Talha Ahsan - Just asking for Justice

Syed Talha Ahsan was arrested at his home in Tooting, South London,on 19 July 2007 by officers from Scotland Yard's extradition unit.

He is not some crazed fanatic as portrayed in the media but a quiet,gentle and educated man with postgraduate degrees from the School of Oriental and African Studies in Arabic.

It is clear from a reading of his poetry that he expresses a passion and commitment to peace.

Playing Devil's Advocate I could say that that it is all very well writing a book of poetry now, but he is after all to be indicted in the United States for involvement in international terrorism.

But we should remember Ahsan is accused in the same case as Babar Ahmad. He has been held since 2007 on a federal indictment from the US state of Connecticut charging him with conspiracy to support terrorists and conspiracy to kill or injure people abroad. The allegations do not relate to domestic terrorism in the UK.

But if they have the evidence why not prosecute him in this country for promoting terrorism abroad. Put him on trial in the UK, he is after all a citizen of this county? I suspect the reason the authorities do not take these steps is that there is no such evidence and that he is another victim of thought crime.

What a tragedy that neither our courts or government can offer protection or justice to Ahsan.

Post 9/11, the US legitimised the detention of so-called "enemy combatants" by presidential order, abolished habeas corpus and outsourced torture via rendition to specialist countries, whilst our own intelligence officers stood by and watched.

What kind of justice is it that can see men like Ahsan extradited to theUSA and in the process locked up indefinitely without trial, never permitted to see the evidence against them?

What national emergency is it that allowed Blair to bulldozer these laws through Parliament, other than his bogus war on terror?

Talha Ahsan needs to have evidence presented against him in a UK court and has a right to know why he is in prison.

We need to pressure the government to scrap the Extradition Treaty2003, which denies Ahsan, Babar and others the chance to see or challenge the so called evidence against them in Britain.

Sending him to a country that tried to legalise torture is not the way forward.

People may find this hard to believe, but under the extradition treaty the government has signed with the US, lawyers are not allowed to challenge any of the claims the US authorities put forward in court.So in the case of Babar Ahmad, his lawyers could not point out that the tourist map of New York, that supposedly was evidence of plans to blow up the Empire State Building, belonged to his father from his trip to the US in the 1970s.

All lawyers are allowed to do is challenge the extradition on the grounds that human rights will be ignored if sent to the US. The evidence of torture at Guantanamo Bay should leave no one in any doubt that that would be the case.

Such cases are never attractive, if it is a Muslim then human rights are seen as a charter for terrorists. Ahsan is not asking for much, just justice and the right to be treated as we would want our own brothers and sisters treated. Buy the book, write to him and ask your MP what they will do to get rid of this so called treaty that abolishes our rights as citizens of the United Kingdom in favour of the US.