Hijack charges will not stand up, says lawyer

THE Swede suspected of planning to hijack a Ryanair jet bound for London was moved to a Stockholm jail yesterday as his lawyer predicted a hijacking charge would not hold up in a trial.

Kerim Sadok Chatty, 29, was moved from the police station in Vaesteraas, 60 miles northwest of the capital, where he had been held since last Thursday when security officers at the local airport found a gun in his carry-on luggage as he was about to board a Ryanair flight to Stansted.

Chatty, whose mother is Swedish and father is from Tunisia, was moved to Kronobergshaektet, a jail in the city's police headquarters.

A district court judge on Monday ordered Chatty held in custody as a prosecutor prepares preliminary charges of planning to hijack a plane and illegal possession of a weapon.

Chatty's lawyer, Nils Uggla, is under a gag order restricting his comments, but he said sabotage allegations were "easy to refute" and the hijack charge, which carries a sentence of life in prison, was "questionable".

"In my firm opinion, the hijack charge can never hold up in a trial. I think this will stay at illegal possession of a weapon," Uggla said yesterday.

Uggla has strongly rejected any association with terrorism and said that Chatty a Muslim convert admits having the gun as he prepared to board the flight but can explain why.

Chatty's relatives said he opposed violence and that they were confident he had no hijacking plans and the presence of the gun in his bag must be due to a misunderstanding.

A brother referred to Chatty's criminal record, which includes theft and assault convictions, that he said was part of his "old life". "Criminals carry guns as self-defence," the brother told a Swedish newspaper. "He is a scatterbrain who loses things. He must have forgotten that he had put it in his toiletries bag."

The brother said Chatty had called his family ahead of his planned trip and offered to buy something for them while in England.

His 19-year-old sister, Sarah said her brother was excited about his education at a US flight school, but his interest in flying was "just a hobby".

At least three of the hijackers involved in the September 11 attacks attended or visited US flight schools.