Pilot cleared to claim compo for arrest

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 yesterday.

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 British Home Office but was refused — a decision upheld in the High Court.