ISCI Event Video: Complicity: Europe colludes with the torture of its own citizens

On the 17th June 2013, the International State Crime Initiative (ISCI) and the London Friends of Ali Aarrass held the UK premiere of the new documentary by Moroccan playwright and film-maker, Mohamed Ouachen, titled ‘Ali Aarrass pour l’exemple’ (sub-titled in English), at King’s College London. The film documents the story of a Belgian dual national extradited from Spain to Morocco where he was tortured and sentenced to fifteen years in prison at a mockery of a trial. This case has parallels with the case of British Muslim Talha Ahsan, and the documentary ‘Extradition’ by Turab Shah, about the plight of Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan, extradited in 2012 to a US supermax prison in Connecticut, which was also screened.

Panellists at the event included: Victoria Brittain (former associate foreign editor of The Guardian Newspaper), Farida Aarrass (sister of Ali Aarrass), Luk Vervaet (initiator of Free Ali campaign and prison teacher fighting work ban), Hamja Ahsan (brother of Talha Ahsan), and Arun Kundnani (author of, ‘The Muslims are Coming! Islamophobia, extremism, and the domestic War on Terror’ – forthcoming from Verso Books).

To find out more about Ali Aarrass see www.freeali.eu; and Talha Ahsan at www.freetalha.org Follow on Twitter: @AliAarrass @hamjaaahsan @freetalha