NICOSIA, July 10: Cypriot authorities wrongly deported 10 Pakistani students from Cyprus on suspicion of belonging to the Al Qaeda terror network, their lawyer said on Saturday, adding that he would take their case to the European Court of Human Rights.

But local newspaper reports said the "group leader" was a former Pakistan Air Force pilot, with an expertise of surface-to- air missiles (SAMs) and an unlikely student on the hotel management course he was pursuing in Cyprus.

Politis newspaper said the 39-year old pilot and civil engineer, who was not named, had thousands of hours of flying time under his belt, having trained on Mirages and F-16s, besides having an experience of maintaining and constructing SAMs.

Aircraft diagrams were found in his flat, said Politis, which claimed the man was was also the group's "spiritual leader".

The Cypriot lawyer, Sotiris Drakos, said he was not convinced by the government's case.

"The government has no evidence to prove that these people were Al Qaeda (members). I don't believe this was a genuine security case, none of it makes sense," Mr Drakos said.-AFP