AKI - The father of Mohammed Atta, the leader of the September 11 hijackers, says a video published by the British daily The Sunday Times, showing Atta 20 months before the Twin Towers attacks, is false. "The video-testament of my son is false and I continue to believe he is innocent" Muhammad al-Amir al-Sayd Atta, 71, told Saudi daily al-Watan. "The Americans tampered with and falsified that video" he alleged, " they want to change the truth in order to achieve their goals in the Middle East."

Atta senior, who keeps a photo of his suicide attacker son in the hallway of his home just outside of Cairo, said: "There is a big difference between this photo and the images shown by the Americans - that one is not my boy."

The British newspaper said the hourlong tape was obtained "through a previously tested channel," and had been authenticated, on condition of anonymity, by sources from al-Qaeda and the United States.

Atta, who flew one of the planes that brought down the World Trade Center, appears alongside Ziad al-Jarrah, who piloted United Airlines flight 93, which crashed into a Pennsylvania field.

Wearing a dark sweater and looking very different from the mugshot of him released after the September 11 attacks, he pats his hair into place after trying on a hat and appears to be the more reticent of the two hijackers.

The Sunday Times said the footage was taken in Afghanistan and was meant to be released after the men's deaths.

Video on TimesOnline