The family of extradited British citizen Talha Ahsan is holding a one-year anniversary vigil in Parliament Square, from 1pm to 3pm.
Hamja Ahsan, Talha’s younger brother and campaign leader, said, “We remember Talha today so that tomorrow no more British families will be subject to this ordeal.”
“The nightmare of extradition became a reality exactly one year ago today – Talha has been a year in pre-trial solitary confinement. It has been a terrifying ordeal for our entire family – with no contact allowed in such an extreme isolation prison regime, meaning our mother cannot even hug her own son. Talha could have received a trial in the UK if our rotten and unjust extradition laws were amended in time and in line with the recommendations of the Human Rights Select Committees and the guidelines of Liberty. We still hold out hope for Talha’s repatriation – bring Talha home!”
“Caroline Lucas MP recently paid tribute to our family’s ‘persistence and courage’ in Parliament, warning that the extradition would alienate the hundreds of thousands of people who participated in the national campaigns for Talha Ahsan and Babar Ahmad.”
The family will be reading a poem penned by Gary McKinnon’s mother Janis Sharp in a recent gift book to Talha, wishing solidarity through his extradition ordeal and eventual repatriation
Notes to Editors
Photographs will be available on request.
Images from a recent public vigil: http://www.demotix.com/news/2255292/london-vigil-support-syed-talha-ahsan#media-2255284
http://www.demotix.com/news/2255292/london-vigil-support-syed-talha-ahsan – media-2255284
Contact: info@freetalha.org
Additional photographs & images are available on request from 07542993012
Twitter: @hamjaahsan @freetalha & hashtag : #BringTalhaHome
1. Talha Ahsan is an award-winning British Muslim poet and translator. He has been detained for over seven years without trial. He was extradited to the USA on 5th October 2012 with his co-defendant Babar Ahmad, via the controversial US-UK Extradition Treaty of 2003, on allegations relating to association with the obsolete Azzam websites from 1997-2002 covering Bosnia, Chechnya and Afghanistan. He is now in pre-trial solitary confinement in a Connecticut Supermax prison. His diagnosis with Asperger’s syndrome has raised comparisons with the case of Gary McKinnon. Talha trial has been delayed to March 2014.
2. Full details on the case and campaign may be found at www.freetalha.org
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