UAPA Case Against UK National Jailed For Terrorist Activities Cannot Be Quashed: Madras High Court

Chennai: The Madras High Court on Monday refused to quash UAPA cases registered against a British national incarcerated on charges of involvement in terrorist activities.

Aziz Ahmed, a UK citizen, had filed a petition in the High Court challenging the decision of the Poonamallee Special Court which refused to dismiss the UAPA cases registered against him.

The case came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Anitha Sumant and Sundar Mohan. Advocates Kaleeswaran Raj and I Abdul Pasit appearing on behalf of the petitioner, said, "The NIA has not seized any explosives from the accused and the case has been registered based only on some digital data and text messages."

They appealed that Aziz Ahmed be released as he has been in prison since 2024. Additional Solicitor General ARL Sundaresan and NIA Special Prosecutor R Karthikeyan, appearing for the Central Government, said since 2004, Aziz Ahmed had been in contact with the leaders of the banned Hizb-ud-Tahrir organization, spreading extremist ideas to establish an Islamic regime in India and raising funds to threaten the nation's security. They said that the NIA has seized bank and digital evidence from Aziz Ahmed.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the court refused to acquit the petitioner from the case as there was enough evidence against him.

In September 2024, the National Investigation Agency arrested Aziz Ahmed under the UAPA Act. The NIA had alleged that he had been spreading extremist ideas with the aim of establishing an Islamic regime in India since 2004 on behalf of the banned organization Hizb-ud-Tahrir. The special court in Poonamallee, which was investigating the cases, refused to quash the UAPA cases against him and grant him bail.

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