Baggage handler in bomb case framed, says witness

A young airport baggage handler, accused of trying to smuggle a bomb into Charles de Gaulle airport last month, was the innocent victim of a plot by his in-laws. Abderazak Besse-ghir, 27, walked out of prison in Paris, with his 14-month-old son in his arms, after a key witness told investigators he had been part of a conspiracy to frame him.

M Besseghir and his family had insisted all along he was an innocent man who had been framed by his in-laws, in revenge for the death of his wife in a house fire last year. This apparently far-fetched story now appears to be true.

The airport terrorist bomb plot, which caused consternation a year after the alleged attempt by the "shoe-bomber" Richard Reid to destroy a Paris-Miami flight, turns out to have been nothing more than a vicious family quarrel.

Legal proceedings for "false accusation" and "denuniciation of an imaginary crime" were started yesterday against Marcel Le Hir, a former soldier who claimed to have seen M Besseghir with a gun in an airport car-park on 28 December. A search of the young baggage handler's car revealed a bomb and several weapons.

M Le Hir told investigators he had planted this evidence as part of a plot by relatives of M Besseghir's late wife, Louisa. Her family was convinced that M Besseghir was responsible for her death, although police had cleared him of blame.

Although investigators had been suspicious about M Le Hir's testimony, the crucial piece of evidence agianst him was found by M Besseghir's family in their home videos.

The former soldier had denied any connection with M Besseghir's in-laws. He said he was just a passer-by who had spotted the man with a gun. A few days ago, the accused man's family found a video, filmed at the couple's engagement party two years ago. It showed M Le Hir among Louisa's family and friends. Confronted with this, the former soldier admitted his part in the plot to frame M Besseghir.

From the beginning, the Besseghir family had rejected all suggestions he was an Islamic fundamentalist terrorist as "absurd". They said they were a Muslim middle-class family, living a western way of life. His sister, Shamira, said yesterday: "We were a quiet family no one talked about and this fell on our heads. It would make a good plot for a film."

Ichem, his brother, said outside the prison: "We were made to seem like terrorists but we are just Muslims. We practise a French kind of Islam. We don't always say our prayers at the right times."

M Besseghir's lawyer, Maître Philippe Dehapiot, said: "I don't think you can talk about a failure of the justice system. On the contrary, it has functioned very well. As soon as my client's innocence was apparent, he was freed." M Dehapiot said he would consider with his client whether to bring a civil action against those responsible.

M Le Hir and a private detective are to appear before an investigating magistrate.