Students tell of humiliation by British police

Students tell of humiliation by British police
Pakistani students detained in a well-publicized April terror crackdown in northwest England say they were imprisoned with criminals charged with murder.

Tariq Rehman, apparently the first to be sent home, told reporters in brief comments at the Islamabad airport that he had suffered "mental torture" and humiliation in a British prison.

He added that his fellow detainees, who were also accused of extremism, were also treated like hardened criminals in British detention.

"Even our Korans and prayer mats were searched using dogs and we repeatedly protested at this."

"I have been arrested just because I am a Muslim and I belong to Pakistan," a visibly distressed and disappointed Tariq said.

Tariq's counsel, Amjad Malik, told the media that Pakistani authorities had cleared his client of all charges.

According to Malik, the Pakistani students were suspected of involvement in extremist activities, which he said could not be defined as "fasting, going to prayers, keeping a beard, anything, could be (termed) Islamist extremism. So we don't know really."

Twelve Pakistanis students in Britain were arrested in dramatic daytime operations across England in early April.

British Premier Gordon Brown said at the time of the arrests that the police had uncovered "a very big terrorist plot".

The arrests, however, strained relations between London and Islamabad, especially after the British police failed to produce hard evidence to back up their terror charges.

After the charges were dropped for lack of evidence, Tariq and the other students were kept in detention on the grounds that they constituted a national threat.

British authorities insisted on deporting the Pakistani students despite the charges having been dropped against them.