High court denies bail request for Algerian pilot accused of helping train Sept. 11 hijackers

By JILL LAWLESSS
Associated Press Writer

LONDON – An Algerian pilot accused of training one of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackers was denied bail on Monday after a judge ruled there were "substantial grounds" for believing Lotfi Raissi would flee if released.

Prosecutors have said Raissi, 27, trained at the same Arizona flight school as Hani Hanjour, who was aboard the American Airlines plane that crashed into the Pentagon.

Raissi, who denies any involvement in terrorism, was arrested at his home near Heathrow Airport on Sept. 21 after a federal court in Arizona issued a warrant for his arrest. He is being held in London's high-security Belmarsh prison.

U.S. authorities have asked for Raissi's extradition – not on terrorism charges, but on two counts of falsifying an application for a U.S. pilot's license. Raissi allegedly hid a 1993 theft conviction and failed to mention that he'd had a knee operation.

In court Monday, British prosecutor Brian Gibbins, acting on behalf of the U.S. government, said Raissi had been indicted by an Arizona grand jury on 11 additional counts, including conspiracy to submit a false immigration claim. An extradition request on those charges has not yet been received by Britain, Gibbins said.

High Court judge Duncan Ousely said the extradition charges were not serious in themselves, but that the case had "a terrorist background ... against which I must ask myself, if Mr. Raissi were granted bail, would he turn up?"

There were solid reasons to believe he would not, the judge said.

Gibbins said "a web of circumstantial evidence points to the involvement of Mr. Raissi in a terrorist conspiracy that culminated in the events of Sept. 11."

Prosecutors allege Raissi trained Hanjour on at least one occasion and that he introduced the hijacker to the manager of an apartment complex where Raissi lived.

Gibbins said prosecutors had also linked Raissi to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network through a former roommate whose phone number was found among the possessions of Amar Makhlulif. Also known as Abu Doha, Makhlulif is wanted by U.S. officials in connection with a plot of blow up the Los Angeles airport during millennium celebrations. Makhlulif is in a British prison awaiting extradition.

Raissi's lawyers argue that prosecutors have failed to produce evidence to back up many of their charges, such as the allegation that telephone records show regular contact between Raissi and Hanjour.

A video of Raissi and Hanjour together, cited by prosecutors at an earlier hearing, in fact shows a cousin of Raissi's, defense lawyer Helen Malcolm said.

U.S. prosecutors have said the counts against Raissi are "holding charges" and have suggested he may face a conspiracy-to-murder indictment. Gibbins said the ongoing investigation would in time produce more evidence linking Raissi to terrorist acts.

Ousely acknowledged there were problems with the prosecution case, but said it detailed "a sequence of coincidences that goes beyond coincidence."

"There is sufficient material deployed before me to show the terrorist background to this case cannot be dismissed," he added.

Monday's bail request before Britain's High Court came after an earlier request was denied by a lower court that is handling the extradition proceedings. Raissi's next court hearing is Dec. 14.

APNP-12-10-01 1441CST