Detainee asks to face the British public

Lawyers for a prisoner who has been detained for more than seven years without trial have made a plea in the High Court for BBC television to be allowed to show the world his “prematurely aged” face.

Babar Ahmad, a 38-year-old British Muslim, is being held under controversial extradition laws while fighting American attempts to remove him to the US where he is accused of terrorist-related offences.

He strongly denies any involvement with terrorism.

Yesterday, the BBC and its home affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani challenged Justice Secretary Ken Clarke’s refusal to allow Ahmad to be interviewed for a television broadcast.

Lawyers for Ahmad supported the challenge and argued the immediacy of a filmed interview was the only way to communicate the psychological and physical impact of his arrest and detention.

Reserving judgment, after a day-long hearing, two judges said they hope to give their ruling in January.

Ahmad is waiting for the European Court of Human Rights to rule on whether or not he should be extradited.