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Relatives of Algerian pilot say he innocent
An Algerian pilot whom the FBI says trained several of the Sept. 11 hijackers never met them and has no involvement in terrorism, his family was quoted as saying Thursday.
An Algerian pilot whom the FBI says trained several of the Sept. 11 hijackers never met them and has no involvement in terrorism, his family was quoted as saying Thursday.
U.S. prosecutors believe Lotfi Raissi, 27, trained the hijackers of American
Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon.
"Lotfi has told me that he never knew any of these men," his mother, Raeba Raissi, was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph newspaper. "He said, 'I never met any of them, not even in my dreams, or had any contact with them."'
At a court hearing last month, prosecuting attorney Arvinder Sambei said a video seized by police at Raissi's home shows him with Hani Hanjour, identified by U.S. authorities as one of the suspected hijackers. They said the two men trained together at the same Arizona flight school between 1997 and 2000.
Raissi was arrested in September on a U.S. warrant which alleges he lied on an application to obtain a pilot's license, but prosecutors have said he could face a charge of conspiracy to murder. He has been ordered detained at London's Belmarsh Prison until Nov. 27 while U.S. prosecutors build a case for extradition.
Raissi's French wife, Sonia Raissi, told the newspaper her husband had been horrified by the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Bureau Report
"Lotfi has told me that he never knew any of these men," his mother, Raeba Raissi, was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph newspaper. "He said, 'I never met any of them, not even in my dreams, or had any contact with them."'
At a court hearing last month, prosecuting attorney Arvinder Sambei said a video seized by police at Raissi's home shows him with Hani Hanjour, identified by U.S. authorities as one of the suspected hijackers. They said the two men trained together at the same Arizona flight school between 1997 and 2000.
Raissi was arrested in September on a U.S. warrant which alleges he lied on an application to obtain a pilot's license, but prosecutors have said he could face a charge of conspiracy to murder. He has been ordered detained at London's Belmarsh Prison until Nov. 27 while U.S. prosecutors build a case for extradition.
Raissi's French wife, Sonia Raissi, told the newspaper her husband had been horrified by the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Bureau Report