18 years ago today, 2 Dec 2003, a group of anti-terrorist police officers broke into my house in Tooting, south London.
As the Metropolitan Police later admitted in court in 2009, for the next hour or so the police officers subjected me to an ordeal of physical, verbal, religious and sexual abuse.
This included punches, knees, stamps, fondling me, choke holds on my neck to restrict my breathing and twisting steel cuffs along my arms to torture me (see the photographs).
This included putting me into the Muslim prayer prostration and ridiculing my religion, along with the officers mocking and jeering at the fact that they were walking around with outdoor shoes on the carpet where I pray.
I was left with 73 injuries from head to toe, including bleeding in my ears and urine.
The Metropolitan Police admitted at the High Court in London that during my arrest I offered no resistance whatsoever and the court issued a legal judgement to that effect.
After six of the officers were found to have over 70 complaints of assault against them, many of them against black or Asian men, the then Mayor of London Boris Johnson ordered an inquiry into why no action was taken against these officers.
In 2011 four of the officers stood criminal trial for the assault on me. The officers maintained, as they do to this day, that they did not strike me at all, and that all of my 73 injuries were self-inflicted.
The medical expert witness for the officers admitted in court that there was no medical explanation to several of my injuries except deliberate strikes by the officers.
Despite this evidence, a jury found the officers not guilty and then asked the judge if they could shake hands with the police officers that they had just acquitted.
In 2015, one of the officers acquitted in my case, was found by a High Court judge to have taken part in a separate racist assault on three Arab teenagers and then “lied” (judge’s words) about what happened.
On 06 March 2018 the four officers went to the Supreme Court to try and squeeze some compensation from the Metropolitan Police because of what they did to me (I am not making this up!).
I attended the hearing because I wanted the officers to see me as a free man. The last time they saw me was when I gave evidence against them at their criminal trial in 2011. I was a prisoner then.
The faces of the officers dropped when they saw me sitting there quietly in the Supreme Court public gallery. Dangerous terrorists do not walk the streets and sit in the Supreme Court public gallery.
On 25 July 2018 the UK Supreme Court ruled that the four officers had no basis on which to sue the Metropolitan Police for failing to protect their “rights” which left their reputation in ruins and unfairly branded them as “abusive thugs.”
Today, 18 years on, I can declare that I defeated my torturers. Why?
Because they failed to turn me into an angry, bitter, vengeful person.
Because they failed to remove the smile from my face.
Because I can sleep at night with a clear conscience while my torturers carry the heavy burden of knowing the truth of what happened that night.
Because I do not believe that every police officer is a racist, anti-Muslim pig. (After the assault other police officers at the police station were kind to me.)
Because I still believe there are more good people in the world than bad people.
Because I am a survivor, not a victim.
Here is my story: tinyurl.com/babarspeaks
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Alhamdulillah! May Allah reward you abundantly and increase us in understanding. Truly we are humbled.. Please do keep visiting my husband in hospital in sha Allah as he moves on monday. Wa alaikum salaam warahmatullah wabarakatuh. Your sister
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
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Thank you, I will try my best inshallah. keep us updated and may Allah bring you all relief very soon.
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Assalaamu’alaikum dear brother,
I know you don’t want praise, but this optimism is quite spiritually dazzling, and imaan-invigorating. Please make duaa we can all have this mindset. May Allah increase every good in yourself, your life and your hereafter. This reminds me of when I learnt how the Muslim slaves of America had messages like ‘There is justice in the hereafter’ inscribed on their tombstones, with an image of the shahaadah finger pointed up. Justice will most certainly come.
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We all should have this mindset, it is just that some scaremongers in our community want to define us as hapless victims. We have to reject this.
Our Prophet (pbuh) never defined himself as a victim despite being ridiculed, abused, beaten, exiled, slandered, mocked and persecuted.
He is the example to which we should all aspire.
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This brought tears to my eyes, may Allah swt bless you with his love, mercy, ease, forgiveness, acceptance and support in all aspects of your life, and bless you with the hi heats ranks of Jannah, ameen. JazakAllahu Khairan for sharing your journey through writing.
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Thank you for reading and sharing my posts and for your feedback, which is important to me. May Allah bless you.
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Salam alaykum brather Babar Hav ar You hav is your helth. I am very hapee to se you agan. Umar Sugaipov
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Ws alaikum Salam brother, how nice to hear from you. I pray you and your family are well. Everything is good with me Alhamdulillah. A few months ago I met the man who made the cheese which was “not too much OK” 🙂
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Allah grant you a good healthy life.
Hayyak Allah!
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