Monday, October 8, 2012

Two extradited poets - Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan



The poet Babar Ahmad was extradited to New York following an appeal against extradition that had all the hallmarks of a prearranged deal. It takes time to arrange flights to the United States and seems extremely unlikely that the flights that took 5 Muslims to face US injustice were not already scheduled by Theresa May in her 'War on Islam'. On board these flights were the poet Talha Ahsan who I mentioned in a post a few days ago. I have already written about how Babar was beaten by police, awarded £60,000 damages by the Metropolitan Police, but when a criminal case was brought against these policemen, the judge, who was just about to retire, exonerated them. This poem was published on the internet last Friday, the holy day of Islam on which Babar lost his appeal.


Friday
One day...
The sun will shine again.
The flowers will blossom again.
The birds will sing again.

One day...
The rain will fall again.
The rivers will flow again.
The gardens will be green again.

One day...
The lips will smile.
The tears will dry.
The prayers will be answered.

One day...
The shackles will break.
The darkness will end.
The doors...
This is powerful poetry. It is not Oscar Wilde, whose Ballad of Reading Gaol was beautifully read yesterday by Alex Jennings on Poetry Please! Wilde had a unique voice, and like Babar, experienced unjust penal incarceration. How fittingly the following lines can be applied to all whose liberty has been removed. 
I know not whether Laws be right,
Or whether Laws be wrong;
All that we know who lie in gaol
Is that the wall is strong;
And that each day is like a year,
A year whose days are long.
Talha Ahsan is also a poet. He suffers from Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism. He has however written for Ceasefire Magazine and published a volume of his poetry entitled This Be The Answer. While Talha still had hope in July 2011 he wrote a great poem Extradition. He was realistic enough to know the nasty nature of Theresa May, 'a feeble servant' to her masters in the US.



Theresa May, a minister at home

though feeble servant to her masters there;

a solitary torture chamber cell,

To put me in, she’ll simply say, ‘Away!’

So let me while I can devote my time

to work for my own justice over here.


(C) Talha Ahsan, HMP Long Lartin, 19 July 2011

And so it proved, Theresa May was that 'feeble servant' of the United States of America. The time has come for righteous people to speak out and get our British citizens back on British soil. Writers, poets artists, these are our brothers. Speak out for them!


Please join this group and get your friends to join too.



2 comments:

  1. Well said. However, I am afraid that a majority of Britons are too racist to be concerned about Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan. Contrast this how Britons were campaigning for British nanny and baby-killer Louise Woodward to be returned to England from America in 1997. Britons seem to be convinced about the innocence of the guilty and the guilt of the innocent.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for your comment of support Junis. I missed it at the time.

    ReplyDelete