BRITISH RESIDENTS:
In mid-April, media reports, mainly in the Washington Post and The
Independent, stated that British resident Shaker Aamer is likely to be
released in June along with two other prisoners who have long been cleared for
release, Moroccan Younis Chekkouri and Mauritanian Ahmed
Ould Abdel al-Aziz.
This comes as part of reported plans to release at least 10 cleared
prisoners in the coming weeks and all of the 57 prisoners cleared for released
before the end of 2015.
However, the Miami Herald reports that no steps have been taken
to start the release procedure for any prisoners, which takes at least one
month. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article19346010.html
In March, a Foreign Office junior minister told a House of Commons
debate about Shaker Aamer that he still has to undergo security clearance prior
to being approved for release. In 2009, the Obama administration cleared him
for release only to his native Saudi Arabia, but he has insisted, as has the British
government, that he be returned to the UK where his family lives. Although the
media has reported Aamer may be released soon, there has been no indication that
his release will be to the UK.
The reported desire to step up the release of prisoners comes ahead of a
vote on a bill tabled earlier in the year by Senator Kelly Ayotte to prevent
the transfer of any more of the 122 remaining prisoners before a new US
president takes office in 2017. President Obama has said he would use his power
of veto to block this bill if passed.
Former British resident, 36 year old, Jamal Kiyemba, was arrested in
Kampala, Uganda, on 8 April, along with several other men suspected of
murdering Prosecutor Joan Kagezi who was shot dead on
30 March ahead of the start of a trial into bombings allegedly by Al Shabab in 2010.
Kiyemba, who had grown up in the UK, was released from Guantánamo in 2006. He
was to be released to the UK; however he was refused entry and was sent to
Uganda instead, where he was born. He was not arrested on charges of
involvement in the murder of Ms Kagezi but on unspecified and unrelated
charges. The US authorities were involved in the swoop which led to the
arrests. There has been no further information since as to whether he has been
released or charged. Held at Guantànamo for 4 years, Mr Kiyemba was never
charged or tried there.
NEWS:
Guantánamo Bay:
Four of the six
prisoners released to Uruguay last year as refugees have been holding a sit-in
protest outside the US Embassy in Montevideo since 24 April demanding financial
assistance from the US. The four, two Syrians, a Tunisian and a Palestinian,
were accepted by the country as refugees and are receiving some aid in that
capacity. However, they feel it is not enough and is only being provided for
one year and have demanded that the US take responsibility for their situation
after having imprisoned them for 12 years without charge or trial and
effectively turning them into refugees. The Uruguayan authorities have asked
the men to sign documents so that they can receive the assistance they are
entitled to, however the men went to the US Embassy on Friday and when they
were told that no one would be there until Monday continued their protest. They
are demanding to meet officials from inside the embassy and want the US to take
responsibility for them.
In a statement the men released on Sunday 26 April, they stated that
the US authorities “can’t leave their errors to other people, they should help us with
houses and financial support. We think that it is the least they could do.”
Earlier in the
month, Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez demanded that Obama gives the former
prisoners financial assistance when he met him at the Americas Summit in
Panama. Aid and housing is being provided by the UNHCR.
Pre-trial
hearings in two separate military commissions at Guantánamo Bay have been
cancelled indefinitely. The case of 5 men accused of involvement in the 9/11
attacks in New York has been cancelled for the third time this year.
Nonetheless, with
respect to one of the defendants, Mustafa Al-Hawsawi, on 10 April, the judge released
a judgment refusing to order medical care for him, stating he did not have the
power to do that. According to the Miami Herald, “While held at CIA
secret prisons, he was subject to torture that amounted to rape and as a result
has caused him long-term physical problems and continued bleeding, for which he
has yet to receive adequate treatment, more than a decade later. When making
the request in February, it was the first time his lawyers had spoken about the
torture he suffered, following the release of the redacted Senate CIA torture
report. His lawyer “specifically cited a reference to an investigation of allegations that
CIA agents conducted medically unnecessary rectal exams with excessive force on two
detainees, one of them Hawsawi, who afterward suffered an anal fissure, rectal
prolapse and haemorrhoids.””
In the case of
Abd Al Nashiri, accused of involvement in an attack on a US navy vessel in the
Gulf of Aden, off Yemen, in 2000, the case has been adjourned pending two
appeals in his case and an MRI scan, although the necessary machinery is not available
at Guantánamo. If an MRI scan proves he has brain damage, he may be spared the
death penalty.
On 29 April,
following a request by his lawyers in March, the military commission judge
refused to allow the full US Senate report into CIA torture to be disclosed to
his lawyers. The public part of the report shows that Al Nashiri was
waterboarded but his lawyers want further evidence of what he suffered at the
hands of CIA interrogators when he “disappeared” for several years into CIA
secret prisons in Asia and Europe.
Abdul Shalabi, 39, a Saudi prisoner who has
been on hunger strike for the past 9 years and is alleged to have been a bodyguard
for Osama Bin Laden, had his periodic review board hearing on 21 April. He
asked to be sent home.
According to information given by a
prisoner to lawyer David Remes, at least 14 prisoners at Guantánamo Bay are
still on hunger strike and are being force fed by nasal feed on a regular
basis.
On 24 April, Alberta federal judge June
Ross granted former Guantánamo prisoner Omar Khadr bail pending the outcome of
his appeal in the US of his military commission conviction there. A further
hearing will be held on 5 May to decide the terms of his bail. His lawyer
Dennis Edney QC has already offered him accommodation and a university in
Edmonton, Alberta, has offered to allow him to enrol as a mature student. The
Canadian government, however, has said that it will appeal this decision. For
Khadr, this will be the first time since he was 15, in 2002, that he will be
outside of a prison environment. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/omar-khadr-granted-bail-but-federal-government-to-appeal-1.3046775
Extraordinary Rendition:
As part of an ongoing investigation into
torture flights passing through and refueling at Scottish airports, police in
Scotland have said there is inconclusive evidence to say prisoners were on
board any of the six flights under investigation, ruling out this line of
investigation.
The investigation will continue, however
some say that the police have not been thorough enough
in their investigation. Police in Scotland have demanded access to the full CIA
torture report to help in their investigations.
LGC Activities:
The LGC April Shut
Guantánamo demonstration was attended by 3 people. The May demo will be on Thursday 7 May: https://www.facebook.com/events/950220665011369/
Aisha Maniar from the
LGC gave a presentation to the St John’s Amnesty Group in Camden Town about
Guantánamo Bay and extraordinary rendition on 16 April.
