LONDON, Feb 27, 2008 (AFP) — The government intends to appeal a court ruling allowing an Algerian airline pilot wrongly accused of training the September 11, 2001 hijackers to claim compensation, the government announced Wednesday.
Earlier this month, the Court of Appeal reversed a lower court ruling last year that had barred Lotfi Raissi from seeking damages from the British government for his wrongful arrest and imprisonment.
According to a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice, the appeal would be based on a "point of law," and would seek to establish the "boundaries" of government compensation.
"We are appealing on a point of law/principle about boundaries of the state compensation scheme. We need to clarify how far government compensation goes e.g. Does the state have to pay compensation every time the police pull someone for questioning?" the spokeswoman said.
Raissi, 33, was arrested 10 days after Islamist extremists hijacked four planes, slamming two into the World Trade Centre in New York, one into the Pentagon in Washington and downed another in Pennsylvania.
He was eventually released in February 2002 and a judge ruled there was "no evidence" to suggest his involvement, completely exonerating him.
His lawyer said Raissi was "bitterly disappointed" by the government's decision to appeal, describing it as "embarrassing."
"Clearly the appeal is not about whether Mr Raissi suffered a miscarriage of justice, nor is it about whether he is 'completely exonerated' -- these issues appear to be beyond dispute," Jules Carey said.
In the Court of Appeal decision, judge Anthony Hooper had said that the labelling of Raissi "as a terrorist by the authorities in this country ... has had and continues to have ... a devastating effect on his life and on his health."
The judgment was also strongly critical of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and police.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
