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Syed Talha Ahsan
Syed Talha Ahsan is a British citizen who has been held in custody since July 2006.

He was arrested at his home on 19 July 2006 in response to a request from the USA under the Extradition Act 2003 which does not require the presentation of any prima facie evidence. He is accused in the US of terrorism-related offences arising out of an alleged involvement over the period of 1997-2004 with a series of websites, one of which happened to be located on a server in the United States.

He has never been questioned by British police.

Background
Syed Talha Ahsanwas born in London in 1979. He has a first class honours degree in Arabic from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London. In the week of his arrest he had job interviews to train as a librarian. He is an active poet.

He has Asperger Syndrome (a form of autism).

Appeal to the ECHR against the US extradition of Syed Tahla Ahsan, Babar Ahmad and others
Syed Talha Ahsan has appealled to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) together with five other men, three of whom are also British citizens: Babar Ahmad, Mustafa Kamal (Abu Hamza), Haroon Aswat, Adel Abdul Bary (an Egyptian citizen), and Khaled Al-Fawwaz, (a Saudi Arabian citizen). They appealled on human rights grounds against the US's application to extradite them from the UK. Syed Tahla Ahsan has now served the equivalent of a 10 year sentence at high security prisons in the UK without trial. He has no knowledge when his imprisonment will end. He denies all wrongdoing.

Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC) has campaigned against the recent decision taken by the European Court of Human Rights on 10 April 2012 to allow the extradition of the five men from Britain to the US to face terrorism charges, because of the harshness of US prison regimes and the likelihood that the men would be placed under solitary confinement.

The men have 3 months in which to appeal against the EHRC's ruling by requesting a referral to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights.

Richard Haley, Chair of SACC, said:

"Today's ruling is shocking. It's a slap in the face for Juan Méndez, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, who has made it clear that he thinks that prolonged solitary confinement is unacceptable.

"Long-term solitary confinement in any form is cruel and inhuman and should be recognised as a violation of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

"The Strasbourg judges need to listen to the former prison guard who described ADX Florence, where the men would be sent if convicted in the US, as a 'cleaner version of hell.'"

Three of the men who are the subject of the EHRC's ruling - Babar Ahmad, Syed Tahla Ahsan, and Mustafa Kamal Mustafa (better known as Abu Hamza) - are British citizens. The other two men are Adel Abdul Bary, an Egyptian citizen, and Khaled Al-Fawwaz, a Saudi Arabian citizen. The five men are at present being held in prison in Britain.

The appeal of a sixth man - Haroon Rashid Aswat, a British citizen - is also before the court, but the case has been adjourned pending further submissions. Haroon Aswat was formerly detained in Long Lartin prison but has been transferred to Broadmoor Hospital because of his mental health.

The attempt to extradite of Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan is particularly troubling because the offences they are accused of were all allegedly committed in the UK, because the evidence against them was obtained in the UK by British police, and because Britain's Crown Prosecution Service has said that it had insufficient evidence to prosecute the men in Britain. Babar Ahmad says that the handling of his case amounts to "outsourcing" to the US.

The controversial extradition treaty between Britain and the US, which came into effect in Britain at the start of 2004, allows people to be extradited to the US without any requirement for prima facie evidence to be presented in a British Court.

Glasgow-based human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar said today:

"It is time that our Government repealed an extradition treaty that treats our own citizens as second class citizens and hands them on a plate to the US.

"The fact that in Babar's case, evidence was not even considered worthy enough to reach court in this country, shows what a travesty of justice it is that he has remained in prison uncharged and untried for so long.

"Nobody should be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment, that is the true test of a civilised society which we are repeatedly failing."

Whatever the eventual outcome of the case before the European Court of Human Rights in the interests of justice the evidence against Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan should be placed before a British court, for arrangements to made for a full public inquiry into the matter, and for there to be a genuine overhaul of the Britain's extradition treaty with the US.

In view of the international importance of the EHRC's judgment, these cases should in due course be referred to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights.