And they've dragged his compensation case out for another two years...
From the Guardian:
Court sets deadline for Straw to settle case of 9/11 suspect Lotfi RaissiThe justice secretary, Jack Straw, was ordered by a court yesterday to announce whether the government accepts responsibility for one of the UK's longest-standing miscarriages of justice.
The court of appeal gave Straw 28 days to decide whether Lotfi Raissi, a pilot wrongly accused of involvement in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, is entitled to compensation from the government.
The decision on whether to pay damages to Raissi, who spent almost four months in a high-security prison after the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington DC, had been subject to an "inordinate delay". It was noted that Straw accepted the delay had been "deeply regrettable".
Raissi, an Algerian living in the UK, was the first person to be arrested after the 9/11 attacks. Raissi, 27, was accused of being the "lead" instructor of the 9/11 hijackers, and was held in Belmarsh high security prison awaiting extradition to the US.
Ministers were forced to consider his claim for damages after a court of appeal ruling last year found there was evidence Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service had circumvented "the rule of English law" in what judges believed would amount to a serious abuse of process.
Raissi, 35, still lives in the UK but says he has been unable to rebuild his life.
The Guardian last year obtained classified documents produced by the FBI and anti-terrorist officials in the UK that showed British prosecutors failed to disclose crucial evidence to the courts.
Despite a plea from the FBI not to arrest Raissi, anti-terrorist officers from the Metropolitan police stormed his house in Berkshire on 21 September 2001.
Rather than release Raissi when it emerged there was insufficient evidence to charge him, law enforcement officials in the UK colluded with the FBI to obtain a warrant for his extradition. The warrant was requested on charges relating to an allegation that he failed to disclose his knee surgery in a pilot application. In court, the CPS said the pilot application allegations were mere "holding charges".
The Ministry of Justice said: "We explained to the court how the ministry had dealt with the case, and the reasons for this, and our regret over the delay.
"The justice secretary will now make a decision on Mr Raissi's application as quickly as possible."