Babar Ahmad is a terrorism suspect who has been in custody since 2004 and is fighting extradition to the US. He is fighting it as they have a justice system there that sometimes punishes offenders if they are convicted.
When he was first arrested in 2003 Ahmad alleged that the arresting officers assaulted him. An IPCC supervised investigation took place and there was found to be insufficient evidence to charge the officers but direction that one officer should be disciplined.
In 2009 the Met agreed to pay Ahmad £60K rather than go to civil court. You can read another totally biased Grauniad article here as to the case for Ahmad, which doesn't even mention the police response to his allegations.
In 2010 a decision was made to prosecute four Metropolitan police officers for assaulting Ahmad. This went to trial and was concluded last week. The four officers were acquitted and the jury, who took less than an hour to reach their decision, asked if they could shake their hands. Evidence had come to light that MI5 had bugs in Ahmad's house. The recordings from these bugs revealed that specific allegations by Ahmad regarding comments and actions by the officers were not present on the recordings. You can read more here. For example, he stated that the arresting officers forced him into the Muslim prayer position and shouted at him. "Where is your God now!" This, of course drew out all the usual suspects shouting about racism and religious bigotry. It never happened. It is a lie and fortunately for the officers there was a recording to prove it.
So Ahmad has been exposed as a liar, who at the very least exaggerated the circumstances of his arrest, and possibly self inflicted bruising and made the whole lot up. But the fact that he is totally discredited is of no concern to the disgusting excuse for journalists at the Grauniad, who just insinuate that the officers have had other complaints so they must be guilty and that Ahmad, the terrorist suspect, is still a hero for taking on the the fascist police bullies.
I hope that now Ahmad has been exposed for what he is, that he is now relieved of his £60K ASAP and that the officers push for him to be charged with perverting the course of justice.
Well said.
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly for the Guardian, the comments I could be bothered to read largely condemned the article, and received plenty of 'recommendations' from other readers. I think the columnist misjudged her anti-police audience for once.
ReplyDeleteGood critique though Boss :)
Speaking as a gay, Muslim, Pakistani Rastafarian, I have to say that I find this blog post very offensive indeed.
ReplyDeleteOooh Matron ! Free Tibet !
the officers involved should take out an action for defamation against the lying terrorist toerag. Payment of 60k plus costs.......
ReplyDeleteI know two of these PC's personally. How come it took 8 years to sort this out? How is that fair? If the CPS had secret recordings of what really happened how could they let this go forward.Imagine if a criminal knew these facts before his trial,the CPS would drop it like a hot potato.
ReplyDeleteDisgraceful.
Jaded
When the jurors shake coppers hand after acquitting then, and audio bugs show the evidence against them didn't exist - you have to wonder what is between that journalist's ears, seriously. From her words she is clearly intelligent, but her comprehension suggest some kind of mental impairment, very deep seated prejudice or is just out and out lying.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the poster above, sue the terrorist for defamation.
Lying, ALLEGED terrorist toerag, please! Lex
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 19:44 on 07 June. She is a solicitor not a journalist and that makes her comments worse. She is what Lenin called a 'useful idiot'. Not stupid but devoted to her cause and willing and capable to anything to further it. I would imagine under the kind of regime Ahmad and his ilk would seek to introduce she would prosper as Ahmad would have women's rights at the top of his agenda.
ReplyDeleteI am actually worried about the sound recording - this would have corroborated the officers at an early stage - who decided to sit on it? Was it MI5 playing games and being prepared to sacrifice four officers for some other gain. Whatever happened we should all be glad that they were brave enough to go hands on with a dangerous individual. As for his injuries I've had worse after playing Wednesday afternoon rugby.
Ex
I take a very different view on this one. It's a cock up all round. After eight years no justice is done all round. Does anyone know whether his still alleged terrorism is worth 8 years? Juries made mistakes similar to this in Irish cases, so them shaking the officers' hands could be dark rather than bright sign. The CPS seem, on the face of the tape, to be clowns again in pressing charges - but we don't really know what made the Met pay out £60K.
ReplyDeleteWhat really worries me is all the people we are paying a lot out for who seem to screw up what should be straightforward. The public have had eight years of expensive squabbling piss and don't even know if we have a terrorist in jail.
Ye cunt shites ye
ReplyDeleteThe question that is begging to be answered is:
ReplyDeleteAt what point did the existence of these recordings become known? (i.e. known by persons outside of MI5?)
Were I a prosecutor, or someone with clout, and knowing this complainant had received a payout of Sixty Thousand, & that Four officers had a cloud over their name, if I then discovered the existence & content of these recordings, well I'd made SURE there was such a trial, to clear the name of the Four, & the let the public know the character of the complainant.