The Algerian pilot investigators had named as the Sept. 11 hijackers’ “lead trainer” when they jailed him nearly five months ago was set free on bond Tuesday, after the U.S. government failed to produce hard evidence linking him to the terror attacks.
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Lotfi Raissi wept in court and his family applauded from a glass-walled gallery as British Judge Timothy Workman overruled prosecutors’ objections, set bail at about $15,000 and allowed Raissi and his wife to walk hand-in-hand out of a maximum-security prison in southeast London.
The judge ordered Raissi, who also faces two indictments on lesser charges by a federal grand jury in Arizona, to reappear next month for an extradition hearing.
Administration dealt blow
The decision to free a man once viewed as a key suspect in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon was a blow to the Bush administration, which has led a worldwide campaign to round up Sept. 11 suspects as well as other possible terrorists.
The case appeared emblematic of an investigation that has run into increasing difficulties. Only one man, Zacarias Moussaoui, has been charged for his alleged role in the Sept. 11 plot. He was arrested for immigration violations in Minnesota in August, and already was in jail when the attacks occurred.
None of the more-than 1,200 people detained in the United States after the attacks was charged with terrorism; 116 face unrelated criminal charges, according to Justice Department figures released in mid-December, while 460 were being held for immigration violations. The others have been released.
Most of the overseas cases have escaped public scrutiny. CIA Director George Tenet told the Senate Intelligence Committee last week that “nearly 1,000 Al Qaeda operatives” had been arrested in more than 60 countries.
But a U.S. official familiar with the roundups said not all those arrested were Al Qaeda operatives. Moreover, the official said some have been released, suggesting insufficient evidence was found to support continued detention.
U.S. officials in Washington acknowledged that they have not been able to develop concrete evidence tying Raissi to the Sept. 11 hijackers.
“If there were terrorism charges we could have brought against Mr. Raissi, we would have brought them,” said Bryan Sierra, a Justice Department spokesman.
Sierra said Raissi, who was arrested 10 days after the attacks, has not been ruled out as a suspect. And he sought to play down the significance of the British judge’s ruling.
“It’s nothing more than a bond hearing before a foreign government,” he said. “The extradition request is still pending, and we’re still seeking to have him face charges in Arizona.”
Workman’s ruling came after a 35-minute hearing in which Raissi’s attorney blasted the FBI and U.S. prosecutors for “disgracefully” withholding evidence and ignoring witness testimony in their prolonged effort to extradite Raissi to the United States.
Throughout the 20 weeks Raissi was held in London’s Belmarsh Prison, defense lawyer Hugo Keith argued, the FBI examined his life “from top to toe . . . but nothing whatsoever has been forthcoming.”
The FBI refused to discuss Keith’s claims.
Raissi remains a suspect
“You have to remember this is coming from the defense,” an FBI official said. “These are questions that, if it comes to court, we’ll address them then.”
Prosecutor James Lewis, presenting the U.S. case, offered no new evidence Tuesday to support terrorism charges. But he argued that Raissi remains a suspect in “an investigation into an atrocity that has shocked the civilized world.”
Arguing against his release, Lewis said “the fact that he is a suspect is a compelling reason to believe he will fail to appear” for the March 28 extradition hearing.
After 45 minutes of private deliberation, Workman said, “I’m satisfied there’s no likelihood of terrorism charges being proffered against Mr. Raissi in the near future.” He ordered Raissi to surrender his passport.
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