LONDON – The London Metropolitan Police Service will pay £60,000 (€63,500) in damages to a terror suspect after admitting in the UK high court yesterday that arresting officers subjected him to violent assaults and religious abuse.
The collapse of the police defence to a civil action for personal injury damages brought by Babar Ahmad (34), an IT support analyst, led to immediate calls for an official inquiry into what his family claimed was a cover-up to protect the officers involved.
Mr Ahmad was in court to hear lawyers for Met commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson concede that he was the victim of gratuitous violence by territorial support group officers during the arrest at his home in Fountain Road, Tooting, southwest London, in December 2003. One of the unnamed officers allegedly involved could face criminal proceedings, Mr Justice Holroyde heard.
Mr Ahmad was not charged with any offences arising out of his arrest. But in August 2004 he was detained at the request of the US government and has been held in Long Lartin prison since, awaiting a decision on whether his extradition to the US would contravene the European Convention on Human Rights.
The officers who carried out the 2003 arrest had been briefed that Mr Ahmad, who had worked at Imperial College London for six years and was married with no children, was believed to be connected to al-Qaeda and was the head of a south London terrorist group.
In a statement after yesterday’s settlement, Mr Ahmad said he was pleased the police had accepted its officers subjected him to physical abuse.
“This abuse took place not in Guantánamo Bay or a secret torture chamber, but in Tooting, south London,” he said. “I can now put this incident behind me and focus on the fight to prevent my extradition to the United States.”
He hoped that the UK government would now acknowledge that it had been wrong to detain him in prison without trial for five years.
The police admitted that five or six officers, some using abusive language, subjected Mr Ahmad to sustained and brutal beatings, despite his offering no resistance.
An officer twice placed him in a choking neck hold, causing him to feel that he was about to die.
Officers openly mocked his Islamic faith, at one point forcing him into a praying position with an officer saying: “Where is your god now? Pray to him.” One officer grabbed his testicles and pulled hard, causing intense pain.
In a statement, Mr Ahmad’s family said the taunt “Where is your god now?” was “a direct attack not just on Babar, but on every single Muslim in the world”.
The police had still refused to apologise and, until yesterday, had accused Mr Ahmad of lying.
The family claimed there had been a cover-up – involving, among other things, the “disappearance” of police notebooks and transcripts – which should be officially investigated.
Their statement ended: “Throughout this ordeal, our faith has not wavered as we believe our Lord never forsakes us. For those officers who asked ‘Where is your god now?’, here is the answer.”
Also calling for an inquiry, Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said the commissioner’s refusal to apologise was “a slap in the face of every Muslim in the UK”.
He said: “At a time when immense pressure is being put on the Muslim community to work towards community cohesion, this arrogance exposes the tolerance of Islamophobia within the police.”
The Met said: “The police are duty bound to act on information that identifies a real and serious terrorism threat to the safety of the public and it is a regrettable consequence of such operations that force may need to be used.
“However, we recognise any use of force must be proportionate and reasonable.” – (PA)