BBC wins high profile terrorism ruling

The BBC has won a high profile legal challenge against a government decision to block an interview with a terror suspect detained in the UK for more than seven years without trial as he awaits extradition to the US.

Babar Ahmad, a British citizen, is being held in prison under controversial extradition laws as he fights removal to the US, where he is wanted for allegedly raising funds for Chechen and Afghan insurgents. He strongly denies any involvement with terrorism.

On Wednesday Mr Justice Singh and Lord Justice Hooper ruled that the decision by Ken Clarke, justice minister, to block an interview in prison with Mr Ahmad constituted “a disproportionate interference with the right to freedom of expression” under article 10 of the European Human Rights Act.

This case, which was brought by the broadcaster and supported by Mr Ahmad, is thought to be the first ever challenge to a refusal to permit a broadcaster to film an interview in prison. The justice ministry said Mr Clarke accepted the judgment and did not intend to appeal the decision.

It comes amid growing political controversy around the terms of the 2003 extradition treaty with the US which has been criticised by a number of politicians.

The BBC had argued in court that the the public interest in making a programme about Mr Ahmad’s case was “especially strong” as an interview would “bring home to the public the real human story of Mr Ahmad’s case – for example the impact on his appearance, voice and manner of many years of detention without trial.”

However Mr Clarke’s lawyers had argued that an interview would risk “causing distress to victims of terrorist acts in this country and abroad” and also risk damaging confidence in the criminal justice system if terror suspects are allowed to give face to face interviews from jail whilst awaiting extradition.

Judges were told that the justice ministry had initially granted permission for a meeting at Long Lartin prison where Mr Ahmad is being held, but then withdrew the offer after the BBC argued the interview should be filmed.

Mr Ahmad is currently awaiting a decision from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which last year ordered a halt to his extradition and that of three other Britons wanted on terrorism charges in the US.

The ECHR concluded that Mr Ahmad and the three other men were “at real risk” of being held in a US “super max” prison with the highest levels of security for the rest of their lives if they were convicted.

It ruled that it needed more time to examine the evidence about the men and said they should not be extradited while it was examining the cases.

The UK extradition deal with the US became headline news with the case of Gary McKinnon, an Asperger’s syndrome sufferer accused by US officials of hacking into military computers

However last November a judge-led review concluded that an extradition deal with the US was not biased against British criminal suspects.