Terror suspect Ahmad seeks to block US move

Published on 02/10/2012 00:00

TERROR suspect Babar Ahmad has launched a High Court bid to halt his removal from the UK to the United States, it has been confirmed.

The computer expert’s judicial review application is now expected to be heard today along with that of radical cleric Abu Hamza and another suspect, Khaled Al-Fawwaz. The men are seeking injunctions preventing extradition to the US.

Ahmad’s move was confirmed yesterday by a spokeswoman for the Judicial Office.

The last-ditch challenges will be heard by two judges in London – Sir John Thomas, President of the Queen’s Bench Division, and Mr Justice Ouseley.

Hamza and Al-Fawwaz have already been granted interim injunctions preventing their removal pending today’s hearing.

The latest legal action comes after Europe’s human rights judges recently rejected a bid for an appeal by Hamza and four other terror suspects, paving the way for their extradition.

A panel of five judges threw out their request to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights. Hamza, jailed for seven years for soliciting to murder and inciting racial hatred, has been fighting extradition since 2004. Ahmad has been held in a UK prison without trial for eight years, accused of raising funds for terrorism.

After the ruling in Europe, the Home Office said Hamza and Ahmad, with Seyla Talha Ahsan, Adel Abdul Bary and Al-Fawwaz, would be “handed over to the US authorities as quickly as possible”. Between 1999 and 2006, the men were indicted in the US on various terrorism charges.