Posted on 07/15/2005 11:30:25 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LONDON (AP) - The British government said Friday it has been granted more time to decide whether to extradite a British man facing terrorism charges in the United States.
A judge ruled May 17 that Babar Ahmad could be sent to the United States to face charges of supporting terrorism, conspiring to kill Americans and running a Web site used to fund terrorists.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke, the top British official in charge of law and order, had 60 days to decide whether Ahmad would be extradited. That period expires Friday, but the Home Office said Clarke had obtained an extension from the courts until Sept. 16.
In May, a judge allowed extradition after receiving assurances from U.S. authorities that they would not seek the death penalty or declare Ahmad an "enemy combatant," a category applied to detainees at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that affords fewer legal protections.
British law forbids the extradition of suspects who could face capital punishment.
The 31-year-old computer specialist has been in custody since his arrest last August on a U.S. extradition warrant. He is accused of running several Web sites, including Azzam.com, which investigators say was used to recruit members for the al-Qaida network, Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime and Chechen rebels and to outfit them with gas masks, night-vision goggles and camouflage gear.
The case is taking place under contentious new rules that allow U.S. officials to seek extradition without providing evidence of the alleged crimes.
Lawyers for Ahmad have promised to appeal any decision to send him to the United States.
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