Rangzieb Ahmed is a British citizen who was allegedly the highest ranking
al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...
operative in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
(UK). Ahmed, who was a key link between British recruits and al-Qaeda leaders, was responsible for setting up a
terrorist cell
A clandestine cell system is a method for organizing a group of people (such as resistance fighters, sleeper agents, mobsters, or terrorists) such that such people can more effectively resist penetration by an opposing organization (such as l ...
in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
and contacting one of the
terrorists
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
responsible for the failed
London bombings London attack may refer to any of the following attacks that have occurred within London, London metropolitan area, City of London, Lundenwic, Londinium, or County of London:
;Actuated attacks
* List of terrorist incidents in London
**1973 Old Ba ...
of 21 July 2005.
Early life
Ahmed was born in
Rochdale
Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Bor ...
in
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...
and moved to the
Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
area of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
at the age of seven or eight. At the age of 18, Ahmed was arrested by
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
n forces after allegedly fighting as a member of the
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen- al-Islami ( ur, ; HUM) is a Pakistan-based Islamic jihad group operating primarily in Kashmir. While incarcerated, Ahmed received money from
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh ( ur, احمد عمر سعید شیخ; sometimes known as Umar Sheikh, Sheikh Omar,Note that this term is more commonly used in reference to Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman Sheik Syed or by the alias Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad;''CNN ...
, who later allegedly had
Daniel Pearl
Daniel Pearl (October 10, 1963 – February 1, 2002) was an American journalist who worked for ''The Wall Street Journal.'' He was kidnapped and later decapitated by terrorists in Pakistan.'
Pearl was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and rais ...
murdered. Ahmed was eventually released in 2001 and he subsequently visited the UK for a brief period of time before returning to Pakistan. He returned to the UK again in 2005.
Al-Qaeda and British intelligence
In 2005, surveillance by
British intelligence
The Government of the United Kingdom maintains intelligence agencies within three government departments, the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence. These agencies are responsible for collecting and analysing foreign and d ...
revealed a diary in Ahmed's possession (located in his luggage at the time) containing al-Qaeda contacts, with some contact details written in invisible ink. Included in the contact list were the personal details of
Abu Hamza Rabia
Abu Hamza Rabia ( ; c. 1960 – November 30, 2005) was an Egyptian member of al-Qaeda, described in news accounts as a high-ranking leader within the organization's hierarchy. His death in a surprise CIA drone attack was widely reported by media o ...
, who was later killed in Pakistan on 30 November 2005, during a US/Pakistani joint operation. Traces of explosives were also found on Ahmed's rucksack. Following his arrest, Ahmed was initially held in a secret Pakistani prison facility, where he claims he was
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...
d alongside
Hassan Ghul
Hassan Ghul ( ar, حسان غول), born Mustafa Hajji Muhammad Khan (August 1977 - 1 October 2012), was a Saudi-born Pakistani member of al-Qaeda who revealed the '' kunya'' of Osama Bin Laden's messenger, which eventually led to Operation N ...
.Testimony of Rangzieb Ahmed
A second confrontation with the UK authorities occurred in 2007 when Ahmed was captured at London's Heathrow Airport following his arrival from Pakistan. On this occasion, he was charged with "directing the activities of an organization which was concerned in the commission of acts of terrorism", "possessing three books containing information which would be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism", and "possession of a rucksack containing traces of an explosive, in circumstances which suggested it was for a purpose connected with terrorism".
In December 2008, Ahmed was convicted in the UK of "directing the activities of an organization which was concerned in the commission of acts of terrorism". Such a finding of guilt meant that Ahmed was the first member of al-Qaeda to be convicted for directing terrorism in the UK. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and has been directed to serve a minimum of ten years before he is considered for
parole
Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...
Member of Parliament (MP)
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members often ...
, accused the UK government of " outsourcing torture". Davis contended that the UK government allowed Ahmed to leave the UK and enter Pakistan (even though they had evidence against him upon which he was later convicted), that Pakistani
Inter-Services Intelligence
The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI; ur, , bayn khadamatiy mukhabarati) is the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant ...
detained and questioned Ahmed under torture, and that British intelligence and police agencies had full knowledge of this. Davis further accused the UK government of trying to gag Ahmed by preventing him from coming forward with accusations after his imprisonment following his return to the UK. Davis stated that there was "an alleged request to drop his allegations of torture: if he did that, they could get his sentence cut and possibly give him some money. If this request to drop the torture case is true, it is frankly monstrous. It would at the very least be a criminal misuse of the powers and funds under the Government's CONTEST strategy, and at worst a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice."
Appeal quashed
During the appeal hearing in 2010, Ahmed's QC, Joel Bennathan, claimed he was beaten and had three of his fingernails pulled out with pliers over the course of three days - and that the UK was "complicit" in acts of torture. He argued that the trial judge should have halted the proceedings against him as an abuse of process.
Ahmed's allegations were rejected at his appeal hearing, his appeal dismissed and his application to have his case be heard by the Supreme Court turned down. On 25 February 2010, Lord Justice Hughes ruled that Ahmed's conviction by the jury was safe. He supported the trial judge's original findings: "...that torture had not been demonstrated to have occurred, and had been demonstrated not to have occurred before the sole occasion when Rangzieb said he had been seen by British officers."
On the suggestion of outsourcing torture by British authorities, the trial judge had found "simply no evidence that they had assisted or encouraged the Pakistani detainers to detain him unlawfully or to ill-treat him in any way, whether amounting to torture or not". Ahmed has since applied to have his case reviewed by Strasbourg.
Civil claim
In October 2020, Ahmed brought a civil claim against MI5 for suggesting Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence
The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI; ur, , bayn khadamatiy mukhabarati) is the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant ...
agency arrest him in 2006 and collusion in torturing him by submitting questions which were put to him under torture in Pakistan. This claim was rejected by the High Court on 16 December 2020.