Babar Ahmad. Detained in 2004 on charges of terrorism without a court hearing or evidence and extradited to the US to stand trial

Babar Ahmad, a South London IT worker, and one of the five Muslim men who have recently been extradited to the US by the British government after a long legal battle all had their fate sealed once they decided to oppose Western imperialism. To oppose the US and its allies global designs in any way shape or form will lead to detention without a court hearing or even proof and an inevitable extradition to the US to stand trial.

Babar Ahmad, was born in 1974, and grew up in Tooting, South West London. Like many second generation ethnic minorities in Britain, his parents came here during the 1960s.

Babar gained excellent GCSE and A-Level results and obtained a Masters degree in Engineering from the University of London, he was to later work at the University in the IT department.

On December 2, 2003, Babar was arrested by the UK anti-terrorist police. On arrival at Paddington Green Police Station he had sustained 73 injuries which was documented by police and independent doctors.

According to the Free Babar Ahmad Campaign website, (http://www.freebabarahmad.com) he was bleeding in his ears and urine.

Babar complained to the Independent Police Complaint Commission (IPCC) and had to endure a five-year legal battle against the police officers who arrested and beaten him before they admitted guilt. (Read Police admit abuse of Babar Ahmad :Socialist Worker: 24 March, 2009) According to the Socialist Worker (SW) article, “…four of the officers involved in the assault on Babar have had 60 allegations of assault made against them, 37 from black or Asian men. One had 23 allegations of assault, 17 from black or Asian men.”

SW also said that, “The Met claims it has lost several large sacks of mail relating to these complaints. Officers’ notes and interview transcripts have also gone missing.”

Despite being arrested on charges of terrorism Babar was released without charge six days later, but in August 2004 he was re-arrested in London and taken to prison awaiting an extradition request from the US, who claimed that in the 1990s he was a supporter of terrorism.

The US claims that Babar operated a website which supports Chechen and Taliban groups, however in complete contradiction to the US’s claims, The Crown Prosecution Service in July 2004 and December 2006 stated that there was insufficient evidence against Baba for him to be charged with any offence under UK law. Adding to this UK Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, repeated the same conclusion in September 2006, that there was lack of evidence to charge Baba with any criminal offence under UK law.

According to the Free Baba Ahmad Campaign:

At the centre of the US case against Ahmad is evidence apparently that was not seen by the British legal authorities before it was sent to the US – a situation described in Parliament by both the Conservative MP Dominic Raab and the Labour MP Andy Slaughter as Kafkaesque and reiterated by Green Party Leader, Caroline Lucas. The Metropolitan Police, the very body that took the evidence, sent it straight to the US without showing it to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), it has now transpired. Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, Sadiq Khan, is asking why former Attorney General, Lord Peter Goldsmith and the CPS “misled” the public in 2006 when they said there was “insufficient evidence” to prosecute Ahmad in the UK “when they had not even seen all the evidence.””

It adds, “One of the idiosyncrasies of Ahmad’s case is that he was arrested a year before the US issued an extradition warrant by anti-terrorism police officers at his London home in December 2003 but was eventually released without charge.”

It was former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair who rushed through the 2003 US Extradition agreement which allows the US to seek extradition of any British citizen they accuse of being a terrorist without even supplying proof of guilt, and the accused are not even allowed to challenge the alleged evidence in a British court of law. It is also important to note that the UK is the only nation in the EU to agree to this agreement with the US. Germany, France and Austria refuses to extradite their citizens on those flimsy grounds.

Guantanamo Bay, the infamous US torture camp has imprisoned nearly 800 alleged terrorists, and only convicted one, while eight have died in custody. That means 799 individuals were held and tortured illegally under the US’s version of fair justice. (Read The Anglo-American Judicial System and the Repeal of Habeas Corpus: The detention without trial of Babar Ahmad: By John Goss: Global Research: 6 April, 2012)

Baba was imprisoned for more then eight years without being charged in the UK with a crime, and despite years of legal battles with the House of Lords, British High Courts and the European Court of Human Rights, he along with four others, of which three are British Muslims lost their appeal to be tried in the UK. On October 5, Baba was extradited to the US.

A Totalitarian Future for activists who oppose Western Imperialism

The case of Baba Ahmad highlights how the future of Western oppression will operate. Rebellion against the US and its allies will label the targeted individual or group as terrorists.

Already governments in Western countries are clamping down on civil liberties and making it even a crime to criticise the actions of individual governments overseas. According to journalist, author and documentary maker, John Pilger:

You are all potential terrorists. It matters not that you live in Britain, the United States, Australia or the Middle East. Citizenship is effectively abolished. Turn on your computer and the US Department of Homeland Security’s National Operations Center may monitor whether you are typing not merely “al-Qaeda”, but “exercise”, “drill”, “wave”, “initiative” and “organisation”: all proscribed words. The British government’s announcement that it intends to spy on every email and phone call is old hat. The satellite vacuum cleaner known as Echelon has been doing this for years. What has changed is that a state of permanent war has been launched by the United States and a police state is consuming western democracy.” (Read THE GLOBAL SPY APPARATUS: You Are All Suspects Now. What Are You Going To Do About It?: By John Pilger: Global Research: April 26, 2012)

Kourosh Ziabari writes on Global Research:

Independent sources, including Islamophobia Watch have reported that the monitoring of mosques and the daily affairs of Muslims in the United States has intensified since the 9/11 attacks; the CIA has been carrying out underground intelligence operations to scrutinize the daily life of Muslims within the country.”

 “According to Islamophobia Watch, the CIA has dispatched undercover officers to public places such as bookstores, shops and cafes to keep an eye on the daily affairs of Muslims. It has also used informants known as “mosque crawlers” to monitor sermons delivered by Muslim Imams and take action when necessary.” (Read Islamophobia: The West’s Crusade against Muslims: 8 July, 2012)

Soon, even reading websites such as this, Global Research, ZNet, Socialist Worker and any publication that educates and informs its readers about the realities of the world will be a criminal offence as the US and its allies seek to maintain a passive, uninformed and drone-like public.

The history of state oppression also contains the history of individuals and groups who fought back. In my article Tensions rise as Islamic group burn US flag in London 9/11 remembrance, I spoke about young Muslims being misled by both Mosque leaders who teach them to sit by and say nothing about the war crimes and atrocities committed against Muslim nations, and so called extremists who lead them down a path which hurts innocent civilians. I mentioned that the burden of proof is on the side of Muslims who believe that the US and its allies are terrorists.

Jay Janson is a archival research peoples historian activist, musician and writer; and has written articles that are published on this website. He is coordinator and founder of the King Condemned US Wars International Awareness Campaign and originator of Prosecute US Crimes Against Humanity Now Campaign with a country by country history of US crimes. Through these blogs he wants to prosecute US political leaders, military leaders and the financial backers of war via a mass global public campaign.

Blind, irrational hate will only lead to further blind and irrational hate from others, and although a significant number of whites may be aware of the crimes that their government commit and do nothing, there are activists  and writers like Jay Janson who are trying to do something about it although they may be in the minority. Many of the writers who expose the crimes of the US and its allies; writers on Global Research, ZNet and Socialist Worker etc., are white. This shows the fallacy of blindly attacking innocent civilians in the countries where global crimes are planned.

Jay Janson could do with the support for his campaigns of many Muslims who seek justice for the crimes committed in Muslim lands. Rather than joining militant Muslim groups who later on make deals with the West when it suits them to oppress their fellow Muslims, the Muslim community must begin to steer their anger constructively and engage with groups that genuinely want to change the world for the better.

Baba Ahmad’s fate was sealed from the moment he was accused of terrorism, but the fate of Muslims everywhere, including many activists and conscious individuals who oppose war, imperialism and war crimes are not sealed if they come together and seek to act as one to change the disastrous course in which the world is heading.

For further research:

http://www.freebabarahmad.com

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-anglo-american-judicial-system-and-the-repeal-of-habeas-corpus/

http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/01/06/us-justice-on-trial/

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-global-spy-apparatus-you-are-all-suspects-now-what-are-you-going-to-do-about-it/?print=1

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=12069

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=26652

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=17477

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=29657

 

Author

5 thought on “Arrest, Imprisonment, detention without trial and extradition to the US: The fate that awaits anyone who oppose Western imperialism”
  1. One simple question: What can we do? It is a frightening world that is being offered to us: and that is having our rights to demonstrate peacefully taken away from us. We either accept the terrorist Western Government carrying out illegal wars or face being charged as terrorists or supporters of it.

    We no longer can speak out against Western evil as they have turned it all around and abuse language in such a way that they are the good guys no matter how many babies they kill or how many bloodshed is carried out by their armies to protect Western interest. The truth is there needs to be a revolution whether through:

    1. Art.
    2. Music.
    3. Social Meetings
    4. literature
    5. Social networking and there are many ways such a wonderful site like this can do this without using Face book! keywords and sharing sites is one option.

    I am on Face Book with over 5,350 contacts and my message is very strong so strong that it makes Bin Laden looks tamed! So they can spy on me so what! I am entitled to a voice I can’t sit on my big arse looking at pictures of babies dying in Iraq knowing the evil design behind it. I have to do my duty as a human being to make changes and believe me the project I have in mind is a bit slow but when it is ready it will expose the Blairs and Bush of this world as nothing more than the real terrorist the bad guys.

    It gets me so mad reading your articles but it makes me aware.

    By the way media edge television is controversial and they would love to advertise your site for as little as £100 get the word out there before we wake up and find that there is no more free speech or the right to demonstrate it will happen it makes me scared!!!

  2. Very good article and thank you Mark. I agree with your view you describe in the second last paragraph where you say that Muslims must steer their anger constructively and work with the right groups. For instance, Muslims and blacks have a common enemy which is the racist institution of ‘white’ policing. Had it not been for the fact that ‘white’ British police officers are extremely racist towards Muslims and blacks, Babar Ahmed would never never be extradited.

  3. Hi Free,

    I agree with you that the world is becoming an increasingly frightening place.

    When Jay Janson wrote his last article to me I mentioned that arresting Western political leaders, military leaders and the financial elite who finances and plan the wars would be no peaceful endeavor.

    In my view any genuine activist who believes that the world can experience peace in our lifetime without struggle, conflict or bloodshed is naive.

    Do we really think that we can stroll up to Tony Blair, George Bush, Obama and arrest them? If we really think that we can detain the financial elite without the full force of the state military and police force being used against us, then we have not understood revolutions.

    The French Revolution resulted in members of the Royal family being beheaded. African slaves won their freedom from bondage through bloody struggle and armed resistance.

    In this technological and materialist age there are new ways in which decent citizens can wage warfare against the corporate financial giants who finances wars and conflicts by refusing to trade or buy any product or service from these companies.

    The simple truth is we trade with terrorists every day in our lives. When we go in a supermarket and buy their products we support the oppression of poor people in Africa. India, China etc., when we buy the latest mobile phones with materials which come from The Democratic Republic of Congo we are supporting oppression.

    The West often use sanctions to cripple the economies of countries that oppose them, I believe that we the people can sanction all companies who support war and oppression and cripple them in the same way.

    It is my firm belief though that a global mass movement is needed which cuts across race, gender and religious belief in order for a better world to be created.

    At the moment this is merely a utopian vision, but you and I and others who seek a better world have started small ripples which will hopefully increase into a wave with time, patience and persistence.

  4. To the author of above article: You did not use the keywords ‘racism’ or ‘racist’ in it, even though it was a critical factor to undertstand.

  5. Hi mym,

    I believe that quotes at times can emphasise a point without expanding further, so when I quoted the Socialist Worker article that, “four of the officers involved in the assault on Babar have had 60 allegations of assault made against them, 37 from black or Asian men. One had 23 allegations of assault, 17 from black or Asian men”, I thought it was enough for readers to conclude the obvious.

    Of course racism played a role in how Babar and other Muslim men have been treated by so called anti-terrorist police, however I believe there is a bigger picture involved which my article went into, such as the government’s attempts to silence critics of wars carried out in the interests of the financial elite.

    Racism is used as an ideological tool by the controlling elite to divide citizens and provide an excuse to treat other racial groups unfairly, but let us be perfectly frank, resources are at the heart of all wars and I think we need to look at the bigger picture if we are to dismantle the corrupt system and those that perpetuate the corruption.

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