A rally took place outside Her Majesty's Prison at Woodhill, in
Milton Keynes, between 12:30 and 14:30 on Sunday 28 November
2004, to protest against the imprisonment without trial of
detainees at Woodhill and Belmarsh prisons.

The rally was attended by about 200 people, who braved heavy
rain, united in their reasoned opposition to arbitrary detention
and manifest neglect of justice.

The demonstration was entirely peaceful, having been agreed upon
in consultations between the Milton Keynes Stop War group and
local police officers.

It was addressed by an impressive array of speakers, with support
drawn from the following organisations: Stop Political Terror,
Campaign against Criminalising Communities, Liberty, Haldane
Society of Socialist Lawyers, the Muslim Parliament, Respect, the
Socialist Party, the Green Party and the Liberal Democrat Party.

It was reported by ITV Anglia and by BBC Look East. A coach
brought supporters from Birmingham. Two coaches from London were
supported by Sadiq Khan, Labour Party prospective parliamentary
candidate for Tooting. A minibus service between the rail station
and HMP Woodhill was operated by Milton Keynes Stop War group.

The demonstration focused on the plight of Babar Ahmad, a British
citizen who was born and brought up in South London. He is now
detained at HMP Woodhill and faces extradition to the USA under
the terms of a treaty that many speakers identified as being
deeply unjust and legally flawed. The treaty makes no requirement
for the USA to show reasonable cause for extradition; all that is
required by the agreement between David Blunkett and John
Ashcroft is that the USA provides a list of allegations. Babar
Ahmad has no opportunity to contest these claims.

Under the terms of the same agreement, such neglect of due
process would be inadmissible if the UK wanted to extradite
someone from the USA. Moreover, the US Senate has not ratified
the treaty. Yet it seems that Babar Ahmad faces continuation of
this unjust process -- unapproved by Parliament -- at his next
appearance at Bow Street magistrates court on 16 December 2004,
as a result of the Home Secretary's use (some would say, abuse)
of the Royal Prerogative.

The rally was addressed by Ashfaq Ahmad, a retired civil servant
who is the father of Babar Ahmad. He told how his son had been
arrested on 2 December 2003 and later found by a doctor, in the
presence of forensic medical examiners, to be suffering from more
than 50 injuries, including two which were potentially life
threatening. No action has yet been taken against security
officers for these injuries.

Babar Ahmad was released on 8 December 2003, without any charge
being made against him. On 5th August 2004, he was re-arrested on
an extradition warrant from the USA, which likewise gives him no
opportunity to defend himself against any charge.

The injustice of the treatment of Babar Ahmad, and of other
detainees at Woodhill and Belmarsh, was protested in speeches by
Dr Adnan Siddiqui (Stop Political Terror), Saghir Hussein
(criminal law solicitor), Dr G Siddiqui (leader of the Muslim
Parliament), Sait Akgul (Respect), Doug Jewell (campaigns co-
ordinator of Liberty), Steve Score (the Socialist Party), Saleh
Mamon (Campaign against Criminalising Communities) and Tom Bolton
(Milton Keynes Stop War group).

Natalia Garcia (solicitor to Woodhill and Belmarsh detainees)
carefully explained the ways in which the Anti-terrorism Crime
and Security Act, of 2001, and the Extradition Act, of 2003,
leave lawyers unable to represent their clients properly. She
spoke of the despair felt by the detainees.

The demonstration was very timely, coming at the end of a week
when no less a person than the Director of Public Prosecutions,
Ken Macdonald, had said that any move to abandon "fundamental
principles" of the justice system would undermine public
confidence in it. Likewise, this week, the United Nations
Committee Against Torture called on the British Government to
review its policy of indefinite detention of foreign terror
suspects "as a matter of urgency".

Three residents of Milton Keynes addressed the rally.

Alan Francis, representing the Milton Keynes Green Party, said
that many local residents had recognized the need for the
construction of a prison in the new city, but could never approve
the idea that prisoners were now being detained indefinitely
without trial in their community. He affirmed the commitment of
the Green Party to oppose detention without trial.

Jane Carr, the Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary
candidate for Milton Keynes North East, brought to the meeting
the good wishes of Lord Goodhart, who recently made trenchant
criticism of the US/UK extradition treaty in the House of Lords.
She reaffirmed the position that detainees should either be
released or brought to trial, as recently demanded by Mark Oaten,
the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson.

David Broadhurst, a member of the Milton Keynes Stop War group,
read three eloquent letters from detainees and a letter to Babar
Ahmad from a child. One letter concluded with these pleas: "If I
am innocent, why am I in prison? If I am guilty, why I can't
stand trial like everyone else? If there is so-called due process
why can't it be applied on my case? Can you answer my questions?
Can you help me? Can you hear my voice and screamings?"

There was one ineffectual note of dissent from the rally's
insistence on justice for all. A small group of people carrying a
Union flag passed by, showing the slogan "no rights for
terrorists". They, like other citizens of Milton Keynes perhaps,
may have been harbouring the delusion that the detainees in HMP
Woodhill are convicted terrorists.

In fact, they are people who have been imprisoned on a
presumption of guilt that has not been supported by evidence put
to a jury. They are denied all hope of defending themselves
against unspecified charges and all hope of release. The rally
was united in its opposition to such grave injustice.

David Broadhurst
Milton Keynes Stop War group
29 November 2004