Torture in London and a hell of a lot of angry questions

The Metropolitan Police has been ordered to pay £60,000 damages to a terror suspect after admitting in the High Court that arresting officers subjected him to violent assaults and religious abuse.

Their defence crumbled when lawyers for the Met conceded that Babar Ahmed from Tooting in London was the victim of gratuitous violence by territorial support group officers during the dawn arrest at his home in December 2003. One of the police officers involved could face criminal proceedings and Mr Ahmad was never charged with any offences arising out of his arrest.

In August 2004 he was detained at the request of the US government and has been held at Long Lartin prison since whilst he waits for a decision on whether his extradition to the US would contravene the European Convention on Human Rights. The officers who carried out the 2003 arrest had been briefed that Mr Ahmad was believed to be connected to al-Qaida and was the head of a south London terrorist group.

Call me crazy...but what on earth is going on in this country and with the human rights law that New Labour enacted when it came to power? When did it ever become acceptable either before or after the Human Rights Act 1998 to torture a suspect in custody? when did it become acceptable to hold someone in prison for five years without charge? When did it become acceptable to extradite someone to a country or regime that condones torture? How is it that we can't send people back to places like Jordan or Saudi without a stinking fuss but we are happy to send them to Guantanamo for the US to violate?

Just as importantly, why is our own police force of the opinion that it is acceptable for its officers, its protectors of society to torture suspects in its custody? How is it with the amount of surveillance technology available in interrogation rooms that officers managed to perform torture without immediate restraint or protest from fellow officers? Why is it that a police force that is habitually accused of and rife with institutional racism allowing this kind of behaviour against ethnic minorities from its officers? Why are we making the same mistakes with Islamic terrorists that we made in the 60s, 70s and 80s with the IRA? Why are we giving terrorists substance to their cause greater than they had to start with?

Why will the Metropolitan police not apologise for their appalling behaviour in this instance?

Answer the questions honestly and the only soul destroying conclusion that can be drawn is that when the dust settles, the actions of these representatives of our state renders us no better than those who seek to destroy us...and that makes me spit with anger and rage!!!