|
My week as a terror
suspect
Hundreds of people arrested under anti-terror laws since 11
September have subsequently been released without charge. One man
tells how he copes with the lasting suspicion.
Early one morning last year, Riaz's life changed for good; an armed
police raid on his family home marked him out as a wanted man in the
UK's war on terror. Dragged out of bed and off for questioning, it
was seven days before police accepted he was not a terrorist and
allowed him to return home, to a community which continues to regard
him with suspicion.
While in custody Riaz, who says he still does not know why he was
arrested, also became a new dad. Fatherhood aside, the 30-year-old's
story is not that unusual. According to the Home Office 609 people
were arrested under anti-terror legislation between 11 September and
30 June of this year; 99 were charged with such offences.
Earlier this week a further eight men were charged with conspiring
to commit murder and conspiring to launch radioactive or chemical
attacks. And a 19-year-old man arrested under the Terrorism Act on
Thursday is still being questioned in the West Midlands.
The police and security services retain overwhelming public support
in their efforts, but how do those suspected, but subsequently
cleared, of terror links cope?
'Emotional blow'
Held during a series of raids last December there was little point
in Riaz, who has asked for his real name to be kept secret, hoping
that no one would notice. The south London house he shares with his
wife and parents was sealed off and searched in painstaking detail.
"They went over the minutiae of our lives," he says. "I was very
worried about the health of my parents. If I had been sent to prison
it would have been an emotional blow."
A stay at high security Belmarsh prison in south east London had
been exactly what Riaz, an occasional mosque visitor with sympathies
towards causes such as Chechen independence, had expected. "I was
told they usually send you there, charge you and the case will be
dropped several months down the line."
But as the days passed, he began to suspect that the police
questioning him twice a day had as little idea of what he was
supposed to have done as he did. "It was a really bizarre,
Kafkaesque scenario. It was not a search for the truth, it was a
search for absolutely anything," he says.
Curtain twitching
After a week of questioning Riaz was released but charged with
credit card fraud, allegations which were also dropped. But the
30-year-old says that while his family's immediate neighbours accept
a mistake had been made, others still resort to curtain-twitching
and gossip when he walks past.
He is also having to deal with the fact that old friends are
spending less time with him as people fear guilt by association.
"People are not coming round as much. People that I have known for a
long time are not seeing me anymore."
Riaz was between jobs at the time, but has since secured work in IT.
He will not be telling his employers about his experience. "They
have no idea and I would not want to tell them either because it
raises more questions than it answers."
'Sphere of guilt'
The problems faced by Riaz are typical of those in his position,
says the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC). Most simply keep
their heads down, trying to get on with the life they had before.
Are children going to grow up and be loyal British citizens, or with
animosity to the state?
When you go into a mosque it is normal to shake hands with
everyone," says an IHRC spokesman. "Now, when someone is released,
people know who they are and are reluctant to shake their hands, or
welcome them for fear of being drawn into their sphere of guilt by
association."
The nature of the alleged crime plants it firmly in everyone's minds
and many continue to believe there is no smoke without fire.
"These people have had their lives turned upside down, they have
been humiliated," says the spokesman.
'Wastage'
Police point out that of those arrested under terror legislation but
not prosecuted for such offences, more than 120 have been charged
with other crimes, including fraud, immigration and firearms
offences.
Assistant Chief Constable Rob Beckley, the spokesman on faith issues
for the Association Chief Police Officers, says any major operation
leads to people being arrested and then subsequently released
without charge.
He says only a tiny proportion of the UK's Muslim community has been
targeted by anti-terror operations and that police are acutely aware
of the need to avoid indiscriminate arrests.
"The last thing we want to do is alienate people, because ultimately
terrorism is only defeated with the help of the communities."
He says that Riaz's claim that he still does not know why he was
held is understandable, as the sensitive nature of anti-terrorism
intelligence means police cannot always reveal why they acted.
Animosity
Such claims of police sensitivity are still to convince sections of
the Muslim community though.
What, asks the IHRC spokesman, will children of people who are
arrested make of it?"Are those children going to grow up and be
loyal British citizens, or with animosity to the state?"
He says the media must also play its part, as it is all too often
the case that high profile arrests are given extensive coverage
while the release of suspects is tucked away in the back pages, if
referred to at all.
Despite his experience, Riaz says he supports police in their battle
against terrorism, but not those at the top of the chain.
"My anger is not directed at the police," he says. "With me
personally, the police were professional and to the point. I know
they were trying to take me down, but my anger is directed at the
politicians."
By Duncan Walker
Source: BBC News Online Magazine
|
%20enjoins%20justice.gif)
