Tequila wrote:
I think it's sort of notable who the people are who are 'standing up' for him - almost entirely people from the Muslim community (and the most prominent voices happen to be Islamists) with very few other people involved in advocating for him besides Liberty (who have a long history of, shall we say, selectively defending free speech). Which says a lot.
You are completely off the mark. There are almost certainly just as many non-Muslims standing up for Talha Ahsan as there are Muslims, with a high proportion of his strongest campaigners and supporter being non-Muslim. In my locality the Muslims who are the most proactive supporters are actually quite moderate whereas the hardline and the highly devout remain largely inactive. I have been quite reliably informed that large swathes of the Muslim community in Britain range from completely oblivious to only vaguely aware of Talha Ahsan and Babar Ahmad. Only 150,000 people signed the Babar Ahmad petition which is a drop in a bucket compared to the adult Muslim population - plus the fact that thousands of non-Muslims are also included in that figure. The most steadfast and outspoken MP supporting Talha Ahsan is Caroline Lucas of the Green Party (a non-Muslim) followed by Jeremy Corbyn (also a non-Muslim). Support from his own MP Sadiq Khan (a Muslim) has been lukewarm and wishy washy. As for the other Muslim MPs, they completely ignore him. Support from Liberty has been very so-so and they only got involved late in the campaign.
Gary McKinnon has had a huge advantage over Talha Ahsan because he received much positive coverage in the Daily Mail leading to widespread support. In contrast there was a near media silence about Talha Ahsan whilst he was awaiting extradition. Almost every man on the street in the UK knows who Gary McKinnon is but you would be hard pressed to find someone who has even heard of Talha Ahsan.
Quote:
If the U.S. can bring a decent case for extradition to the UK, then they should be able to extradite him. Simple as that.
Perhaps if the US could supply some solid prima facie evidence beforehand. The sort of stuff that would stand up in a British court of law. Under the present arrangement all the US has to provide is an allegation in order to invoke an extradition. If the UK wants to extradite an American then it is obliged to provide prima facie evidence. The extradition laws are very one-sided as a result of this. I'm not 100% against extraditions but the present arrangement is badly flawed and highly unjust.
22 Nov 2012, 11:51 am
