfi Raissi, now aged 33, who spent nearly five months in jail following the false allegations, has an appeal pending against a ruling earlier this year that the Home Secretary was entitled to exclude him from a Home Office ex gratia compensation scheme for victims of miscarriages of justice.

Two High Court judges ruled that Raissi had been held in extradition proceedings which were not "in the domestic criminal process" and therefore did not fall within the compensation scheme.

Mr Raissi has described the four-and-a-half months he spent wrongly held at top security Belmarsh prison as having "ruined" his life, damaged his reputation, lost him his career and caused him distress and psychiatric injury.

His 35-year-old brother and his wife, now aged 31, are claiming damages arising out of their arrests and subsequent detention on September 21. Their claim is that as a result of what happened to them they suffered "loss of liberty, humiliation, personal injury and loss and damage".

Pair seek damages over 9/11 arrests