Ryanair jet 'hijacker' faces further charges

The evidence against Kerim Chatty reveals a crime so serious that it is unprecedented in Sweden, police said yesterday as the suspected hijacker appeared in court.

Mr Chatty, 29, who is accused of trying to hijack a Ryanair flight to London and of illegally possessing a firearm, also faces charges of plane sabotage and airport sabotage. The charges, after "discovery of fresh evidence", indicate the prosecution will try to prove he endangered passengers' lives by intending to use the Boeing 737 as a weapon.

Yesterday, Judge Thomas Wallin, at a court in Vasteras, north-east of Stockholm, agreed to a prosecution request that Mr Chatty, of mixed Swedish and Tunisian parentage, should remain in custody for two more weeks.

Swedish authorities had officially denied claims by intelligence sources that Mr Chatty was part of a plot to fly the hijacked plane into a United States embassy in Europe. Details of the new evidence were not made public, but a police spokesman, Ulf Palm, said: "This is a serious crime and unusual in Sweden. It is considered the most serious of crimes and means he can be sentenced to life imprisonment."

Mr Chatty made his first public appearance yesterday since his arrest last Thursday, with his hair and beard shaved off, wearing a beige T-shirt, blue sports slacks and blue-and-white sandals. He pleaded not guilty to all charges except illegal possession of a firearm. A loaded pistol was in his toilet bag as he tried to board flight FR685 to Stansted at Vasteras airport.

The court was cleared of the public, at the request of Thomas Haggstrom, the chief prosecutor at the office of international prosecutors, despite objections from Mr Chatty's lawyer, Nils Uggla. He said his client had nothing to hide. Outside the court he said he was surprised and disappointed by the prosecution.

"There was no word from the police about prosecution over the weekend, in spite of me leaving my phone number with them," he said. "The prosecutor has not met my client. My client has said to me, 'I am no hijacker and terrorist. I am convinced the police and the prosecutor will believe me.' He was confident everything would calm down after a while, then the truth will emerge. It is a completely different truth than what is now being portrayed in the media."

Mr Chatty had taken flying lessons in America as had the 11 September hijackers. He told police he was on his way to Birmingham to an Islamic conference by the Salafi sect. Mohamed Atta, the suspected leader of the 11 September suicide teams, and Richard Reid, the alleged "shoe bomber", are also in the sect.

Sarah Chatty, the defendant's 19-year-old sister, insisted there was nothing sinister in her brother's flight training. "It was a hobby. Like I like to dance, he likes to fly," she said. "He likes all people. He does not like to judge. I know it has to be a misunderstanding. He would never hurt anyone. He was a devout Muslim and he was going to Birmingham for the conference. But we did not talk about religion. He said, 'I am going to England, do you want me to buy you anything?'" Mr Chatty's father, Sarok, said: "I have got all the facts. I am sure my son will be freed from all suspicions of hijacking. He will only be detained for breaches of gun law."

Sweden has experienced hijacking and terrorism. In 1972, a hijacked plane was flown to Malmo from Yugoslavia. In 1977, a hijacked Estonian flight was taken to the country, as were four planes from the Soviet Union between 1990 and 1993. The West German embassy was attacked in 1975, and the 1986 assassination of the Prime Minister Olof Palme remains unresolved.

¿ Eight men accused of helping finance al-Qa'ida and recruit fighters for Osama bin Laden's network appeared before a Dutch judge yesterday. The charges were not specified. In a separate case, a Rotterdam judge extended the custody of three suspects accused of plotting attacks against US targets in France and Belgium.