July 7th People's Independent Inquiry Forum -> Haroon Rashid Aswat

Haroon Rashid Aswat, Featuring Babar Ahmad

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numeral

Posted: Jul 30 2009, 08:09 PM

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http://muslimprisonersupport.blogspot.com/2009/07/urgent-action-haroon-rashid-aswat-32.html

QUOTE

URGENT ACTION: Haroon Rashid Aswat, 32 year old British citizen currently facing extradition to the United States of America

Haroon Rashid Aswat is a 32 year old British citizen currently facing extradition to the United States of America.

Mr Aswat, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, was arrested in Zambia, July 2005. He was subsequently deported to the UK where he was arrested on an extradition request from the USA. He was first held at HMP Woodhill and then transferred to HMP Long Lartin. Currently, his case is pending with the European Courts of Human Rights.

The US alleges that Mr Aswat was conspiring to provide material support for terrorism in the US between 1999 and 2000 and that along with another man, set up a training camp in Bly, Oregon, to train people to "fight jihad" in Afghanistan.

The case against him has been dismissed as �nonsense� by his lawyers. Mr Aswat merely wants the opportunity to clear his name, in a fair hearing. The only way he could achieve a fair trial would be if it were to take place in the United Kingdom. If he is moved to the US he will be held in total isolation before trial (under Special Administrative Measures) which will be totally destructive of any remaining strength or health he might have. If he were convicted he would be sentenced to life without parole to be served in a Supermax prison, again in indefinite solitary confinement. The sole "evidence" against him has been obtained by the pressurising of one man, Ujaama, who would have faced the same consequences himself had he not agreed to cooperate and become a witness against others. There is no provision in US law to exclude prosecution witness evidence obtained by coercion, whereas a trial in England could argue that this constituted an abuse of process. A trial in this country would provide Mr Aswat the opportunity to argue against evidence acquired in coercive circumstances and provide with him an opportunity to clear his name in a fairer process.

Haroon has now been held for four years without ever being charged with a crime in the UK or faced any trial. Clearly his ordeal has affected his mental well being. He was transferred to Broadmoor Hospital in spring 2008 after suffering a breakdown. In all probability, extradition to the US will only adverse his mental health further.

Take Action For Haroon

1. Write to the Prime Minister, Home Secretary and Justice Secretary, urging them to take action to stop him from being deported to the US. See sample letter provided below.

Home Secretary
Secretary of State for the Home Department
3rd. Floor
Peel Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF, UK
Fax: 0044 20 7035 4745
Email : public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Prime Minister's Office,
10 Downing Street,
London,
SW1A 2AA
https://email.number10.gov.uk/

Jack Straw MP
Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

2. Write to Haroon; let him know that he has not been forgotten. He is currently very depressed and lonely.

Haroon Rashid Aswat (8635)
Sunningdale Ward
Broadmoor Hospital
Crowthorne
Berkshire
RG45 7EG

3. Apply to visit Haroon. Please email contact@cageprisoners.com for further details.

SAMPLE LETTER

Sample Letter

[Insert name]

[Insert Address]

[Insert Date]

Dear [Insert name]

Re: Haroon Rashid Aswat

I would like to bring to your attention the case of Haroon Rashid Aswat who is currently facing extradition to the United States of America.

Mr Aswat was arrested in Zambia in July 2005 and then deported to the UK in August that year where he was arrested on an extradition warrant from the US government. Mr Aswat is currently held at Broadmoor Hospital, after periods in both HMP Woodhill and HMP Long Lartin. He is facing extradition to the USA after allegedly trying to set up a training camp between 1999 and 2000 to train British and American to �fight jihad� with guns and hand to hand combat.

Mr Aswat has been held, without trial or charge for more than four years, with most of this time in maximum security facilities. This has clearly taken a toll on Mr Aswat�s mental health. He was transferred to Broadmoor Hospital in spring 2008 after suffering a breakdown.

Mr Aswat has made it clear that he has nothing to hide and is pleading to be given a fair trial at which he can prove his innocence. I am concerned that Mr Aswat will be deported to the USA and denied the right to a fair hearing or trial and placed within the United States Administrative Segregation Facilities ('Supermax' prisons), which would amount to torture and ill treatment. If moved to the US, he would be held in complete isolation prior to the trial which would have a detrimental effect on his mental and physical health. The sole evidence that has been presented against him is based on the testimony of James Ujaama, who faced the same consequences if he did not agree to cooperate. If convicted he would be sentenced to life without parole in solitary confinement. The only way Mr Aswat could achieve a fair trial would be if it took place in the UK. Under US law there is no provision to exclude prosecution witness evidence obtained by coercion. A trial in England on the other hand, could argue that such evidence constitutes an abuse of process.

I urge you to use your influence to intervene in the case and to do everything in your power to stop this individual from being extradited to the USA.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Respectfully,

[Insert name]

justthefacts

Posted: Oct 11 2009, 01:48 AM

Group: Members
Posts: 1,942
Member No.: 598
Joined: 5-July 07

QUOTE ("his own website")

It is possible that John Loftus may know more intelligence secrets than anyone alive.

.....

As a young U.S. Army officer, John Loftus helped train Israelis on a covert operation that turned the tide of battle in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

CODE

http://www.johnloftusreport.com/

QUOTE

Loftus has employed a research methodology that smacks of the world of spy fiction, e.g. employing an agent provocateur, one Marc Mazurovsky (if that is his real name), to pose as a researcher to gain access to the homes of Byelorussians in America; climbing over walls at dead of night to gain access to a cemetery which is, in any case, open during the day (as Loftus discovers on p. 6).

.....

His book abounds with illogicalities and unsupported statements.

review of "The Belarus Secret"

Loftus claims to have inside information about the USS Liberty incident, justifying it because the ship was supposedly spying on Israel. His books are cited frequently by "anti-fascist researcher & radio personality Dave Emory", who has interviewed him at least twice (without mention of Aswat or the London bombings). Emory's catchphrase is "The Underground Reich", which he is convinced includes most Muslims and anyone who mentions Zionism without approval. But he is dismissive of "conspiracy geeks" on the internet, even though he seems to be at least a LIHOP advocate regarding 9/11.

This post has been edited by justthefacts on Oct 16 2009, 10:50 AM

numeral

Posted: Oct 13 2009, 08:56 PM

Group: J7 Forum Team
Posts: 4,001
Member No.: 5
Joined: 4-December 05

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http://www.redorbit.com/news/general/180808/pakistan_arrests_london_bombing_suspect__sources/index.html

QUOTE

Pakistan arrests London bombing suspect - sources
Posted on: Wednesday, 20 July 2005, 07:28 CDT

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani security forces have arrested a British Muslim believed to be wanted in connection with the July 7 London bombings, Pakistani intelligence sources said on Wednesday, but a minister denied he had been detained.

Several intelligence sources, who asked not to be identified, said Haroon Rashid Aswad had been picked up earlier this week during a crackdown on militants in Pakistan that has netted more than 150 people.

"We have arrested Haroon Rashid from the house of Qari Fateh Mohammad from Sargodha three days ago... We strongly believe he has links with bombers," one security official told Reuters.

An official said the qari, an honorific title for someone who recites the Koran, had been detained at madrasa Qasim ul-Aloom on the outskirts of Sargodha, 150 km (90 miles) south of Islamabad.

Officials said Aswad had been taken from Sargodha and was being held in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.

Other intelligence sources also stood by their comments on Aswad's arrest, despite a denial by Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.

"We have arrested nobody called Haroon Rashid," the minister told Reuters.

One of the intelligence sources said Aswad had been carrying a belt packed with explosives for a possible suicide attack, around one million rupees ($17,000) and a British passport.

Aswad appears to be the unnamed militant Reuters reported was captured on Monday and found with explosives and cash.

Various media, including Wednesday's Asian Wall Street Journal, have reported that a search was still on for Aswad after his name was passed to Pakistani intelligence by British investigators.

The newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying Aswad's name had come up in the investigation based on information from the cellphone of one of the London bombers.

It also said a man named Aswad Rashid Haroon figured in U.S. intelligence databases as having ties to the al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.

Speaking to BBC Radio, Pakistan's high commissioner (ambassador) to London, Maleeha Lodhi, declined to go into specifics when asked about the arrest, on the grounds that this could compromise the investigation.

"But certainly people are being questioned in Pakistan and we ourselves have renewed a crackdown on extremism."

SWEEPING CRACKDOWN

President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, ordered a new crackdown on militants after revelations that three of the four London bombers were British Muslims of Pakistani descent who visited Pakistan before the attacks.

Officials say the three entered Pakistan last year through the southern city of Karachi and at least one of them visited Islamic schools, some of which are seen as militant breeding grounds.

Musharraf plans to address the nation on Thursday on the London bombings and the crackdown on Islamist militants.

On Tuesday security forces detained more than two dozen suspects in a series of raids linked to investigations into the bombings, which killed more than 50 people.

More than 120 other suspects have been detained in a broader crackdown on militants not directly related to the investigation into the bombings, officials said.

In overnight raids on controversial Islamic religious schools, known as madrasas, and on private houses, police detained 39 students and clerics belonging to banned organizations in restive Karachi, authorities said.

Another 39 were detained in the northwestern city of Peshawar, 30 in the southwestern city of Quetta and 30 in the central city of Multan and some other cities in Punjab province.

"These people have been under surveillance for some time for their links to extremist groups," said senior police officer Malik Mohammad Saad of the Peshawar arrests.

"It's an ongoing process," he said, but added that the raids were not linked to the London bombings.

An opposition grouping of six Islamist parties, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), complained that "dozens" of its workers had been detained around the country.

The MMA's parliamentary leader, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, said they included Sajid Farooqi, head of its Faisalabad chapter. He said Mufti Abrar, personal secretary to MMA secretary-general Fazal-ur-Rehman, had been detained in Islamabad but later released.

Source: REUTERS

justthefacts

Posted: Oct 16 2009, 11:03 AM

Group: Members
Posts: 1,942
Member No.: 598
Joined: 5-July 07

QUOTE

This war on terrorism is bogus

The former US federal crimes prosecutor, John Loftus, has said: "The information provided by European intelligence services prior to 9/11 was so extensive that it is no longer possible for either the CIA or FBI to assert a defence of incompetence."

Michael Meacher, 2003

QUOTE

John Loftus: The Truth about Jonathan Pollard

2003 article

Loftus is on the Media Committee of the Jerusalem Summit, "an Israel-based advocacy outfit that brings together Evangelicals, neoconservatives, and hardline pro-Israel figures from across the globe in an effort to shape the debate over the status of Palestine, radical Islam, and what its members view as the "relativism" of the West." Lord Malcolm Pearson of Rannoch from their Public Affairs committee was the one who invited Geert Wilders to the UK in February 2009.

John Loftus is also featured in the notorious propaganda film Obsession.

Bridget

Posted: Nov 3 2009, 04:57 PM

Group: J7 Admins
Posts: 10,547
Member No.: 2
Joined: 26-November 05

QUOTE

PRESS RELEASE

BABAR AHMAD RESPONDS TO THE ACQUITTAL OF PC JONES
CONTEMPT OF COURT ORDER DISCHARGED

03/11/09

PC Jones, one of the officers who brutally assaulted Babar Ahmad, yet to be brought to justice

On 3 November 2009 PC Mark Jones of 1 Area TSG at Paddington was acquitted of racially aggravated assault, assault and misfeasance in public office following an incident in the Edgware Road on 1 June 2007.

PC Mark Jones was the principal perpetrator in the assault upon Babar Ahmad on 2 December 2003.

On 18 March 2009, Sir Paul Stephenson made an unprecedented admission in Mr Ahmad's civil litigation. He admitted that his officers had subjected Mr Ahmad to a violent, sustained and unprovoked assault and that he had twice been placed in a life threatening neck hold in the back of a TSG carrier. He agreed to pay Mr Ahmad compensation and exemplary damages.

The exemplary damages were intended to punish the Commissioner for the brutal actions of his officers.

Mr Justice Holroyde ordered that the press should not report PC Jones' true identity nor any of the similar fact allegations against PC Jones until after the conclusion of this criminal trial.

Fiona Murphy, solicitor for Mr Ahmad of Bhatt Murphy said:

�It is deeply concerning that over several years, the Commissioner concealed the pattern of similar allegations against PC Jones and would have continued to do so, if Basil Khan had not contacted Bhatt
Murphy solicitors. It is a shocking indictment of the Metropolitan Police, the IPCC and the DPP that no officer has faced prosecution in respect of the assault upon Babar Ahmad on 2 December 2003."

Babar Ahmad's family's response to the verdict:

'We are disappointed with this verdict. Had the Crown Prosecution Service prosecuted PC Mark Jones for assaulting Babar in December 2003 he might not have been left free to go around attacking other Black, Asian and Muslim men.

'We now call upon Crown Prosecution Service to put PC Mark Jones and his colleagues on trial for brutalising Babar, without any reason, so that this group of rogue police officers can be held to account.

"Over six months have now elapsed since the Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police admitted that his officers carried out a brutal and horrific physical and sexual assault on Babar in December 2003. Despite these admissions, the CPS have failed to prosecute a single officer for any offence. This is reflective of a culture that exists in the UK whereby police officers are able to behave as brutally as they wish with full knowledge that they will not be held to account by the authorities. Almost six years have now passed since Babar was terrorised by these officers and we continue to call for justice to be served.�

BACKGROUND

Babar Ahmad relied upon overwhelming factual, expert and photographic evidence in support of his claim that he was brutally assaulted by TSG officers including PC Jones. He also adduced evidence from a whistle blower, PC Onwugbonu and others that on 1 June 2007 PC Jones committed a strikingly similar assault upon Basil Khan. The jury has rejected those same allegations in this criminal trial. However, the jury was not informed of Mr Ahmad's allegations nor the outcome of his litigation. On the contrary, PC Jones was presented to the jury at Kingston Crown Court by HHJ Southwell as an officer of "unblemished character."

The High Court in Mr Ahmad's case also heard that between July 1993 and May 2007, PC Jones had been the subject of 31 complaints by members of the public, 26 of those complaints concerned allegations of assault of which at least 16 (60%) had been communicated by black or Asian men. Further Inspector Paul Davis, who offered character evidence for PC Jones in this trial, and who supervised the assault upon Babar Ahmad on 2 December 2003, had 15 complaints during the same period, 11 of which concerned allegations of assault of which at least 7 (60%) concerned black or Asian men. This background was not revealed to the jury at Kingston Crown Court.

The coincidence

The Commissioner's solicitors asserted that there was no similar fact evidence against PC Jones or the other officers who had assaulted Babar Ahmad. However, when Basil Khan contacted Bhatt Murphy and explained his allegations against PC Jones, it became clear that this assertion was entirely erroneous. Bearing in mind this shocking sequence of events, Mr Justice Eady ordered the Commissioner to disclose the officers' entire complaint history. The Commissioner complained that due to the "sheer volume" of complaints against these officers, it could not comply and unsuccessful sought to be relieved of the burden. Some days later the Commissioner's lawyers informed the High Court that �a number of large mail sacks" had been "mislaid in the internal dispatch of the MPS", containing the officers' complaint files. Officers refusing to give evidence PC Jones, PC James-Bowen, PC Cowley and PC Donohue (the officers who assaulted Mr Ahmad) and their supervising officer PS (now Inspector) Davis had refused to give evidence on behalf of the Commissioner no doubt to limit the risk of prosecution. The Commissioner took no action to compel them to give evidence and no disciplinary action has followed.

Deputy Commissioner Goodwin's review

On 26 March 2009, the Deputy Commissioner announced a review of the circumstances surrounding Mr Ahmad's litigation. Because the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) lacked confidence in the independence of that review, Sir Geoffrey Grigson was appointed to offer direction and control of this review. The terms of reference are as follows:

� The adequacy of the response to the arrest and circumstance of Babar Ahmad�s detention
and allegations of misconduct by the arresting officers
� The oversight mechanisms employed throughout this case
� The effectiveness of the Complaints Intervention Scheme
� The circumstances surrounding the refusal of the arresting officers to give evidence in the civil proceedings to the High Court and the issues arising from this refusal.

The review has not yet reported. The Metropolitan Police and MPA have declined to indicate whether this review will be made public.

Referral to Keir Starmer QC

On 25 March 2009, Mr Ahmad invited the DPP to initiate an immediate criminal prosecution against PC Jones, PC James-Bowen, PC Cowley, PC Donohue and Inspector Davis in respect of the events of 2 December 2003. He has declined to do so despite being provided with the overwhelming evidence available in support of the prosecution (and which was marshalled by Mr Ahmad but not by the earlier IPCC supervised complaint investigation). The DPP has declined to reach a decision and Mr Ahmad is bringing judicial review proceedings to challenge that decision.

Also, on 25 March 2009 the DPP was invited to adduce Mr Ahmad's evidence in the prosecution of PC Jones. Mr Ahmad has never had the courtesy of a response to that offer.

For further information
Fiona Murphy, partner
Tel: 020 7729 1115 and 07931 545673
Email: f.murphy@bhattmurphy.co.uk

Free Babar Ahmad
info@freebabarahmad.com
www.freebabarahmad.com

Note to Editor:

A copy of Ms Phillippa Kaufmann's opening note which was read in open court on 16 March 2009 can be downloaded from: http://www.bhattmurphy.co.uk/media/files/o...ote_B_Ahmad.pdf

Bhatt Murphy's note of proceedings in open court on the afternoon of 16 March 2009 with passages pertaining to the similar allegations, missing evidence, unwilling witnesses and lost mail sacks highlighted in bold, can be downloaded from here: http://www.bhattmurphy.co.uk/media/file/So...ote_B_Ahmad.pdf

Bridget

Posted: Nov 11 2009, 08:52 AM

Group: J7 Admins
Posts: 10,547
Member No.: 2
Joined: 26-November 05

QUOTE

Met police may face charges over violent arrest of terror suspect

Babar Ahmad case being reviewed by DPP after force paid �60,000 in damages

* Paul Lewis and Matthew Taylor
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 9 November 2009 16.53 GMT

user posted image

Babar Ahmad, who was awarded damages against the Metropolitan police.

Five Metropolitan police officers could face prosecution over a "serious, gratuitous and prolonged" attack on a British Muslim man that led the force to pay �60,000 in damages.

Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions (DPP), is considering whether to bring charges against officers from the force's Territorial Support Group (TSG) involved in an assault on Babar Ahmad during his arrest at his home in Tooting, south London. An initial Met investigation concluded no officer should be disciplined. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) did not bring criminal charges.

However, in March lawyers acting for the Met commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, were forced to admit in the high court that Ahmad, a 34-year-old terror suspect, had been the victim of sustained violence, and the force paid damages. The court heard how officers stamped on his feet and repeatedly punched him in the head. He was forced into the Muslim prayer position while police shouted: "Where is your God now? Pray to him."

The IT support worker was then placed in a TSG van where an officer is alleged in court to have put him in an "extremely dangerous" neck hold. Another said: "You'll remember this day for the rest of your life."

The CPS is awaiting the conclusion of a Met review of the case which, its officials have told Ahmad's lawyers, provides "a realistic prospect that further material evidence may be produced by the police". Starmer, who takes an active role in deciding whether to prosecute controversial cases, is taking the case "very seriously", prosecutors have said. PC James-Bowen, PC Cowley and PC Donohue and their supervising officer, Sergeant Paul Davis, refused to give evidence during the civil action, as did a fifth officer, PC Mark Jones, 42, an ex-Royal Marine. Jones was identified last week for the first time as a member of the team that arrested Ahmad. The identification was made when jurors at Kingston crown court acquitted Jones in a separate trial in which he was accused of racially assaulting two 16-year-old boys.

Paul Davis, now an inspector, gave character evidence in support of Jones during the trial, telling the jury that in 26 years' service to the Met there was not another officer he held in higher regard. He described Jones � identified by Ahmad's lawyers as the officer responsible for the neck hold � as "totally calm and disciplined officer ... a decent man" who had never been "racist or disrespectful to any minority".

There is rising concern over accountability in the TSG, a unit of about 730 officers who are on standby to deal with outbreaks of disorder anywhere in the capital. The CPS is deciding whether to prosecute a TSG officer with the manslaughter of newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson, who collapsed and died at the G20 protests moments after being struck to the ground. Later this month a TSG sergeant, Delroy Smellie, will appear before magistrates charged with assaulting a protester during a vigil for Tomlinson.

Last week there were calls for an "ethical audit" of all TSG officers after the Guardian revealed the unit had received more than 5,000 complaint allegations over the last four years, mostly for "oppressive behaviour". Only nine � less than 0.18% � were "substantiated" after an investigation by the force's complaints department, leading to claims that a culture of impunity exists within the force.

Fiona Murphy, Ahmad's solicitor, said: "Over six months have now elapsed since the commissioner admitted that his officers carried out a brutal and horrific physical and sexual assault on Babar. Despite these admissions the CPS have failed to prosecute a single officer for any offence.

"This is reflective of a culture that exists in the UK whereby police officers are able to behave as brutally as they wish with full knowledge that they will not be held to account by the authorities."

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