Terror suspect Babar Ahmad in High Court bid to stop extradition to US

 
2 October 2012

Terror suspect Babar Ahmad has launched a High Court bid to halt his removal from the UK to the United States, it was confirmed today.

The computer expert’s judicial review application is now expected to be heard tomorrow (TUE) along with that of radical cleric Abu Hamza and another suspect, Khaled Al-Fawwaz.

The men are seeking injunctions preventing extradition to the US.

Ahmad’s move was confirmed today by a spokeswoman for the Judicial Office.

The last-ditch challenges will be heard by two judges in London - Sir John Thomas, President of the Queen’s Bench Division, and Mr Justice Ouseley,

Hamza and Al-Fawwaz have already been granted interim injunctions preventing their removal pending tomorrow’s hearing.

The latest legal action comes after Europe’s human rights judges recently rejected a bid for an appeal by Hamza and four other terror suspects, which paved the way for their extradition.

A panel of five judges threw out their request to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights.

Hamza, who was jailed for seven years for soliciting to murder and inciting racial hatred, has been fighting extradition since 2004.

Ahmad, who was also subject to the ruling by the five judges, has been held in a UK prison without trial for eight years after being accused of raising funds for terrorism.

After the ruling in Europe, the Home Office said Hamza and Ahmad, with Seyla Talha Ahsan, Adel Abdul Bary and Al-Fawwaz, would be “handed over to the US authorities as quickly as possible”.

Between 1999 and 2006, the men were indicted on various terrorism charges in America.

Hamza has been charged with 11 counts of criminal conduct related to the taking of 16 hostages in Yemen in 1998, advocating violent jihad in Afghanistan in 2001, and conspiring to establish a jihad training camp in Bly, Oregon, between June 2000 and December 2001.

Ahmad and Ahsan are accused of offences including providing support to terrorists and conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim or injure persons or damage property in a foreign country.

Bary and Al-Fawwaz were indicted - with Osama bin Laden and 20 others - for their alleged involvement in, or support for, the bombing of US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998. Al-Fawwaz faces more than 269 counts of murder.

Adel Abdul Bary has also lodged an application, which is being considered by a single judge.

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