Pilot can claim damages over 9/11 case

Lotfi Raissi, the Algerian wrongly accused of training pilots involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, should be allowed to claim compensation, the Court of Appeal ruled today.

Mr Raissi, 33, a pilot, was arrested at his home under the Terrorism Act in September 2001, 10 days after the World Trade Centre atrocity, and was kept in jail for four-and-a-half months.

When he was finally released after no evidence was put before a court to support the terrorism allegations, he claimed compensation from the Home Office but was refused - a decision upheld in the High Court.

Today three judges at the Court of Appeal reversed that ruling and ordered the Home Office to look again at his claim in the light of their judgment which was critical of the Crown Prosecution Service and the police.

Speaking outside court Mr Raissi 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.

"Surely I can expect to hear from the Home Secretary with the long-awaited apology very soon."

Lord Justice Hooper, giving judgment today, said: "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.

"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."

The judge said the appeal court, which also included the Master of the Rolls, Sir Anthony Clarke and Lady Justice Smith, considered that there was a "considerable body of evidence" to suggest that the police and the CPS were responsible for what the scheme describes as "serious defaults".

Jules Carey, from the solicitors representing Mr Raissi, said: "Today's judgment should not only cause the Home Secretary to review the use of provisional extradition warrants, but it should also cause the police and the CPS to fundamentally overhaul their systems and procedures to avoid such a serious miscarriage of justice happening again.

He said the judgment had "completely exonerated" his client of allegations of terrorism.

Two High Court judges ruled in February last year that the Home Secretary was entitled to exclude Mr Raissi from the compensation scheme.

Lord Justice Auld and Mr Justice Wilkie ruled that Mr Raissi, from Chiswick, west London, 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 was the first person accused of participating in the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon and resulted in him being held in a cell for 23 hours a day at Belmarsh top security prison.

Legal director of human rights group Liberty, James Welch, said: "Luckily for Mr Raissi he was arrested before the new extradition arrangements under the Extradition Act 2003 came into force.

"If he were arrested now he would have been whisked off to the US without the possibility of a British court considering the strength of the charges against him.

"His case also shows how easily the authorities can persuade themselves of a need to detain someone for terrorism on the basis of the flimsiest of suspicion.

"Our Parliamentarians should bear this case in mind when considering whether to increase pre-charge detention."