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| Picture Courtesy of Beata Zalewska |
So the news making the headlines was dominated by a picture of a man with a hook along with 4 other men. This didn't help the case of the Babar Ahmed and Syed Talha Ahsan. British Citizens, born and bred in the UK. Their case was lumped together with another and it has deflected the issue off key points in Babar Ahmed's case. Why can British citizens be extradited while the US will never allow a similar pact? And the crux of the matter, no evidence against the defendants has ever been seen. For 8 years they have been sitting in a UK prison without any trial. A record in the British legal system. Well, why don't they just go to the US and face the heat? If they're guilty then do the time, if they're innocent then they'll be free. 8 years have passed , a sentence in itself, and now there will be another long stretch in the US prison system until they reach a verdict. And that leads on to another issue, the US prison system. Described as a 'clean version of hell' by a prison officer, the 'supermax' prison in Florence is where they will be held. Condemned internationally because of its abusive regime, inmates are allowed only 1 hour a day outside their cell and on some days are locked up 24 hours a day. Suicide attempts soar when inmates are sent to the facility and those that are sane do not remain so for long. The only inmate to have left the facility said, "It breaks down the human spirit. It breaks down the human psyche. It breaks your mind". Its chilling reading but a reality where 2 British Citizens are likely to be held. Citizens just like you and me, born here, raised here, but sent elsewhere to face trial for an alleged crime committed in the UK. An Extradition Travesty.
