Paris terrorism trial begins with key suspect in UK jail

A long-awaited terrorism trial will begin in Paris on Tuesday without its star defendant, who remains in a British jail despite attempts by French authorities to have him extradited.

Rachid Ramda, 32, is accused by France of providing the money and inspiration for a series of three Algerian Islamist bomb attacks on the Paris Metro and RER in 1995. Eight people were killed and nearly 200 injured.

Although it was the British police who uncovered evidence allegedly linking him to the bombings, British courts, including the High Court last June, have refused all attempts to extradite him to France. He has now spent almost seven years in jail in London, without being charged with a crime in Britain.

The delay is symbolic in French eyes of the lax attitude of British authorities towards extreme Islamist activity in London. French terror victims and their relatives say that British "obstruction" in the Ramda case contrasts sharply with the leading role claimed by the Blair government in the US-led "war on terrorism" following the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September last year.

The British government did order Mr Ramda's extradition 12 months ago, but this was blocked by a High Court ruling on 27 June. The judges accepted evidence presented by Mr Ramda's lawyers that another Algerian defendant in the Metro bombings investigation had been beaten up during questioning by French police. The court called into question the "good faith" of the French judicial system and ruled that Mr Ramda could not be guaranteed a fair trial in France.

French judicial officials say this judgment is based on a one-sided reading of a "very full" dossier, partly provided by the Metropolitan Police, which points to Mr Ramda's role in the murderous attack on the Saint Michel RER station in Paris in July 1995 and two later Metro bombings.

"We have been relatively polite about it, both in private and public, because we still hope to have the ruling reversed," one French official said. "But you can imagine the reaction in the British press if French courts refused, for seven years, to extradite someone wanted for killing eight people in a bomb attack on the London Tube."

Françoise Rudetzki, the president of the French support group for terror victims, SOS Attentats, said: "We can only be disgusted when we see how eager Mr Blair is to join the Americans in bombing Iraq in the name of a world crusade against terrorism, but the British authorities refuse to extradite this man to face the law in your nearest neighbour and partner in the European Union."

If Britain was concerned for Mr Ramda's human rights, said Ms Rudetzki, why had he been kept in prison in Britain without trial for seven years?

In November 1995, a money transfer for Fr38,000 (£3,635) was made to Boualem Bensaid, the man accused of planning the Metro bombings, and was traced by British police to a Western Union office in Wembley, north London. Mr Ramda's fingerprints were found on the payment slip ordering the transfer, they say.

Mr Bensaid and another Algerian, Smain Ait Ali Belkacem, go on trial in Paris on Tuesday, accused of carrying out the bombings. Mr Ramda may be tried in his absence, or his trial may be delayed.

The French authorities have made another request for his extradition, based on new charges and evidence, which will be heard in London on 25 November.