Syed Talha Ahsan

Syed Talha Ahsan is a British poet and translator.

Syed Talha Ahsan was born in London in 1979.

He was educated at Dulwich College in Dulwich, London, England, United Kingdom.

Syed Talha Ahsan has a first class honours degree in Arabic from SOAS, University of London.

He was accused of associations with an allegedly terrorism-related Islamic news media website and London-based publishing house from 1997 to 2004 about Bosnia, the Chechen Independence War and Afghanistan Islamic Emirate government.

They are accused by the US of terrorism-related offences arising from alleged involvement with a series of websites from the period of 1997 to 2004.

One of the sites was for a short period located on a server within the United States.

He was arrested at his family home in London, UK on 19 July 2006 in response to a request from the United States under the US–UK Extradition Act 2003, and detained without trial or charge over 6 years before his extradition to the United States on 5 October 2012.

Early in 2006, the Metropolitan Police Service searched his family home under a warrant issued under the Crime (International Co-operation) Act 2003 and the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.

In July 2006, he was arrested in the UK under a provisional warrant and extradition proceedings commenced under the Extradition Act 2003.

Hearings in the UK to determine his suitability for extradition began in November 2006.

On 14 June 2007 the UK Secretary of State ordered Syed Talha Ahsan's extradition.

As a result of a UK parliamentary petition raising over 140,000 signatures the case sparked a discussion in the House of Commons among Members of Parliament late in 2011.

He is winner of the Platinum and Bronze Koestler Awards 2012 for his poetry.

After being detained without trial for six years, with appeals to the European Court of Human Rights, the House of Lords and the UK High Court, Ahsan was extradited from the UK to the US on 5 October 2012, where he initially pleaded not guilty to all charges against him at a federal district court hearing in New Haven, Connecticut.

He was held while awaiting trial in solitary confinement at the Northern Correctional Institution, a Supermax state prison in Somers, Connecticut, United States.

In a BBC interview aired on 5 April 2012 Evan Kohlmann an American internet extremism expert, said of the websites to which the men are allegedly linked that "Even today there are very few websites out there that have the credibility that Azzam publications still has now."

On 10 April 2012, the European Court of Human Rights published its landmark ruling that both men could be extradited from Britain to the US to face terrorism charges.

They had three months from that date to request a referral to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights.

Syed Talha Ahsan denied any wrongdoing and asked to be tried in the United Kingdom.

A winner of the prestigious Koestler Award for his poem "Grieving", Talha stands accused of charges described by Noam Chomsky as shallow and evasive.

On 10 December 2013, in U.S. District Court in New Haven, Connecticut he entered into a plea bargain with the US Government prosecutor to charges of conspiracy to provide and providing material support for militants in Chechnya and Afghanistan.

All other charges were dismissed.

The length of Talha's detention without trial or charge is among the longest in British legal history.

He is also the translator of a tenth-century Arabic poem, "Above the Dust", by Syrian Abu Firas Al-Hamdani, on his captivity in Byzantium.

The Talha Ahsan extradition case raised controversy due to comparison with the treatment of Gary McKinnon, whose extradition – which was expected to be 10 days after Ahsan's – was stalled after a medical diagnosis of Asperger syndrome and associative risks, similar to a diagnosis given to Ahsan.

This has led to accusations from mainstream UK media, human rights NGOs and religious groups of a racist double standard within Conservative Home Secretary Theresa May's application of the law.

His US trial proceedings began in October 2013.

On 10 December 2013, he changed his plea to guilty to the charge of providing material support to terrorists.

An international campaign led by Talha's brother Hamja Ahsan was formed to halt his extradition to the US and have him tried in the UK on the basis that this is where he was present during the period of the allegation.

This was supported by a wide coalition of figures including Noam Chomsky, Robert Hillary King (Angola Three), A. L. Kennedy, Stop the War, Bruce Kent, Plaid Cymru, his MP and Labour cabinet member Sadiq Khan, Caroline Lucas MP, Gerry Conlon, the Muslim Council of Britain, actor Riz Ahmed, and former extradited Britons David Bermingham and Gary Mulgrew of the NatWest Three.

The family-run campaign continues around issues of solitary confinement and reforming extradition law, with the aim of repatriating Talha to the UK.

The campaign also curates events around prison literature, especially poetry.

The Free Talha Ahsan family campaign was short-listed for a Liberty Human Rights Award in 2013, described as a "creative and innovative campaign" and in its use of art, poetry, film and music to bring the issue of summary extradition to wider public and political attention described as "inspiring".

Ahsan was a co-defendant with another British citizen Babar Ahmad, in a high-profile case at the European Court of Human Rights, appealing their extraditions to the US.

As of 2017/18, Talha is studying for a master's degree in history at SOAS, University of London.

After his arrest, he was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome (a form of autism).

At the time of his arrest, Syed Talha Ahsan intended to become a librarian.

Since his arrest he has been held in the UK in high security prisons without charge or trial and refused bail for over five years.

While being incarcerated he continues to write highly praised poetry.