Imprisoned for Eight Years for Nothing

Whilst you are reading this, maybe you are fasting or maybe you have just broken your fast. Maybe you are spending this blessed month with family.
Life for Babar Ahmad is a different story. On 5th August this year it was the eighth year of his imprisonment. These eight years are equivalent to a manslaughter charge, although Babar Ahmad is not in prison for killing anyone.

Just imagine that: for eight years he has been in a cell no bigger than a single room. We know that he was severely beaten at the time of his arrest and if he’s not being physically tortured now then imagine the psychological torture of a person who has no idea when they will be released. Imagine you’re sitting in a cell and you want to tell your parents that everything will be alright, but when they travel a long distance to visit they can tell just by looking at you that things are far from fine. And you can tell that they look tired and worn out from your imprisonment.

This has been the life for our brother, Babar Ahmad.

He has spent the last eight Ramadans in prison. He is not breaking his fast with the same delicious and plentiful food that we are breaking our fast with. He has not been able to spend his Ramadan with his family. Why?

He has not been put to trial and he has not been found guilty of anything. If he wasn’t a Muslim, then there would have been an outcry and a demand for an urgent trial in the UK followed by his release. However, he is a Muslim therefore he is in prison. The reason is because you and I are not doing enough to push for our brother to get a fair trial in the UK. There are 4 million Muslims in the UK. Do we not care? Is that why we don’t act? How can we call ourselves Muslims and live comfortably while our brother is suffering?

The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: None of you will truly believe until you love for your brother what you love for yourself”. (Al-Bukhari).

How can we call ourselves Muslims or believers if we do not love for Babar what we love for ourselves? We like to have the freedom to go out, we like to eat nice food, we like to spend time with our family. Oh how we would wish that if we were in Babar’s place, the Ummah would do their best to get us released, especially after eight long years.

We must act to get Babar released. It is not right that he has been imprisoned for so long. We have let him down for too long.

The ‘Free Babar Ahmed’ website is asking for your help. They are asking every person who has a heart to write a letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer and demand that Babar be put on trial in the UK. We all know about the extradition warrant issued by the United States. The email address is keir.starmer@cps.gsi.gov.uk. The ‘Free Babar Ahmad’ website has written a sample letter for your convenience, here.

There has also been a film made of Babar, click here to watch.

You have no excuses.