Shadow lives

Abstract

For years, families and friends have run campaigns in the UK to prevent the extradition to the US of a number of Muslim men of Middle Eastern or South Asian descent, two of whom are British nationals, to face ‘terror’ charges. (They should, if there is evidence against them, be tried in the UK.) The author, in a chapter from her forthcoming book, Shadow Lives, examines the impact of such terror laws on families of suspects. Here, the physical and emotional toll of the incarceration pending extradition (of eight and six years, respectively) on the British families of Babar Ahmad and Syed Talha Ahsan is examined in detail. Both men are accused of providing ‘material support for terrorism’ via the website Azzam.com, which was hosted in the US. Brittain, who has spent many years supporting such families, presents an account, often in their own words, of their experiences of loss, acute anxiety and the long fight for justice.