home_town birth_place awards nationality birth_date alt image article_title education name occupation
london , united kingdom london , united kingdom koestler trust platinum and bronze award british 21 september 1979 portrait of talha ahsan sayed talha ahsan.jpg syed talha ahsan
 ba arabic , soas , university of london syed talha ahsan award winning poet and professional translator
syed talha ahsan

syed talha ahsan is a british poet and translator .
he is winner of the platinum and bronze koestler awards 2012 for his poetry .
he was arrested at his family home in london , uk on 19 july 2006 in response to a request from the usa under the us-uk extradition act 2003 , and detained without trial or charge over 6 years before his extradition to the united states on 5 october 2012 .
he was accused of associations with an allegedly terrorism-related islamic news media website and london-based publishing house from 1997-2004 about bosnia , the chechen independence war and afghanistan islamic emirate government .
on december 10 , 2013 , in u.s. district court in new haven , connecticut he entered into a plea-bargain with the us government prosecutor to charges of conspiracy to provide and providing material support for militants in chechnya & afghanistan .
all other charges were dismissed .
the length of talha 's detention without trial or charge is among the longest in british legal history .
he is also the translator of a tenth-century arabic poem , above the dust , by syrian abu firas al-hamdani , on his captivity in byzantium .
the talha ahsan extradition case raised controversy due to comparison with the treatment of gary mckinnon , whose extradition - which was expected to be 10 days after ahsan 's - was stalled after a medical diagnosis of asperger syndrome and associative risks , similar to a diagnosis given to ahsan .
this has led to accusations from mainstream uk media , human rights ngos as well as religious groups of a racist double standard within conservative home secretary theresa may 's application of the law .
after being detained without trial for six years , with appeals to the european court of human rights , the house of lords and the uk high court , ahsan was extradited from the uk to the usa on 5 october 2012 , where he initially pleaded not guilty to all charges against him at a federal district court hearing in new haven , connecticut .
he was held while awaiting trial in solitary confinement at the northern correctional institution , a supermax state prison in somers , connecticut , united states .
his us trial proceedings began in october 2013 .
on december 10 , 2013 , he changed his plea to guilty to the charge of providing material support to terrorists .
an international campaign led by talha 's brother hamja ahsan was formed to halt his extradition to the usa and have him tried in the uk - on the basis that this is where he was present during the period of the allegation .
this was supported by a wide coalition of figures including noam chomsky , robert hillary king -lrb- angola three -rrb- , a.l. kennedy , stop the war , bruce kent , plaid cymru , his mp and labour cabinet member sadiq khan , caroline lucas mp , gerry conlon , muslim council of britain , actor riz ahmed and former extradited britons david bermingham and gary mulgrew of the natwest 3 .
the family-run campaign continues around issues of solitary confinement and reforming extradition law , with the aim of repatriating talha to the uk .
the campaign also curates events around prison literature , especially poetry .
the free talha ahsan family campaign was short-listed for a liberty -lrb- pressure group -rrb- human rights award 2013 , described as `` creative and innovative campaign '' and in its use of art , poetry , film and music to bring the issue of summary extradition to wider public and political attention described as `` inspiring '' .
