The Portuguese authorities deported last Sunday an Algerian suspected to be involved in the 9/11 attacks. He was imprisoned in Lisbon for fraud. The lawyer of the deported accused the Portuguese services of foreigners and borders of keeping him in custody in order to hand him over to the Algerian authorities.Sofiane Elaib was arrested on April 02nd 2003 “when he was about to buy a mobile phone with a fake credit card” he was sentenced to two years and a half of prison. He was also suspected of terrorist activity and making contacts with the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks in the USA. The APS, Algerie Presse Service, reported yesterday.
Envoys from the U.S. FBI visited Elaib at prison and had an informal talk with him. He was taken to the airport at dawn two days before the end of the prison sentence. He was deported without his lawyerÂ’s knowing whereas the judge of the court in Portugal decided to suspend the deportation. The argument was that he was likely to be sued and imprisoned in Algeria, the source reported from the defence of the deported man.
The Portuguese services of foreigners and borders said in a communiqué “they have executed an administrative decision to deport and transport the national to his country of origin where he was handed over to the authorities, as part of observing the laws and an agreement with the judicial authorities.”