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| Britain |
| BBC wins right to broadcast prison interview with terror suspect |
| 2012-01-12 |
| The High Court has ruled that Justice Secretary Ken Clarke was wrong to stop the BBC filming a terrorist suspect held for seven years without trial. The court said there was public interest in interviewing Babar Ahmad, due to the exceptional nature of the case. The Justice Secretary had contended an interview was not necessary to inform the public about Ahmad. The British Muslim denies the charges and is fighting extradition to the US. After the ruling, the justice secretary said he would not appeal the verdict and would begin negotiations with the BBC about how and when the interview would take place. The 38-year-old has been in prison pending extradition since 2004, believed to be a record for an unconvicted British citizen. He awaits a final decision on his case by the European Court of Human Rights. Ahmad is accused of raising money for Last year, over 140,000 people signed an official government e-petition calling for him to be tried in the UK, causing MPs to include his case in two Parliamentary debates. After the ruling, the Ministry of Justice issued a statement saying the length of time taken in the Ahmad extradition case was "unacceptable", and blamed a backlog of 150,000 cases at the European Court of Human Rights for the delay. It added that the judge had upheld the Prison Service's general policy on refusing media interview requests with prisons unless there were "exceptional circumstances". |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #1 Thing is he doesn't want to be extradited... So he's given an option, stay in the U.K. (In prison) or leave to another country. Seems more than fair to me. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2012-01-12 08:52 |