British police officers face trial on assault charges

LONDON - Four British police officers will go on trial charged with assaulting a terrorism suspect during an arrest seven years ago, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Thursday.

The central prosecution agency ruled that there was sufficient evidence against the four men and a trial was in the public interest. The officers were summoned to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London Sept 22.

The four men, in their 30s and early 40s, could face a maximum sentence of five years if their case goes to the Crown Court, legal experts said.

They will be charged with causing actual bodily harm to Babar Ahmad, 36, during his arrest in London in December, 2003.

Ahmad was awarded 60,000 pounds ($93,400) in damages in a civil action he brought before the High Court last year.

The High Court ruling led the CPS to look at the case again, resulting in the decision to put the officers on trial.

“Mr Ahmad suffered a number of injuries during that arrest, including heavy bruising to the head, neck, wrists and feet,” CPS spokesman Simon Clements said.

Ahmad, who was arrested on suspicion of supporting and helping to recruit terrorists in Afghanistan and Chechnya through email accounts and websites, has claimed he was punched and stamped on and his Muslim faith had been mocked by the officers.

He has never been charged in Britain, but remains in custody awaiting a ruling on a 2004 extradition request from the US, where he is wanted on separate terrorism charges.

“I am pleased that the CPS has decided that a jury will hear the evidence in this case and that it will now be for the jury to determine whether any police officer should be punished,” Ahmad said through his lawyer Thursday.