January 11, 2003	Saturday	Ziqa'ad 7, 1423

PARIS, Jan 10: Algerian-born baggage-handler Abderazak Besseghir, who was accused of terrorism after police found arms and explosives in his car at Paris’s main airport, walked free from jail on Friday when the principal witness in the affair admitted that he was framed.

Former foreign legionnaire Marcel Le Hir confessed to police that he lied when he said he saw Besseghir holding a firearm in a car-park at Charles-de-Gaulle airport, and that the five slabs of Tolite, detonators and two automatic guns discovered in his vehicle had been planted.

Le Hir admitted he was acting in concert with a family-member of Besseghir’s late wife, confirming the airport employee’s repeated contention in custody that he was set up by relatives who blamed him for her death.

Besseghir, who has French nationality, refused to talk to journalists when he left Fleury-Merogis jail.