Part 1: Dr. Nisha Kapoor & Hamja Ahsan
Part 2: Q & A session
PART OF This is Not a Gateway Festival 2014:
http://thisisnotagateway.net/
Hamja Ahsan, Dr. Nisha Kapoor
Took place at Bishopgate Institute – Great Hall 1pm
Hamja’s older brother Talha Ahsan was taken from his bedroom in south London aged 26, held without charge in various maximum-security prisons in the UK for 6 years before being extradited to America where he was held in solidary confinement for two years. As soon as his case did go in front of a judge he was released. Talha is now 34 years old and soon to embark on rebuilding his and his families shattered life. One of the key outcomes of the US/UK/Europe state’s War on Terror has been to justify the enhancement of securitisation and the making of citizenship vulnerable; ‘citizenship is a privilege, not a right’. This session will explore these dynamics in more detail, discuss the cases of individuals who have been affected, and question what the implications of state actions are on the right to life. It is also an opportunity to celebrate Talha’s release.
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Nisha Kapoor is a lecturer at the University of York, a writer and activist. Her academic work broadly focuses on the relationship between race and the state and specifically examines processes of exclusion and expulsion that have been legitimated, enhanced and progressed in the War on Terror. She has written and campaigned on the extradition of terrorist suspects to the US and is also currently researching citizenship deprivation and mass deportation. She is co-editor of The State of Race. She is the author of a paper racial inequality and extradition of Talha Ahsan and Babar Ahmad. She recently submitted evidence to the House of Lords on Extradition. DOWNLOAD here: http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/extradition-law-committee/extradition-law/written/12486.html
Hamja Ahsan is an artist, cultural producer, curator and civil liberties & human rights campaigner. He is the brother of Talha Ahsan who was recently extradited to a USA Supermax prison – after over 6 years of detention without trial. Hamja leads his national and International campaign with the issues of Extradition law, post-9/11 erosion of civil rights, solitary confinement and internment. He is currently a full-time campaigner, touring the UK with film, literary & speakers tours. Hamja was nominated for a Liberty Human Rights Award 2013 for his civil liberties campaign work and an Alhamra award for excellence in the Arts in 2013. He is working on a book project titled ‘Shy Radicals: AntiSystematic Politics of the Militant Introvert’. www.freetalha.org
WHEN: Sun 02 November 2014
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