An Algerian commercial airline pilot from London who was held in jail for five months after being wrongly accused of training the pilots responsible for the September 11 attacks was unjustly denied compensation by the government, a court was told in October.

The accusations were made against Lotfi Raissi, a 32 year-old Muslim pilot, who was detained following a US extradition request. These accusations were “completely without foundation”, his lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, told the high court. The “real injustice” was that the accusation was made “and repeatedly sustained”, he argued.

Mr Raissi said; “My life has been destroyed. I chose to become an airline pilot; I worked hard for it and I starved for it.”

The request was made of two high court judges to overturn the Home Office’s decision last year claiming that he was not eligible for any payment.

Mr Raissi, from Chiswick, west London, was arrested 10 days after the September 11 attacks following the US request, which said he had trained some of the terrorists involved.

He was released on bail in February 2002 and the following April a judge ruled that there was no evidence whatsoever to connect him with terrorism.

“Because of my profile of being Algerian, Muslim, Arabic and an airline pilot, I suffered this miscarriage of justice.” Lawyers continue to plead Mr Raissi’s case.