LONDON, Sept 7: A Briton released from Pakistan after more than a year in custody was arrested minutes after his plane touched down at London’s Heathrow Airport on Friday, police said.
Rangzieb Ahmed arrived around 1:30pm at the airport aboard a scheduled flight from Islamabad. Armed police waiting for Ahmed boarded the plane as soon as its doors opened, pulling the bearded 32-year-old from the aircraft in handcuffs.
Greater Manchester Police, which made the arrest, said he was being held under Britain’s terrorism laws.
Rangzieb Ahmed was arrested Aug 25, 2006, in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province for alleged links with Al Qaeda. A US human rights group said he had been tortured in custody.
Pakistani officials did not charge him, and a review board headed by Supreme Court Justice Faqir Mohammad Khokhar ordered his release last Friday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said.
‘’The fact is that during one year of detention, the Pakistanis, the British and the US have been unable to unearth a shred of evidence against this person,’’ said Ali Dayan Hasan, South Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch.
Rangzieb said he was interrogated several times by US law enforcement personnel from unidentified agencies and by British security services, but he denied wrongdoing and involvement with Al Qaeda, Human Rights Watch said.
Ali said he did not know why Rangzieb had been detained. Pakistan held Rangzieb under its security powers and was not obliged to specify on what charges he was held, Ali said.
Rangzieb, who was born in the northern England city of Manchester, travelled to Pakistan last year to visit relatives, his brother Mohammed Pervaiz said.—AP
