The Story
Details of events from when Babar was first arrested under Anti-Terrorism Laws in December 2003, details of his assault by Anti Terrorist Police in the UK and his re-arrest on 5th August 2004 on an Extradition Warrant by the USA
First Arrest
In December 2003 Babar was arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 (click here for details of Terrorism Act 2000)
Prior to the following events Babar had never been arrested, cautioned by police or been to Court.
On 2nd December 2003, at 5.40 a.m. Babar and his wife were asleep in their house. The front door was broken down and several armed policemen came running up the stairs shouting and hurling abuse. Babar jumped out of bed when he heard the commotion. As soon as he saw the eight armed officers dressed in riot gear, approaching his bedroom, he raised his hands. They pushed him hard against the window, which shattered with the sheer force. They then threw him onto the floor and started to beat him whilst using offensive language. The heavily armed officers beat him continuously despite the fact that he offered no resistance at any point. They kicked and punched his head and body and handcuffed him. All this took place in front of his wife who was screaming at them to stop. A couple of female officers then took Babar’s wife, a teacher, into another room. They handcuffed her too, whilst laughing at her shaken state.
The physical abuse continued and Babar was taken downstairs into their carpeted prayer room. The officers walked in with their shoes on and threw things across the room. They smashed a glass candlestick holder of sentimental value. It had been a wedding gift. They exposed him by pulling down his pyjama bottoms and “searched” his private parts. They then began to twist the metal handcuffs behind his back until he screamed in agony. The officers then placed him in the Muslim prayer position of prostration and said, “Where is your God now? You are in prayer,” whilst mocking and laughing.
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.
Babar was kept and questioned for six days in police custody. His house was searched intensively for three days. His computers, printer and various documents were taken away for analysis. Samples of his DNA and fingerprints were sent across the globe. Babar was released on 8th December 2003 without charge.
After his release in December 2003
Babar filed a complaint regarding the police brutality, which was overseen by the Independent Police Complaints’ Commission (IPCC). A few days later he saw an eminent, independent medical expert; Mr Gavalas, a consultant in Accident and Emergency at University College Hospital, London. Mr Gavalas identified and confirmed more than 50 injuries on Babar’s body and the two life- threatening ones. He wrote an extensive report in which he commented, “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.”
In summary, the evidence of Babar’s assault includes:
1) Dated photographs of the injuries taken by the solicitors on the day of his arrest
2) Two independent doctors’ reports, including one by a hospital consultant in Accident and Emergency
3) Eye-witness account from Babar’s wife
4) Babar’s own statement, including a detailed description of two of the officers who assaulted him and their ID numbers, which he had memorised
5) CCTV footage of his shaken state on arrival at Charing Cross Police Station
(Click here for photos and descriptions of Babar’s injuries)
Re-Arrest
On 5th August 2004, Babar was re-arrested on an Extradition Warrant from the USA under the Extradition Act 2003 (click here for details of Extradition Act 2003)
On Thursday 5th August 2004 at 4 pm Babar telephoned his wife from his mobile phone whilst leaving work telling her he was leaving for home. She was in Putney at the time so they agreed that she would meet him at Putney Bridge Station in 20 minutes and they would go for a hot chocolate. Babar never turned up.
He was arrested outside his work place by officers from Scotland Yard on an Extradition Warrant from the United States of America. He informed the officers that his wife was waiting for him and requested that she be informed. They assured him she would be.
At approximately 6pm, Anti-Terrorist Police officers turned up at his sister’s house in South London. She was at home with her father and her two small children, aged 18 months and six weeks. They informed her that Babar had been arrested under the Extradition Act 2003. They also informed her that since Babar used to visit her frequently, they had to search her house.
The officers informed her that her parents’ house was also being searched. Mrs Ahmad, Babar’s mother, suffers from high blood pressure and was teaching some children at her home at the time. When his sister requested a phone call to check on her mother the officer stated insensitively that he had just been there and “she was well enough to teach children”. The Police took computers and various documents. To add insult to injury, whilst Babar’s sister was putting her children into the car to go elsewhere, she spotted her neighbours making a video of her to sell to the press. The police had made such a scene outside her home that the neighbours thought she was guilty of something.
Meanwhile Babar’s wife was still waiting for him at the station. The officers did not inform her of his arrest. It was only when Babar’s sister phoned her that she heard of the news. Babar’s wife returned home very distressed only to find Anti-Terrorist police waiting to be let into her home to search it for a second time. This time they had the courtesy to not break down their new front door. Once again she had to go through the painful ordeal of her home being searched and her husband being snatched away from her.
The family vacated their homes for a few days due to press attention. Babar was named that evening in the media despite the fact that he had not been formally charged. This re-arrest conveniently came 3 days before a conference was due to take place highlighting Babar’s case and the fact that the authorities had failed to take any action on the Police officers that had assaulted him. Perhaps the timing was an attempt by the authorities to divert attention away from his assault case. Babar was taken to Woodhill high security Prison in Milton Keynes, where he is currently an inmate.
The Conspiracy
Why did all this happen?
Babar Ahmad stood up for the truth. He stood up to the authorities so that his ordeal would never be repeated with someone else. However, the authorities did not want to admit they had made a mistake.
Usually, when complaints are made against the Police, the officers in question are suspended pending the formal inquiry. In Babar’s case this was never done.
The Extradition Warrant from the United States alleges that he was involved in soliciting funds for Afghansitan and Chechnya for a time period during which he was permanently resident in the UK and in full time employment. Claims have also been made that a floppy disc was found in December 2003 with US naval battleship plans.
Dr Adnan Siddiqui for the Stop Political Terror campaign stated in a press release, “Are we to believe that the police massively cocked up in December and released al-Qaida’s naval operations commander on to the streets of Tooting?”
Babar’s house had been searched from top to bottom in December. Samples of his DNA were sent across the world. If there had been even a shred of suspicion about his activities this surely would have come to light then. It took 9 months for the UK to create a story with the USA to silence him once and for all.
Babar had not even had a chance to recover from the physical and psychological injuries from the attack in December; the result of the inquiry by the Independent Police Complaints Commission was pending with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Whilst in custody, in a letter dated 5th September 2004, the CPS concluded that they were “not satisfied that there was sufficient evidence” to prosecute any of the officers involved in his attack.
Insufficient evidence? …
Photographs of his injuries taken by his solicitors on the day of arrest
Two independent doctors’ reports, including one by a hospital consultant in Accident and Emergency
The eye-witness account from his wife
The fact that he had to take several weeks of sick leave from work
He could not pick up his nieces and nephews due to the pain in his wrists
He could not drive for weeks due to pain in his stamped-on feet
He still cannot write properly due to nerve damage caused by the handcuffs being twisted around his wrists An independent consultant psychiatrist report diagnosed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after his assault and brutality suffered at the hands of the Police
Many journalists interviewed him and saw the damage done to his house, including reporters from the BBC, Channel 4 News, Al-Jazeera, The Guardian, the local Wandsworth Guardian and Muslim News.
All of this points to what?
They believe he inflicted these injuries upon himself. Babar went to work fit and well the day before. Then an educated, polite and respectable man who never suffered from mental or physical problems prior to this, transformed into a self-beating maniac overnight? Conveniently this took place on the night of his arrest, where he managed to inflict brutal injuries on his own back and stamp on his own feet? And neither he nor his wife had the sense to seek medical attention afterwards?
Following Babar’s release in December 2003, he and his father, Ashfaq Ahmad, arranged to meet with his MP, Tom Cox. Shortly after the meeting at the House of Commons, Mr Cox said he raised the issue with the Home Secretary David Blunkett, adding that there was “very clear medical and photographic evidence that he had indeed been assaulted.”
Mr Cox also added that, “Many people will need a great deal of convincing that there was no case to answer against these officers.”
… Or the Truth?
The facts:
Babar was assaulted by the police
They insulted his religion
They inflicted both physical and psychological pain and expected him to keep quiet
He arrived at Charing Cross Police Station covered in fresh injuries to which they turned a blind eye
One cannot help but draw parallels with the notorious case of Rodney King, the Black-American man who was beaten by white police officers in March 1991. Despite video camera footage of the assault, the jury initially concluded there was insufficient evidence to indict any of the officers involved in his attack.
Babar did not sit at home quietly after his release. As a British citizen living in a democracy, which prides itself on its judicial system, he expected justice.
He was wrong. The authorities, frustrated that they could not charge him with any offence whatsoever in the UK, sought help from the US, knowing that the US acts with impunity and can ‘take care of’ the situation.
Fabricating a dramatic cover-up story, the authorities decided that they would tell the world he is part of Al-Qaeda. The reputation of Al-Qaeda is such, that this lie is eagerly believed. It should not be hard for us to accept that this accomplishment is possible, for as one of the detainees at Belmarsh Prison stated quite simply: “Someone who can lie to the whole nation about Weapons of Mass Destruction can lie about me.”
Babar has since been demonised in the media, which all too often seems to follow the principle of “guilty until proven innocent” when it comes to Terror arrests.
Conclusion
Babar Ahmad remains in custody at HM Prison Woodhill pending a main Extradition Hearing in mid November 2004. Following this he may be extradited to the US to face a sentence ranging from 50 years to life-imprisonment.
However, he still faces no charge under British Law and may be extradited without having the chance to challenge any evidence presented against him under the Extradition Act 2003. (Click here for further information on Extradition Act 2003)
The United States are the originators of Abu Ghraib, Bagram and Guantanamo detention centres. This is a nation, which has abused Human Rights at home and abroad. That is aside from the thousands of cases of civil and human rights abuses that occur everyday on their own home soil. (Click here for evidence of US Civil and Human rights abuses) Babar will never be allowed a fair trial in the US.
If Babar Ahmad is extradited to the US, it is likely that he will face physical, mental and sexual abuse in much the same way that other Muslims accused of terror activities have been treated.
This whole ordeal has been devastating for Babar’s family. His elderly parents feel lost without a dear son, and the life of his wife, without her loving husband, has been turned upside down. As a result she has been unable to return to work as a schoolteacher, as she still suffers from the pain of the whole ordeal she has been subjected to.
The family’s heart went out to the family of the unfortunate British Hostage, Mr Kenneth Bigley who was recently killed. Having seen television appeals by his elderly mother and distraught wife, Babar’s family did and still do relate to the pain and suffering of a family whose loved one has been unjustly captured.
Babar Ahmad’s continued detention is unjust. If there were sound evidence against him this would have been addressed during his first arrest in December 2003. However, he was released without charge. He is a British Citizen and should be entitled to an open fair trial in the UK. The Extradition Act 2003 seriously erodes the judicial system of the UK and should be reviewed as a matter of urgency.
Family of Babar Ahmad
October 2004
Well
After Reading That all I am just Shame of you British GovernmentÂ
Allegations, fact or fiction?
A number of allegations have emerged surrounding the case of Babar Ahmad. Some of those allegations, which have been stated in open court, are therefore in the public domain and can be discussed.
Allegation 1:
It is alleged in the affidavit (arrest warrant from the US) that Babar Ahmad had email contact with a US Naval Serviceman on board the USS Benfold (US Naval ship). The dates stated in the affidavit on which he was alleged to have had email contact are 19 July 2001 and 24 July 2001.
The 19 July 2001 was in fact the day of his wedding. The 24 July 2001, in fact coincides with when he was on honeymoon on a remote tropical island, which had not Internet facilities for its guests at the time.
Allegation 2:
It is alleged in the affidavit that a tourist brochure about the Empire State Building was found in his possession. Various media groups reported this on the day of his hearing on 07 October 2004.
(Links to some news reports are:
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/239684p-205577c.html and
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/10/06/terror.indictment/)
The tourist brochure in fact belongs to Babar’s father, Ashfaq Ahmad, and was obtained by him when he visited the Empire State Building in 1973. His father even has photographs of himself standing on the building and still has the passport with the visa stamp for the US in his possession.
Allegation 3:
On Babar Ahmad’s first hearing on 07 August 2004, it was alleged by the prosecution that he travelled on a forged passport earlier on in the year. He did in fact travel on his genuine passport and has the relevant entry/exit stamps present in it.
At the same hearing it was also alleged that he had sold his house and that he had resigned from his job at Imperial College, London. He had in fact not sold his house, but him and his wife had thought about selling the house due to the bad memories they both had from it. It was in that house that Babar was initially arrested and assaulted by Anti-terrorist Police officers, in the bedroom infront of his wife, on 02 December 2003.
Babar was still in employment when he was re-arrested on 05 August 2004, and had in fact taken back his resignation. The reason for the initial resignation was due to the trauma that he continues to suffer from, due to the arrest back in December 2003. The trauma was such that it had affected his work and personal life.
