BREAKING NEWS: Extradition ruling frozen on Tooting terror suspect Babar Ahmad (From Wandsworth Guardian)

BREAKING NEWS: Extradition ruling frozen on Tooting terror suspect Babar Ahmad

12:07pm Thursday 8th July 2010

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)

A ruling on the extradition of Tooting terror suspect Babar Ahmad to the United States was this morning temporarily frozen by the European Court of Human Rights.

Family members of the computer expert breathed a sigh of relief after judges in Strasbourg suspended their final ruling for several months.

Mr Ahmad, 36, has been in prison without trial for nearly six years since the US issued an extradition warrant in August 2004.

At 9am this morning, judges raised concerns at the possibility that extradition would be “cruel and unusual punishment”.

The family’s solicitor has made a fresh appeal to Attorney General Dominic Grieve for the Government to stop the extradition.

They want him to stand trial in the UK instead so that he has the chance to prove his innocence before a jury of his peers.

Mr Ahmad, who was born in London, was originally arrested by anti-terrorist police in Tooting in December 2003.

In March 2009, he won a payout of £60,000 after Metropolitan Police admitted officers beat him during his arrest.

The High Court heard how he was kicked, punched and humiliated, leaving him with a catalogue of injuries.

In 2008, it emerged conversations between Mr Ahmad and Tooting MP Sadiq Khan had been bugged by police.

After a public outcry, an investigation found no unlawful conduct on the officers' part.

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)