On that morning we were handcuffed, had our dignity violated and my sister assaulted. She has a left shoulder injury and is needing scans of the wrist as scaphoid fractures need excluding. After several hours in the cells, my sister was interviewed. The allegations are apparently in statements given by Yusuf Ali and Abda Rafiq. The allegations were a legal letter sent in November 2022 regarding money they owed, private phone calls in which Yusuf heard women laughing and the fact that on voice messages sent by his mother, he claimed she was “egging her on”. A legal letter is not threatening.
To protect ourselves, we checked our mobile provider – of course no calls were made as we were pursuing matters through proper and legal channels and being professionals, why would we risk reputational harm by silly actions? Needless to say there was no “egging on” and yes Yusuf Ali and his wife actually reported his 74 year old mother for harassment. And West Yorkshire Police who seem confused by what that means actually sent a police officer round to her house in December and then in June invited her for a voluntary interview for the same issue! A 74-year-old Mother is called to a police station for sending messages seven months earlier pleading with her son to behave and this is harassment? My allegations were similar except the third allegation was that I had shown Abda Rafiq in October pictures of bearded men and firearms and said “I had people if she was crossed” or words to that effect – it should be pointed out that Abda Rafiq’s father is a maulvi (hard to believe) who has a beard…and who carries guns in Pakistan – pictures he actually showed me on his mobile. And it begs the question, if we “had people” then why would we have spent money legally?
No evidence was presented at the interview and we were released without charge but with unjustified bail conditions in complete violation of the law. What remains of concern is why they want to keep our devices – they won’t provide a list (as per their own code) and cannot explain the reasoning for keeping the items. It goes without saying they don’t need Farooq’s mobile phone and laptop – that’s part of the Pakistani investigation and I would hate to disappoint the SIS but those items have been checked by the FIA so you’re too late to plant anything. And why are they keen to take the laptop on which we have the hotel CCTV – it’s already been shared with the Courts. Why are they keeping our Pakistani phones with Pakistani sims – they can’t make UK phone calls nor can phones with no sim.
So bizarre illegal actions from West Yorkshire Police and a complete abuse of their powers. I do believe these actions are linked to my brother’s murder. I believe the UK agencies were involved in my brother’s murder. I believe that part of their violent actions on 21st June was to intimidate us – they failed. When we were sitting in our cells, remarkably my thoughts and my sister’s were similar – we thought of our brother Farooq mostly. Yusuf had done this before to him and then retracted his allegations – the same police force at the time unlawfully attacking Farooq. SIS often need cheap tools and Yusuf is most certainly cheap. We thought fifteen hours detaining of us was nothing compared to those who have been illegally imprisoned and tortured in the ‘civilized’ countries over pursuing truth. Indeed, my sister even thanked those abusive and corrupt police officers after being released – they have strengthened our resolve, not weakened it. Those who killed our precious brother Farooq need to – and will – face consequences. And it is far better to die for a cause than die a coward.
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The writer Yasmin Ali is Farooq’s elder sister by three years. She completed her law degree. She worked as a paralegal before completing her training contract at Osborne Clarkes in 2007 – a top 30 Law firm in the UK and then worked as a Banking lawyer for 2 ½ years – being at Wragge and Co, a top 25 law firm. She was then “blacklisted”. Like her sister, Dr Rehiana Ali, her only priority now is getting justice for her beloved brother Farooq.
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The views expressed in this Op-ed and following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the TLTP.
