Lawyers for an Algerian wanted by the United States for a plot to bomb Los Angeles Airport asked a Canadian judge on Thursday to keep a veil of secrecy over his extradition hearing.

Neither a lawyer for Samir Ait Mohamed nor a Canadian prosecutor representing the US government would explain why the request was made, and reporters were removed from the court in Vancouver for arguments over the request.

"I can't talk about it. This is a very unusual case," said Mohamed's attorney, Ian Donaldson, during a break at the British Columbia Supreme Court.

Prosecutor Roger McMeans refused to say if Canada and the United States supported or opposed the request, as did an attorney representing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who was allowed to attend the arguments.

The United States has accused Mohamed, an Algerian living illegally in Canada, with aiding a 1999 plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport. The plan failed when Ahmed Ressam was arrested entering Washington state from Canada in an explosives-laden car.

Ressam was convicted in the case but has since been co-operating with US investigators with information about al Qaeda, which is believed by investigators to have been linked to the LA airport attempt.

Mohamed has been in jail in British Columbia since July 2001. US police say Mohamed and Ressam knew each other in Montreal, and he provided Ressam with stolen credit cards and guns to help finance the bomb plot.

Ressam has testified in US court that he and Mohamed also discussed attacking "Jewish targets" in Montreal.

Justice Barry Davies said on Thursday he was "reluctantly" barring the media from arguments on the secrecy request, and it was not known when he would issue a ruling on how long the court arguments would remain secret. "It puts the court in a difficult position," Davies said before closing the hearing to the public.

Donaldson has also challenged Canada's effort to use security laws passed in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks to support the US extradition request because the crime Mohamed is accused of happened in 1999.

(Reuters)