I am honoured to be here so thank you so much for inviting me and a warm welcome to the friends and families of Talha Ahsan and Babar Ahmed and my congratulations to them for all of their fantastic work and all of the inspiring work that all of you are doing to keep their cause high on the political agenda.
I wanted just to start really by paying tribute to the courage and conviction of each and every one of you, as well as the friends and families of other men and women fighting the damage and devastation caused by the UK’s extradition laws who simply just want justice done for their loved ones. And as we reflect today on the conditions in which Babar and Talha are held, I cannot imagine what it is like to be in their position but I do know that they must take some comfort from the unceasing efforts of so many to speak out on their behalf. I also think it is important to remember that they were held in this country for several years without charge and without trial in a maximum security prison and during that time they experienced horrific physical, sexual and religious abuse at the hands of the arresting police officers.
So, while it’s right to point the finger at the US it’s also right to remember that the UK has responsibility for the nightmare that these two men are still enduring.
At a meeting in Parliament almost a year ago I argued that it would not be in the public interest for anyone to be extradited to the US from the UK until the urgent legislation called for by Parliament, more than six months earlier, had been passed. Now you’ll know that the law has now been changed but, perhaps cynically, not in time to give Babar and Talha the protection they and every other British citizen deserve.
As British citizens accused of serious crimes they are alleged to have committed in this country, they are still being denied the right to trial in a British court, as right that it is worth noting has been seriously undermined even further in the last few weeks by the government’s so-called Justice & Security Act which shockingly gives the green light to secret trials.
As British citizens, they are still subjected to the most appalling of human rights violations and I know many of you feel deeply disappointed and frankly baffled that the European Court could possibly rule that there will be no violation of human rights for those facing life and solitary confinement in Supermax conditions. I challenge those people at the European Court who made that decision to stand by it having watched The Worst of the Worst. There are others here who are going to speak about that film in detail so I just want to say one thing. It is wrong for any British citizen to be extradited into conditions that are demonstrably cruel and degrading; conditions that constitute torture, and to do everything that I can as an MP to support those who want Babar and Talha brought home and to try to prevent anyone else suffering their fate.
And as President Obama and David Cameron’s discussions on Europe were beamed across the world on our television sets earlier this week, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one watching their discussions thinking “What about Babar?”, “What about Talha?”, and also “What about Shaker Aamer?” who, despite the US and UK’s so-called special relationship remains detained in Guantanamo Bay without any charge being brought.
Babar and Talha may be in solitary confinement but they are not alone. There is a whole community of people fighting hard on their behalf to expose what is still happening to those two men and to bring an end to the incarceration in a modern correctional institution and to bring them home. That’s an enormous challenge and one made all the harder because of the distance that separates Babar and Talha from us physically and in so many other ways too. Who here can really imagine what they are going through?
But equally difficult is imagining a future in which we are not horrified by Babar and Talha’s stories and that, in a way, I think can give us some hope.
The overwhelming public response to their treatment is a source, I think, of hope as well.
The film we are about to see is bleak, disturbing and painful to watch but we owe it to Talha and Babar to look to a different future, to find hope in the most unlikely of places and to ensure that their struggle for justice succeeds.
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