30 Facts About Babar Ahmad

Babar Ahmad is a British Muslim of Pakistani descent who spent eight years in prison without trial in the United Kingdom from 2004 to 2012 fighting extradition to the United States.

Babar Ahmad fought a public eight-year legal battle, from prison, to be tried in Britain but the British Crown Prosecution Service concluded that there was "insufficient evidence to prosecute" him.

In October 2015, a London High Court of Justice judge ruled that PC Mark Jones, one of the officers acquitted in the Babar Ahmad case, assaulted and racially abused two Arab teenage boys in another case.

Babar Ahmad's case was debated twice in the British Parliament.

Babar Ahmad was finally extradited to the US in October 2012, having become the longest-serving British prisoner to be detained without trial in the UK.

Babar Ahmad spent the next two years of pre-trial detention in solitary confinement in Northern Correctional Institution, a Supermax prison in the US State of Connecticut.

In December 2013, after his first year in solitary confinement and after being in prison for over nine years without trial, Babar Ahmad pleaded guilty to two of the charges against him as part of a plea bargain that would allow him to return home within the year.

Babar Ahmad was released in July 2015 and returned to the UK where Metropolitan Police officers welcomed him at London Heathrow Airport then offered to drive him home to his family.

Babar Ahmad was born and brought up in Tooting, London.

Babar Ahmad's parents emigrated to Britain from Pakistan in 1963.

Babar Ahmad's father worked as a Foreign Office civil servant for 30 years and his mother is a retired science teacher.

Babar Ahmad was educated at Emanuel School, where he won academic prizes and obtained outstanding results in his GCSE and A-Level exams.

Babar Ahmad then attended university obtaining a master's degree in Engineering from the University of London in 1996.

Babar Ahmad fought on and off in the Bosnian War from 1992 until 1995.

In December 2003 Babar Ahmad was arrested at his home in Tooting, South London.

Babar Ahmad was re-arrested in London on 5 August 2004 on charges of providing material support to terrorism.

Babar Ahmad was later indicted by a grand jury of US citizens in October 2004.

US extradition documents stated that "at all times material to the indictment" Babar Ahmad was resident in London.

In September 2005, Sadiq Khan, Member of Parliament for Tooting, presented a petition of 18,000 signatures to the Home Secretary Charles Clarke asking for Babar Ahmad to be tried in the UK, instead of being extradited.

Babar Ahmad's name has been mentioned repeatedly in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords in relation to UK-US extradition.

On 30 November 2006, Babar Ahmad lost his appeal at the High Court.

In October 2015, a London High Court of Justice judge ruled that PC Mark Jones, one of the officers acquitted in the Babar Ahmad case, assaulted and racially abused two Arab teenage boys in another case.

Babar Ahmad's case was debated twice in the British Parliament.

On 10 April 2012, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled that Babar Ahmad could be extradited to the United States.

Babar Ahmad was extradited from the UK to the United States on 5 October 2012.

Babar Ahmad later stated that he was "blindfolded, shackled and forcibly stripped naked" during his extradition.

In July 2015, Babar Ahmad was released from prison in the US and returned to the UK.

Babar Ahmad was first arrested at his Tooting home on 2 December 2003 by UK anti-terrorist police of 1 Unit 1 Area Territorial Support Group based at the high security Paddington Green Police Station.

Babar Ahmad filed a formal complaint that was supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

In October 2015, a London High Court of Justice judge ruled that PC Mark Jones, one of the officers acquitted in the Babar Ahmad case, assaulted and racially abused two Arab teenage boys in another case.