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Hijacker-link suspect bailed in UK

Raissi outside court with his wife, Sonia

LONDON, England -- An Algerian pilot, originally linked by U.S. authorities to one of the suspected September 11 hijackers, has been bailed by a British court.

District judge Timothy Workman told the hearing at Belmarsh Magistrates Court, southeast London, on Tuesday that insufficient evidence had been provided to hold Lotfi Raissi for any longer.

Raissi, who had been held in custody since his arrest at his home on September 21, is still wanted by the U.S. for extradition, but Washington has dropped its attempts to extradite him on terror charges.

Instead, he now faces extradition on lesser charges.

The Algerian has been indicted in Arizona for allegedly falsifying information on a Federal Aviation Administration form in June last year and for allegedly helping a fellow Algerian, Redouane Dahmani, falsely apply for political asylum in 2000.

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The U.S. has repeatedly indicated it would eventually file a "conspiracy to murder" charge against Raissi.

At a previous hearing, Workman expressed frustration that the United States had presented no evidence directly linking Raissi to terrorism.

On Tuesday, as the U.S. dropped its bid to extradite Raissi on terror charges, leaving him facing only relatively minor charges, Workman agreed to grant him conditional bail, including £10,000 ($14,261) surety.

He was also told he would have to live at an address specified to the court, he would have to surrender his passport and he was not to apply for international travel documents.

U.S. attorneys on Tuesday argued against bail, saying Raissi, who had been arrested after a request from the FBI, was still the subject of a continuing terrorism investigation, and was likely to flee if released.

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Prosecutors have attempted to link Raissi to Hani Hanjour, the suspected pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, which flew into the Pentagon.

During the hearing prosecutor James Lewis, representing the U.S. Government, argued against bail and said Raissi was still a suspect.

He said: "We are concerned with an investigation into an atrocity that shocked the civilised world.

"Those responsible for and concerned in the attacks must be brought to justice.

"Mr Raissi is a suspect in that investigation."

But one of Raissi's lawyers, Hugo Keith, told the court: "The Americans now seem unwilling to withdraw from their initial position and accept on this occasion they pursued the wrong person.

"He is not a fundamentalist."

Raissi's French wife, Sonia, said outside court: "From the beginning we said Lotfi has nothing to do with all this.

"We've been waiting five months and my message to the FBI is 'You arrested him for terrorism so why do you want to extradite him for these ridiculous, minor charges?'

"They should drop the charges and say sorry to him."

Raissi's brother Mohamed added: "The FBI said to the world that he was a big terrorist and they have to now say to the world that this man is innocent.

"They've destroyed his life, his future and his dream."

Raissi is next due to appear at Bow Street magistrates court in central London in March.