Three British Islamists jailed for four years in Egypt over membership of a banned group have left for home after being questioned at Heathrow. Hizb ut-Tahrir members Ian Nisbet and Reza Pankhurst, from London, and Maajid Nawaz from Essex, were granted early release from their five-year sentences. Special Branch officers held them under terror laws for four hours after they landed at the London airport 1252 GMT. The men say they have been repeatedly tortured for their political beliefs.| "Clive, have you seen my vise grips?" |
Mr Nawaz's MP, there to greet the men, said he would be seeking a meeting with the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to discuss the incident. Stephen Jakobi, director of Fair Trials Abroad and the men's legal representative, said they were victims of gross injustice. "They had been and remain devout Muslims committed to radical political change. They have never supported violence or terrorism in any shape or form," he said. "All three were beaten regularly and forcibly deprived of sleep. They were given filthy scraps of food and blindfolded and handcuffed behind their backs for many days."
Mr Jakobi said one of them was tortured using electric shocks because he was unable to reply to questions in Arabic. All three were held incommunicado for 11 days and denied legal access for 48 days officially. Hizb ut-Tahrir, which campaigns for all majority Muslim countries to become Islamic states, is outlawed in Egypt but remains legal in Britain. However, the group believes that it may be banned in Britain under new laws passed which make glorifying terrorism an offence. Hizb ut-Tahrir denies any association with terrorism.