A Libyan national held in British custody on charges of 'terrorism' has said that Muslims in UK prisons are subjected to abuse and discrimination.
In a live interview with Press TV on Monday, 28-year-old Faraj Hassan said that shortly after arriving in the UK in 2002, the British police arrested him and locked him up for the next 15 months without trial before eventually filing terrorism charges against him in 2003 under the UK Terrorism Act.
“After spending months in detention, I was told that they wanted to extradite me to Italy. I fought this case for approximately five years,” Hassan said.
His extradition order to Italy was ultimately suspended, keeping him in jail for another four years on the basis of secret evidence and subject to a control order in addition to a UN financial sanction which prevented him from obtaining any income.
The British government refused to release him and kept him in a number of prisons where he underwent “occasional beatings” for “refusing to share cells with individuals who got pornographic photographs or sometimes for refusing a strip search.”
“After my acquittal in absentia in Italy, the Italian government was not interested in me anymore. Therefore, I was released under strict conditions,” he added.
Hassan compared his situation in prison to the situation of inmates held in the US military detention facilities of Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, saying that “is exactly what happens everyday in British jails… and they deliberately do it to Muslims because Muslims do not like to be naked in front of other men.”
He also referred to the many Muslims suffering in isolation in UK prisons, where inmates are kept “in a prison within the bigger prison.”
Asked about the control order constraints on his family, Hassan said that the British police continued to raid his residence frequently “to destroy him mentally” and deliberately put him in a situation to make him prone to misdemeanor.
Commenting on the British legal system's decision to uphold his control order, he criticized the court for extending the order over his possession of a documentary on the 9/11 incidents.
Faraj Hassan won his court case after the UK High Court judge was convinced that the UK Home Office and security services failed to present evidence of his links to terrorism.
In a live interview with Press TV on Monday, 28-year-old Faraj Hassan said that shortly after arriving in the UK in 2002, the British police arrested him and locked him up for the next 15 months without trial before eventually filing terrorism charges against him in 2003 under the UK Terrorism Act.
“After spending months in detention, I was told that they wanted to extradite me to Italy. I fought this case for approximately five years,” Hassan said.
His extradition order to Italy was ultimately suspended, keeping him in jail for another four years on the basis of secret evidence and subject to a control order in addition to a UN financial sanction which prevented him from obtaining any income.
The British government refused to release him and kept him in a number of prisons where he underwent “occasional beatings” for “refusing to share cells with individuals who got pornographic photographs or sometimes for refusing a strip search.”
“After my acquittal in absentia in Italy, the Italian government was not interested in me anymore. Therefore, I was released under strict conditions,” he added.
Hassan compared his situation in prison to the situation of inmates held in the US military detention facilities of Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, saying that “is exactly what happens everyday in British jails… and they deliberately do it to Muslims because Muslims do not like to be naked in front of other men.”
He also referred to the many Muslims suffering in isolation in UK prisons, where inmates are kept “in a prison within the bigger prison.”
Asked about the control order constraints on his family, Hassan said that the British police continued to raid his residence frequently “to destroy him mentally” and deliberately put him in a situation to make him prone to misdemeanor.
Commenting on the British legal system's decision to uphold his control order, he criticized the court for extending the order over his possession of a documentary on the 9/11 incidents.
Faraj Hassan won his court case after the UK High Court judge was convinced that the UK Home Office and security services failed to present evidence of his links to terrorism.
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