Topic: Lotfi Raissi

Algerian pilot Lotfi Raissi (Arabic: لطفي رئيسي‎) (born April 1974), was the first person charged in connection with the September 11, 2001 attacks. However, in 2003 a British court ruled that the charges against Raissi were without evidence, and that he had no association with the attacks.

Raissi was born and grew up in Bab el Oued, a suburb of Algiers. In November 1996 he moved to Phoenix, Arizona, to attend flight school, including a 1998 stint at Sawyer School of Aviation a month after Hani Hanjour quit.

In April 2000, when his student visa expired, he moved back to Algeria and then to London, with his wife Sonia (née Demolis), whom he had met in the United States.