Guardian : Foreign Office accused of swap deal over terror suspects

Foreign Office accused of swap deal over terror suspects

Sandra Laville | The Guardian | December 11, 2007

Two men wanted in Pakistan for alleged terrorist activity have been charged in London under the Terrorism Act as part of what human rights campaigners claim is a secret deal between the two countries.

Faiz Baluch, 25, of north London and Hyrbyair Marri, 39, of west London, were charged with inciting another person to commit an act of terrorism "wholly or partly outside the UK". A Scotland Yard statement said they were due to appear at City of Westminster magistrates court this morning. Marri is also charged with possessing a weapon capable of discharging a noxious liquid, gas or other substance, police said.

The Guardian revealed this year that the Foreign Office was engaged in behind the scenes discussions with Pakistani officials in an effort to secure the extradition of Rashid Rauf, a 26-year-old Briton held in a high security prison in Pakistan.

Rauf, from Birmingham, is wanted in connection with an alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners in the summer of 2006. He is considered a key suspect by senior counter-terrorism officers. But the Pakistanis demanded that Rauf be swapped for people living in the UK who they claim are involved in an uprising in the oil-rich western province of Baluchistan.Two of these men, Marri Baluch, were arrested last week in London.

The Pakistani authorities have dropped charges against Rauf, allowing the British to seek his extradition.

Supporters of the two Baluchi nationalists believe a secret deal has been made between the two countries. They warned that the men would be tortured and imprisoned if returned to Pakistan.

Mehran Baluch, Marri's brother, claimed the arrest came two weeks after the Pakistani authorities killed another brother, Balach Marri, in Baluchistan. "This seems like no coincidence but a planned conspiracy and collaboration by the two governments."

Baluch said President Pervez Musharraf's envoy, Tariq Azim, had recently visited the UK as part of collaboration between the two countries on the war on terror.

The human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said: "If these men are extradited they will never get a fair trial and they could face a death sentence.

"The Pakistan authorities have repeatedly framed peaceful nationalists and human rights campaigners, both inside Baluchistan and abroad."

Earlier this year lawyers from the Crown Prosecution Service flew to Islamabad to help the Pakistani authorities prepare extradition papers for up to eight Baluchi nationalists living in the UK. Rauf's arrest in August last year by Pakistan's security services sparked a series of raids in Britain linked to an alleged attempt to blow up transatlantic airliners, over which 15 people have been charged.

Rauf is also wanted by West Midlands police in connection with the murder of a relative.