Arzu Merali writes for CNN on the extradition of Babar Ahmed, Talha Ahsan and three more men from the UK to the US, whilst Gary McKinnon is spared
Violence isn’t always physical – and UK Home Secretary Theresa May’s recent announcements on all things extradition fell one after another as devastating blows to an already beaten and broken Muslim community.
The extraditions of five Muslim men to the United States on October 5 followed by the blocking of computer hacker Gary McKinnon’s extradition this week has made the Muslim communities of the UK wake up to a glaring reality many tried hard to avoid.
It is something other communities in the UK have lived and understood for decades. Some Muslims have taken the beatings, repeated anti-terror laws, stops and searches, detentions without charge, demonization of beliefs and values, denigration of the personalities and principles most loved by us, and unrelenting social discrimination – often believing that by showing more love they will somehow change the attitude of their aggressor. Campaigners against the extradition of some of the men waved Union flags at protests and called on a concept of citizenship, that clearly wasn’t shared by the powers that be.
The differences in treatment are so stark and spring from long-rooted (mis)representation of all things Muslim. The British media discussed ad infinitum the violation of Gary McKinnon’s human rights by the proposed extradition, but when the Muslims were extradited all discussion revolved around why it took so long…
Read the full article on CNN.com, where it was first published.
