disruptive.org.uk :: Babar Ahmad (4)

Babar Ahmad (4)

Tuesday 5th February 2008

Craig Murray comments on the "bugging story". Most of the discussion of this has centered around the idea that it's wrong that an MP should be bugged by the police.

Very little has been reported about who Babar Ahmad is and the extraordinary circumstances of his case. Whatever the Americans accuse him of was done in this country, but the authorities in the UK have not seen fit to charge him (though the police did beat him up).

But the Americans claim a legal right under a treaty negotiated by "poodle" Blair to have him extradited without their having to produce evidence against him in a British court.

It is of course quite possible that Babar Ahmad could have been involved in planning terrorist acts, but if that is so, why has he never been charged with offences in this country? Rumours that have been reported to the press about his activities have clearly been leaked to them: that does not make them true. Indeed if what is alleged in the Telegraph report is true, then the UK authorities must be grossly negligent if they have not charged him with an offence.

The right to use encryption technologies such as PGP without being assumed to have criminal intent is also a factor in this case. (Like the right to seal your envelopes before you post them...)