Mehanna, Ahmad, and the Curious Case of Modern Justice
Tarek Mehanna and Babar Ahmad illustrate the shocking decline in balance and justice, even to one’s own citizens, post-9/11
It will be interesting to see how history will look back upon the times in which we live.
Sometimes, it takes lifetimes to realise our folly and accept who the real wrongdoers are. Other times it takes far less. While Nelson Mandela spent years in prison as a ‘terrorist’, today he stands as one of the most celebrated and respected leaders globally. While Malcolm X was reviled by the establishment at the time, today his memory lingers in honour and dignity as one who struggled for justice and sacrificed all for it.
Following the unspeakable tragedy of 9/11, what has followed in retaliation has been, in the mildest terms possible, disastrous. Our nations have laid siege upon much of the world and, with the mask of fighting terror, have unleashed a brand of colonial conquest more destructive than any seen before now, not least for modern technological advancements in warfare. Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan are the most outstanding examples of the pile of rubble and bodies left in the wake of ‘counter-terror’, accompanied by the craters abundant across Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.
Placing aside the physical destruction we witness on our computer screens and our televisions, there is also the destruction of souls we have witnessed from home. These past few weeks and months have displayed a steady succession of victims of counter-terror campaigns at home, in both Britain and the US.
Babar Ahmad’s case, one that has gained the most attention on this side of the Atlantic, including a high profile BBC interview, has been particularly troubling. Ahmad’s case began from his appalling assault by police officers during a raid upon his home – resulting in 73 forensically recorded injuries – and arrest to his release without charge six days later, and from the sheer time it took for the Met police to admit its violent assault and provide compensation – another six years – to the acquittal of his assailants. Then on to being held in high security prison in Britain for eight long years without charge, in spite of the admission by both the Crown Prosecution Services and the Attorney General that there was insufficient evidence to charge Ahmad of any criminal activity under UK law. Finally, under the Extradition Act 2003, a skewed treaty that does not require the US to provide any evidence before seeking the deportation of British citizens, Ahmad was condemned to extradition to the US by both the courts in Britain and the European Court of Human Rights.
Arrested as a young man at the age of 30, Ahmad is now 38 and appears strikingly aged from his eight year ordeal. That the British government could treat one of its own born and bred citizens in this manner at the behest of the US is unbelievable. One can’t help but wonder whether its own people or its one-sided trans-Atlantic partnership holds more importance in the authority’s eyes. The Ahmads are determined to fight the case to the end. Meanwhile, cases across the Atlantic provide legitimate cause for their concern.
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