Friends have been urgently mobilizing to help prevent the extradition of Talha Ahsan and Babar Ahmad next week to the US, including Talha’s brother, Hamja Ahsan, who’s part of the arts collective Other Asias.
Talha Ahsan is a British-born poet and writer with Asperger syndrome facing extradition to America. If convicted he will spend 70 years in “supermax” solitary confinement in ADX Florence. Imagine being confined in a 75.5sq feet cell with only a concrete slab and a thin mattress for a bed for 23 to 24 hours a day for every day of your life – the only window three inches wide looking out to a concrete pit…This is the prospect Talha faces if extradited and convicted in the US – life without parole in solitary confinement at ADX Florence, Colorado.
Talha Ahsan was arrested at his home on 19 July 2006 on behalf of the US Government, who do not have to provide evidence. He is accused in the US of terrorism-related offences arising out of an alleged involvement over the period of 1997-2004 with the Azzam series of websites, one of which happened to be located on a server in America for a brief period. Neither of them have set foot in the US.
Talha has served the equivalent of a 6 year sentence at high security prisons without trial, Babar 8 years.
Talha is making a final appeal to the European Courts of Human Rights (ECHR). He denies all charges.
In all this time Talha and Babar have had no charges levelled against them, seen none of the evidence or even been questioned by British or American police. Yet they remain imprisoned.
The campaign is asking for freedom or a fair trial in the UK for Talha and Babar.
What you can do to help
- Check out the campaign website, http://freetalha.org
- Contact your local MP requesting Talha and his co-defendant be tried in the UK. Sample letter and guidance available here.
- Send campaign postcards to the Home Secretary. Free copies available from here.
- Write a letter of support: Talha Ahsan A9438AG, HMP Long Lartin, South Littleton, Evesham, Worcestershire, WR11 8TZ or email via emailaprisoner.com
- Contribute to the campaign by making a donation, organising events and distributing information.
- Follow recent developments on the case on Facebook and Twitter.
- Donate: Contact info@freetalha.org if you would like to make a contribution to the campaign.
- Check out the documentary, “Extradition“- a film that explores the injustices of the Extradition Act 2003 through the suffering of two individuals and their families. The act stipulates that any British Citizen can be extradited to the US without their government even providing prima facie evidence.
Screening: 7th July – Wembley, London
IHRC Head Office, Gallery and Information Centre, 202 Preston Road, Wembley, HA9 8PA . Time: 6:45 to 8:45 . Nearest Tube Station : Preston Road
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