Babar Ahmad - US Prosecution of Ahmad and Others

US Prosecution of Ahmad and Others

Babar Ahmad was arrested in London on 5 August 2004 on charges of providing material support to terrorism, providing illegal support to the Taliban, money-laundering and conspiring to kill people. An affidavit filed with the US court details that Ahmad used aliases to operate Azzam.com, a website supporting Chechen and Taliban fighters. It further describes that items recovered from a house used by Ahmad included a British Airways Executive Club card in his name and next to it a floppy disk with a password-protected document containing a detailed description of the US Fifth Fleet, its ships, the date and time of its expected passage through the Straits of Hormuz, and that it was vulnerable to attack by "RPG" (rocket-propelled grenades). Ahmad was later indicted by a grand jury of US citizens in October 2004. Another man, Syed Talha Ahsan, was indicted in 2006 of involvement with Ahmad and with the battlegroup information in the document, and thereafter a US former navy seaman, Abu Jihad, was indicted and convicted of passing this information to them.

Under the Extradition Act 2003, the US has to provide evidence sufficient of establishing a "reasonable suspicion" when seeking the extradition of a British citizen. While many complain that this evidentiary standard is lower than the "probable cause" requirement the U.K. is required to show before extraditing a U.S. citizen, a detailed investigation by retired Honorable Sir Scott Barker concluded that the two standards were, in fact, the same. The 488-page report concluded that the evidentiary standards were equal in that "(1) both tests are based on reasonableness; (2) both tests are supported by the same documentation; and (3) both tests represent the standard of proof that police officers in the United States and the United Kingdom must satisfy domestically before a judge in order to arrest a suspect.".

US extradition documents state that "at all times material to the indictment" Babar Ahmad was resident in London, UK. However, the UK Crown Prosecution Service declared in July 2004 and December 2006, as did the UK Attorney General Lord Goldsmith in September 2006, that there was "insufficient evidence" to charge Ahmad with any criminal offence under UK law.

Having been refused bail, Ahmad was detained in prison until his extradition on 5 October 2012. On 17 May 2005, Senior District Judge Timothy Workman approved his extradition at Bow Street Magistrates' Court, stating: "This is a troubling and difficult case. The defendant is a British citizen who is alleged to have committed offences which, if the evidence were available, could have been prosecuted in this country".

In September 2005, Sadiq Khan, Member of Parliament for Tooting, presented a petition of 18,000 signatures to the Home Secretary Charles Clarke asking for Babar Ahmad to be tried in the UK, instead of being extradited. On 16 November 2005, Clarke approved his extradition to the United States.

On 28 November 2005, the UK Parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee raised serious concerns about the one-sided UK-US extradition arrangements and, in particular, the case of Babar Ahmad. In a House of Commons emergency debate on 12 July 2006 about UK-US extradition, several MPs from all parties raised concerns at the case of Babar Ahmad. His name has also been mentioned repeatedly in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords in relation to UK-US extradition. Thousands have attended demonstrations in support of him.

On 30 November 2006, he lost his appeal at the High Court. On 4 June 2007, the House of Lords refused to grant him leave to appeal to them.

On 10 June 2007, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (France) ordered the UK Government to freeze Babar Ahmad’s extradition until they had fully determined his final appeal.

On 24 April 2012, the BBC reported the testimony of a British man convicted of plotting to blow up an aircraft, from the trial of Adis Medunjanin in New York. Saajid Badat was radicalised by Babar Ahmad, who arranged for Badat to receive "training in taking up arms", and that "when we talk about jihad it meant armed jihad, taking up arms". The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Babar Ahmad can be extradited to the US to stand trial on terrorism charges.