Like Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed, I went on the run as a terrorist | Cerie Bullivant | Comment is free | theguardian.com

This week politicians and the media have raged about \”terror suspect\” Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed, who absconded, dressed in a burqa, while being monitored by electronic tag. I know how he feels.I spent two years living under a control order – and the accusation that I was a terrorist. A control order is largely the same thing as a Tpim terrorism prevention and investigation measure – with which Mohamed had been issued – just more draconian.Like Mohamed, I found the pressures of being labelled a \”terrorist\” life-sapping. And I also absconded.Mohamed went \”on the run\” without having been charged with a crime and without being shown the evidence of his alleged wrongdoing. Call me old-fashioned, but I still believe in the basic concept of a trial. Im not alone. Our justice system has world respect because it was built on the old principle that someone is \”innocent until proven guilty\”. But with legislation such as Tpims and Schedule 7 – under which David Miranda was detained – this no longer seems to be the case.I was cleared of my \”crime\” – but not before Id lost two years of my life in a netherworld of prisons, police, tags and harassment. The cumulative effects of the conditions destroy all normality: I was forced to stop caring for my sick mother and I had to quit a degree I loved doing. In short, every aspect of my life was dismantled and ruined.

via Like Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed, I went on the run as a terrorist | Cerie Bullivant | Comment is free | theguardian.com.