Babar Ahmad to be extradited. posted by Richard Seymour

Speaking of torture, the Home Office has decided to grant a US extradition request for Babar Ahmad. There is a possibility that he will end up in Guantanamo. Ahmad has been accused by the US of raising money for terrorism through e-mail and various websites. These accusations are pathetic, as we shall see.

Ahmad was first arrested in 2003 under the Terrorism Act of 2000, whereupon he had the shit kicked out of him by the plod squad. He was released without charge, whereupon he sent a complaint to the IPCC about his treatment. The IPCC forwarded the case to the Crown Prosecution Service July 2004, and less than two weeks later the US issued a signed affidavit requesting his extradition to the US. In September, the CPS decided that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute officers for Ahmad's assault. They initially said the injuries were old, then claimed that they were sustained as he violently resisted arrest. Take a look at the pictures for yourself. And check the Ahmad family's account:

The officers then marched him to the police van outside whilst stamping on his bare feet with their boots. His ordeal continued in the police van on the way to Charing Cross Police Station. Two officers were in the back of the van with him. He was strangled once and then a second time with a much tighter grip. He thought he was going to die and the officer said to him "You are going to remember this day for the rest of your f****** life, do you understand me you f****** bastard?"

Once the van arrived at the police station, the officers stopped their abuse and escorted him inside as if nothing had happened. Babar could barely walk. Inside the police station the two officers removed their helmets and Babar took a good look at them. He noted their appearance and memorised their identification numbers.

In police custody, his solicitors came with a digital camera and took nineteen photographs of his injuries. The Forensic Medical Examiners called to see him, failed to act in an unbiased way. They denied him proper medical treatment or attention on the grounds that it would be practically difficult. His head was throbbing and his body was in pain. They refused to arrange a skull x-ray or even give him an ice-pack to soothe the swelling.

It was only on 3rd December 2003, the next day, that an independent doctor was called in by his solicitors. Dr Adnan Siddiqui, an experienced General Practitioner, examined him in the presence of one of the Forensic Medical Examiners. He identified more than 50 injuries, including two potentially life-threatening ones. Babar had blood in his ear canal, which had not been looked at by the police doctors. This medical sign signifies possible skull fracture and warrants an x-ray. Babar was denied this. He also had blood in his urine (again not checked by the Forensic Medical Examiners), which pointed to damage or bruising of the kidneys.

And the account of the A&E consultant at UCLH who examined Ahmad after he was released:

There is clearly unequivocal evidence that he [Babar] was subjected to a harrowing physical and psychological assault by police officers. He was clearly badly beaten up although in a reasonably controlled manner ... aimed at inflicting significant soft tissue trauma with pain, but not to cause any life-threatening injuries.

Well, if the CPS let Harry Stanley's killers go, they'll acquit anything in a dark blue uniform that grunts.

Now to those charges. To a very large extent, they are relying upon the ignorance of the general public. One of the claims the affidavit makes is that Ahmad sought to purchase 5000 tonnes of "sulfur / phosphate based fertilizers" from Pakistan, and it is alleged that he was trying to funnel this stuff to groups in Chechnya and Afghanistan. This is what the US generally calls free trade, but I bet one or two hairs are already standing up. Fertilizer equals explosives, right? Nope: ammonium nitrate based fertilizer equals explosives, sometimes. Sulphur or phosphate based fetiilizers equals vegetables. Further, to get 5000 tonnes of any substance at all into Afghanistan and Chechnya would require some considerable resources and logistical clout - which would be a great deal of effort just to grow pretty flowers in Kabul or Grozny. Ahmad was also accused of being in the possession of a "a several page tourist brochure of the Empire State Building" which, although dating back to 1973 when Ahmad's father visited the building, could entail a fiendish plan to detonate a major public building. The affidavit promises a specific reference to Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan in some of Babar Ahmad's 1997/8 correspondence, but never delivers it. What it does say is that someone asked a company to contact Ahmad in connection with the export of "mangoes" (scare quotes in original). Now, what various things can a Muslim man mean by "mangoes"? Presumably US intelligence imagines that there is some Quranic code in which "mangoes" is deciphered as "lots of weapons".

Ahmad is accused of mon-military support for mujahideen in Afghanistan or Chechnya during the late 1990s, but even if it is true, this was not illegal: these groups are still not on the Home Office list of proscribed terrorist organisations. Even in the US, it was not until after September 11th, and therefore after the time covered by Ahmad's alleged activities. And if there are other charges to be brought, then they could easily be brought in a British court of law, supposing there is actual evidence involved. It is remarkable that Ahmad is being extradited on the basis of such flimsy evidence. There is nothing, even in what the US claims, to suggest that Ahmad had anything to do with terrorist activities.

Ahmad's family is terrified that he will end up in some torture chamber in America's global gulag for activities that, even if accurately described, were not crimes. They have reasonable grounds for their fear.