Anger over terror suspect cases

Aamer Anwar (second from left) said there was no evidence against the men

A lawyer has accused police of harassment in the treatment of Algerian men questioned about terrorism.

Aamer Anwar said that, although charges against the nine men have been dropped, their names are still on a suspects list being circulated by the police.

The men were arrested in Edinburgh in December 2002 on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack but later released.

They protested their innocence at a news conference and insisted they have no links with terrorism.

The men said they are innocent asylum seekers who are being unfairly treated because they are Muslim and claimed that the UK Government is putting lives at risk by relying on inaccurate intelligence information.

On Friday one of the men, Hakim Ziem, was arrested on immigration charges and taken to the Dungavel Detention Centre in Lanarkshire.

All this is a product of prejudice fuelled by fantasy, a witch-hunt in other words Aamer Anwar Human rights lawyer

He was released from the centre on Tuesday morning, according to human rights lawyer Mr Anwar.

The men said they had been put on an MI5 list of 82 al-Qaeda suspects.

Mr Anwar warned that if deported to Algeria they could be treated as suspected terrorists in their own country.

He said: "The lives of nine men have been turned upside down. If they go back to Algeria their lives will be at risk from people that conclude there is no smoke without fire.

"The men were released on police bail in March. That's to say they were released on the same bail terms as a shoplifter. That doesn't usually happen to international terrorists."

The men were arrested after a series of raids on suspects

Mr Anwar said the evidence which led to the arrests was "entirely erroneous".

He said: "These men had always insisted their innocence. One intelligence item that has been made public was the observation that one of the men had been receiving a suspiciously large number of visitors during Ramadan.

"That's like complaining that a Christian family has been receiving rather a lot of visitors over Christmas."

The lawyer said members of the Muslim community have accused the police of trying to bribe and bully them into spying on fellow Muslims.

'Product of prejudice'

"All this is a product of prejudice fuelled by fantasy, a witch-hunt in other words," he said.

One of the men, Ali Serir, 29, said his Scottish wife Karen was too ill to attend the media conference because of the stress triggered by his arrest.

He said: "For me it (being arrested) was like a joke, I was laughing. But my wife was crying.

"She is in shock, she is not a terrorist and I am not a terrorist.

Ali Surir said he thought his arrest was a joke

"We are here to be like working class people and just get on with our lives and jobs and look after our families."

The men were suspected of preparing acts of terrorism, possibly targeting the Hogmanay Party in Edinburgh.

But after an extensive investigation, all charges against them were dropped.

The lawyer added that if the men had been al-Qaeda members, they would have left the country quickly after their release.

The Home Office said it does not comment on security matters.