WASHINGTON, Nov 16: US officials on Wednesday appreciated Britain’s decision to extradite a Briton of Pakistani origin to the United States to face charges of supporting terrorists and money laundering.
“We are very pleased with the decision, which represents yet another important step in our efforts to bring Babar Ahmad to justice,” said US Attorney Kevin O’Connor, Connecticut’s top federal prosecutor. “We will continue to work closely with our counterparts in London to secure his extradition.”
The October 2004 US federal grand indictment against Babar Ahmad, 31, accuses him of conspiring to provide support to terrorists, including helping to ship gas masks to the Taliban and using US-based Web sites to raise money for Chechen Muslims.
Earlier Wednesday, Britain’s Home Secretary Charles Clarke ordered Babar’s Extradition to face trial in Connecticut, where he faces life imprisonment if convicted of any of the terror charges against him.
One of the Internet service providers used by Babar had headquarters in the state.
A statement from him in prison said it should only come as a surprise to those who thought that there was still justice for Muslims in Britain.
His case is the first to be handled under a US-British extradition agreement reached two years ago, which eliminated a requirement that the underlying evidence supporting the charges be presented in with an extradition request.
Babar Ahmad, who lived in the London neighbourhood of Tooting, was arrested in August 2004 on an American extradition warrant. The decision to extradite him follows a long fight by the US for his removal and by Mr Ahmad and his supporters against the move.
In May, Judge Timothy Workman allowed extradition after receiving assurances from US authorities that they would not seek the death penalty or declare Babar an “enemy combatant,” a category applied to detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. British law forbids the extradition of suspects who could face capital punishment.
Lawyers for Ahmad say he is being made a scapegoat.
He was previously arrested under anti-terror laws in December 2003, but was released without charge.
