Fahad Ansari examines the dubious relationship between Libya and Great Britain during the 'war on terror years' and the subsequent criminalisation of anti-Gadaffi dissidents in the UK. On 25 March 2004, Tony Blair travelled to Libya to meet Colonel Gaddafi in what was the first ever state visit by a British Prime Minister to the country. Despite Gaddafi’s brutal track record of oppressing his own people at home and sponsoring terrorism abroad, Blair felt that their ...

With each rendition flight, Ghul was subjected to the standard CIA practice of sensory deprivation which included having goggles placed on top of cotton wool on his eyes, a hood over his head and earphones while having his arms and legs chained together.On 23 January 2004, a Baloch Pakistani national born in Saudi Arabia, Hassan Ghul, was detained in the north of Iraq. His arrest was given much attention and singled out for praise by the US authorities claiming that he was a high-value Al-Qaeda ...

The witchunt against Abu Qatada simply reiterates the British Government's relationships with dictatorships - past and presentUntil the devastating 11 September attacks the name of Abu Qatada al-Falastini (the Palestinian) was relatively obscure in western circles.Born in Bethlehem in the West Bank in 1960 Omar Mahmoud Othman, like numerous Palestinians, became part of the diaspora in neighbouring Jordan.  After living in different Middle Eastern countries where he studied various ...

Fahad Ansari unravels the latest US extradition request of a terrorism suspect in light of the current English legal system which has already imprisoned several men over the past decade whilst they fight for justice. Earlier this week, lawyers from the US Justice Department appeared before Westminster Magistrates’ Court seeking the extradition of Abid Naseer, a Pakistani national who had been studying in the UK before his arrest by British anti-terrorism officers ...