Assam-origin physician contests extradition to India from UK on terror cost

A 75-year-old Indian-origin physician from Assam, now primarily based in north-east England, appeared in court docket in London on Monday to contest his extradition to India on a terror cost because the alleged chairman of the United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent) or ULFA (I).

Dr Mukul Hazarika, who’s a basic practitioner (GP) at County Durham, is sought by the Indian authorities to face trial for conspiracy associated to a banned terrorist organisation in India.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), showing on behalf of the Indian authorities, instructed District Judge Michael Snow at Westminster Magistrates’ Court that the conspiracy he’s wished for pertains to organising terrorist camps and recruiting cadres for terrorism as a part of his membership of a terrorist grouping.

“In essence, he is charged with waging or attempting to wage war, or abetting the waging of war, against the government of India, which is a terrorist act,” CPS barrister Ben Lloyd instructed the court docket because the extradition listening to opened.

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The court docket heard that Hazarika, additionally reportedly often called Abhijeet Asom, allegedly made a speech to “assembled cadres” to encourage an armed battle to create a separate sovereign state of Assam at a camp in Myanmar in 2016 in his function as ULFA (I) chairman.

Among the paperwork submitted to the court docket is an affidavit from an investigating officer testifying to Hazarika’s involvement, costs the medical practitioner denies.

Hazarika’s barrister, Ben Cooper, countered that the case in opposition to him “fails to get off the ground” due to a “conspicuous absence of substantive evidence”. His defence staff sought to focus on that ULFA (I), in contrast to ULFA, just isn’t a proscribed organisation, his alleged function as a “self-styled” chairman is undefined and that the contents of the so-called incriminating Myanmar speech will not be out there.

Besides, the court docket was given particulars of Hazarika’s energetic human rights advocacy work, together with establishing Assam Watch, and it was claimed that he was being focused by the Indian authorities as a part of wider persecution of dissenting voices within the area.

“He has a long background in human rights advocacy although trained as a doctor, he is committed to open dialogue to defend the human rights of the people of Assam,” mentioned Cooper.

The defence lawyer additionally famous that India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) carried out the investigation into the case on the behest of the federal government of India. The different areas of focus within the case for the defence would be the prospect of a life sentence with out the prospect of parole that he might face in India and the jail circumstances he could be subjected to if extradited to India.

Meanwhile, Hazarika stays on bail underneath digital tag curfew provisions since his arrest by the UK’s extradition unit officers in July final yr. The court docket granted him permission to be situated at a London tackle during his extradition listening to, which can final into subsequent week.