LGC Newsletter – August 2015

NEWS:

Guantánamo Bay:

The main news about Guantánamo was the announcement by the White House that it will present a plan to close Guantánamo to Congress in early September: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/pentagon-to-release-gitmo-closure-plan-after-august-recess/article/2569950

 

Although 52 of the remaining 116 prisoners have been cleared for release, including Shaker Aamer, no transfers have been made since June. In August, it emerged the delay is due to the new Defense Secretary Ashton Carter refusing to sign off their release. All previous releases had been signed by his predecessor Chuck Hagel. This is in spite of the fact that earlier in August the new envoy for the closure of Guantánamo Lee Wolosky stated that he had secured deals with around one dozen countries to accept at least half of those men.

www.humanrightsfirst.org/blog/secretary-defense-blocking-transfers-cleared-guantanamo-detainees

For the remaining prisoners who are not facing trial and have not been cleared for release, the “forever prisoners”, it appears that Obama’s plan will not involve ending their 14 years of indefinite detention without charge or trial but simply shifting the physical prison at Guantánamo Bay to the US mainland, keeping the men in existing military prisons where they will remain under military control and will not be subject to potential trial in federal courts. The plan is not to close Guantánamo but to shift it and potentially franchise it. It has been reported that the Pentagon has already made visits to facilities in South Carolina and will visit others in Kansas and four other potential sites. Some media have reported that it is possible that a new Guantánamo will be built from scratch on military-owned land. There do not appear to be plans to release these prisoners. However, a potential block to the forthcoming plan is whether Congress will allow prisoners to be transferred to the US mainland.

The governors of South Carolina and Kansas have stated that they will block efforts to send the prisoners there and have threatened to sue if the plan goes ahead. Mistakenly calling the prisoners “terrorists”, it must be pointed out that there are no terrorists at Guantánamo Bay; the few prisoners who have been convicted have not been convicted of terrorism charges.

It has also been revealed that out of the remaining 116 prisoners, only 3 were captured on the battlefield by the US. This includes those accused of involvement and facing trial for the 9/11 attacks. The others, like the majority of Guantánamo prisoners overall, were sold to the US military by allied Afghan warlords, many of whom in practice bore little difference to the Taliban.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/25/guantanamo-detainees-captured-pakistan-afghanistan

On 5 August, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) published a new report “Towards the Closure of Guantanamo” which condemns the US for its human rights abuses at Guantánamo, the discriminatory nature of the detention of Muslim men and demands its closure without further delay:

http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/reports/pdfs/Towards-Closure-Guantanamo.pdf

Pre-trial hearings for five men accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks was cancelled yet again. A hearing scheduled from 24 August to early September was cancelled, meaning that no hearings have been held at all this year.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/16/us-usa-guantanamo-hearing-idUSKCN0QL0LS20150816

Afghan prisoner Mohammed Kamin, 37, had his hearing before the periodic review board on 17 August. He arrived at Guantánamo in 2004, was subject to charges that were later dropped and never pursued and has been described as “one of the most compliant detainees at Guantánamo”.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article31347917.html

In June, AlJazeera showed film footage on its Arabic channel, reportedly showing a raid by Slovakian police on the home of former Guantánamo prisoner Hisham Sliti, a Tunisian, who was released there last year. Although he is supposed to be resettled, he is at a centre for asylum seekers. The video, shot by another resident on a mobile phone, showed the police violently entering, sounds of shouting and later images of broken household items from inside, as well as Sliti being led away by the police. Slovak media have also alleged he was tortured. The police deny all the claims. Amnesty Slovakia has written to the government demanding an independent and thorough investigation of the incident.

http://spectator.sme.sk/c/20059481/galko-wants-explanation-for-footage-showing-former-guantanamo-inmate.html

Lawyers for prisoner Tariq Ba Odah, a 36-year old Yemeni, who was cleared for release years ago, have lost their legal case to have him released on medical grounds. He has been on hunger strike since 2007 against his detention and continually force fed. He currently weighs 34kg. Although his lawyers say he is poor health, the US military maintains that he is fine.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/08/release-hunger-striking-guantanamo-detainee-150815131417771.html

Extraordinary Rendition:

Former Bagram prisoner, Russian national Irek Hamidullin, was found guilty by a jury of all charges including providing material support to a terrorist organisation and trying to destroy US military aircraft in Afghanistan in 2009, where he was arrested. He was held without charge at Bagram until 2014 when he was transferred to the US and to the FBI to stand trial in a federal court for an attack in which his alleged Taliban co-defendants were all killed and no US personnel or tanks were harmed. During his trial, he did not speak. His lawyers claimed there was insufficient evidence to back up the evidence. He was found guilty on 7 August and will be sentenced later this year. He faces a life sentence.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/soviet-taliban-irek-hamidullin-found-guilty-in-us-over-afghan-terrorist-attack-10446492.html

LGC Activities:

The LGC August Shut Guantánamo demonstration was attended by 8 people in the pouring rain. The September demo will be on Thursday 3 September: https://www.facebook.com/events/1482180842105413/

The LGC will be holding its second campaigns meeting this year on Monday 14 September at 6pm in Friends House, Euston Road, NW1 from 6pm onwards. Please join us and get involved in our work to close Guantánamo. We will meet in the café. Please e-mail us for more details. All are welcome.

https://www.facebook.com/events/522022614615072/

Media release: London Guantánamo Campaign congratulates former Guantánamo child prisoner on his release on bail from Canadian prison

Protesting Omar Khadr's military commission in 2010

For immediate release: Friday 8 May 2015

Activists from the London Guantánamo Campaign [1] welcome the release on bail, in Canada, of Canadian former Guantánamo child prisoner Omar Khadr [2] on Thursday 7 May, under strict conditions [3]. This is pending his appeal of his 2010 conviction for war crimes, obtained through a secret plea bargain in the widely-discredited Guantánamo military commission procedure.

As the only person since World War II to be tried as an adult for offences alleged committed as a minor before a military tribunal , the London Guantánamo Campaign has always maintained that Omar Khadr is a child soldier and should never have been subject to such proceedings, let alone held at Guantánamo Bay.

The London Guantánamo Campaign has campaigned consistently for his release since he became the first Guantánamo prisoner to be charged and brought to trial before the revised military commissions system under President Obama in 2009. Our activities for Omar Khadr have included:

·         holding the only demonstration in solidarity with his case when his military commission was ongoing in 2010,

·         speaking on a special panel about his case at Amnesty International UK in 2012 [4],

·         highlighting his plight as part of events to mark 11 years of Guantánamo Bay in early 2013,

·         and in conjunction with a number of organisations and universities in the UK and the Free Omar Khadr Now Campaign, hosting a speaking tour with his lawyer Dennis Edney QC in March 2014 [5] to raise awareness of his case beyond Canada .

Aisha Maniar, organiser from the London Guantánamo Campaign, says, “Omar Khadr is the boy who became a man at Guantánamo Bay. His case, particularly given the vulnerabilities presented by his age at the time, demonstrates some of the worst brutalities wantonly committed in the name of the so-called War on Terror. The actions of the Canadian government since 2002 also highlight the proactive role the US’s allies have played in flouting international law and committing human rights violations.

Protesting Omar Khadr's military commission in 2010

“We welcome Omar Khadr’s release and congratulate him on what is truly a historic day for justice and everyone who fights for it. The fight to clear his name in the US courts continues and we will continue to support his quest for justice. We believe that it is only a matter of time before his conviction is quashed, as in the case of other former prisoners; evidence procured through torture and conjecture cannot provide the basis for any conviction, let alone a war crimes conviction. We look forward to the day that Omar Khadr is fully vindicated.”

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The London Guantánamo Campaign was set up in 2006 and campaigns for justice for all prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, for the closure of this and other secret prisons, and an end to the practice of extraordinary rendition. http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com     

2. For more details on Omar Khadr’s case, please visit www.freeomar.ca

3. http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/05/07/the-rules-khadr-must-live-by-if-he-gets-bail-today.html

4. http://www.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/childrens-human-rights-network-blog/you-dont-truth-four-days-inside-guantanamo-omar-khadrs

5. http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/diary-of-dennis-edney-speaking-tour-12.html

Diary of Dennis Edney Speaking Tour (12-20 March 2014)

The LGC invited Canadian former Guantánamo child prisoner Omar Khadr's lawyer Dennis Edney QC to the UK for a speaking tour to raise awareness about his client who remains in prison in Canada on 12-20 March 2014. One of the organisers, Val Brown, attended all the tour engagements in London.

by Val Brown, London Guantánamo Campaign

 

Saturday 8 March 2014         

Although the speaking tour started on 12 March, Dennis Edney arrived in London on the previous Saturday. I met him for a coffee and although he was tired from his long trip, we had an interesting conversation about Omar Khadr and discussed the itinerary for his speaking tour.

Wednesday 12 March 2014   

Dennis’ first speaking engagement as part of the tour was at Garden Court Chambers in Lincoln's Inn Fields. He gave a talk, Omar Khadr and the Betrayal of International Law, at a public meeting, chaired by Professor Bill Bowring, jointly organised by us, the Campaign against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC),  and the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers. He spoke to an audience of lawyers and others in the  legal profession. His first talk was a very powerful and heartfelt speech on the destruction of law, justice and civil liberties under the “War on Terror” and set the tone for the rest of the tour.

Dennis proved himself to be a real trooper as he was already beginning to feel unwell and suffering from a sore throat.

Photographs by Richard Keith Wolff: http://www.demotix.com/news/4173143/dennis-edney-canadian-lawyer-gives-talk-haldane-society

Thursday 13 March 2014       

Dennis spent the day in York where he gave a talk entitled Defending Guantánamo's youngest prisoner: The struggle to Free Omar Khadr at the University of York organised by the Centre for Applied Human Rights. I did not attend this event and the LGC does not have any footage of this event.

Friday 14 March 2014

There were two meetings on Friday:

1.00-2.00pm   

At lunchtime, the University College London Faculty of Laws held An audience with Dennis Edney QC. Dr Douglas Guilfoyle from the law school was unable to attend and one of my colleagues chaired the meeting instead.

The talk was aimed at university students. It was well received with a very interesting Q & A at the end. Unfortunately the video recording does not include the end of the meeting.

5.00-7.00pm

In the evening, the Westminster Law Review at the University of Westminster Law School organised a seminar Where is the Law in War?     

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Again, aimed at (law) students, this talk was well received by all who attended.

Monday 17 March

We gave Dennis the weekend off and were ready to go again on Monday afternoon. There were two events on this day as well:

2.00-4.00pm

Dennis Edney QC with the tour organisers

In the afternoon, a coalition of student societies at Birkbeck College, University of London, organised a talk Omar Khadr: Guantánamo's Child: A Travesty of Justice

Dennis was unfortunately rather unwell by this time and taking medication for chest and throat infections; however, this did not stop him from giving it his all at this talk. 

7.00-8.30pm

Photo credit: Richard Keith Wolff

In the evening, Dennis Edney talked about Omar Khadr at a meeting organised  by Veterans for Peace UK to a capacity audience at Housmans Bookshop, near King's Cross. Dennis Edney spoke along with Ben Griffin, an ex-SAS soldier who served in both Afghanistan and Iraq. They discussed the torture and abuse of Omar and other prisoners and how torture has become “the norm” within all ranks of the coalition forces (UK,US & others).

Dennis Edney, Glenn Fitzpatrick and Ben Griffin. Photo credit: Richard Keith Wolff

 

A very good Q & A discussion followed with great input from the audience, after they had recovered from the shock everyone felt as they listened to Dennis and Ben talk not just about the abuse and torture inflicted on Omar (and others), but the ease with which normally decent people can be enticed and encouraged to carry out such atrocities.

Photographs by Richard Keith Wolff: http://www.demotix.com/news/4243748/dennis-edney-qc-joins-former-soldier-ben-griffin-veterans-peace

Tuesday 18 March

The tour continued and there were a number of engagements on this day.

11.00am – 1.00pm

Dennis was supposed to speak at a meeting at the London School of Economics organised by the student union.

Unfortunately, he was not well enough to attend and so I gave an informal talk about Omar before a showing of the film of Omar Khadr's interrogation by the Canadian intelligence services (CSIS) at Guantánamo in February 2003 You don't Like the Truth 4 days Inside Guantánamo.

 

This was followed by a Q & A. Some of the students who attended were visibly shaken by the film as they could empathise with Omar and the pain he went through.

4.30-5.30pm

In the afternoon the Queen Mary’s University Amnesty society held a meeting about Omar Khadr. Dennis was able to attend this event and spoke to an audience of mainly young students who listened in disbelief to the horrors inflicted on Omar and asked many questions of how it could happen and what they could do to stop it happening to others.

7.00-9.00pm

In the evening, Amnesty International UK organised an event, Defending Guantánamo's Youngest Prisoner, where Dennis was joined by Aaf Post from the Free Omar Khadr Now campaign and Andy Worthington, journalist and author of The Guantánamo Files.

Aaf showed a presentation of how she first learnt about Omar when the film You Don't Like the Truth was shown on television in the Netherlands where she is from, of her need to do something and the creation of the global Free Omar Khadr Now campaign, how it has now become the official campaign website for Omar, and the work being done to help Dennis win Omar's freedom.

Dennis spoke of his legal journey to free Omar and Andy spoke about his investigative journalism to bring the world’s attention to Guantánamo and the War OF Terror.

It was a very intense evening which had the audience of 60+ spellbound in disbelief that the world has lost its way regarding justice and human rights.

As the event was organised by Amnesty, no filming took place.

Afterwards, Dennis, Andy, Aaf and me went for a quiet meal where we had an interesting discussion about Omar and the rule of law.

Thursday 20 March 7.30-9.00pm

The final meeting to end the tour was a Q & A with Dennis Edney organised by the local Amnesty group in St. John's Wood, north London. The tour ended on a high and I can do no better than share my colleague Noel Hamel's account of the final event of what was a very enlightening and successful tour:

Noel Hamel: “At St John's Wood we had barely started with about 15 people when others appeared at the doors - then, they just kept coming!

It seems that a couple of local secondary school teachers had told their classes about the event and EVERYONE decided to come.

Extra chairs and doors opened into a second room but still it was standing room only. I was exhausted though Dennis did all the talking of course.

As an armchair socialist I could read and regurgitate but from Dennis it is the real thing. They may not realise it but those school kids were amongst the luckiest on the planet.  Dennis was of course terrific and the style of his delivery gave the story enormous impact. Even though I have heard him tell the stories several times I still find it emotionally draining to realise the gratuitous and deliberate cruelty of Guantánamo and its processes.”

Dennis Edney QC with tour organisers Aisha Maniar, Aaf Post and Val Brown. Photo credit: Richard Keith Wolff

LGC Newsletter - April 2014

NEWS:

British residents:

April "Shut Guantánamo" demo at Marble Arch

Lawyers for Shaker Aamer commissioned a medical evaluation to ascertain the extent of the medical and psychological suffering he has endured through 12 years of torture and indefinite detention at Guantánamo Bay. The report, which shows that Aamer is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and psychiatric symptoms related to his confinement that could cause further worsening of his physical and mental health, prompted his lawyers to file an application in the US courts on 8 April to release him on the grounds of ill-health. Shaker Aamer has been cleared for release twice and has never been charged or tried.

http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/2014_04_08_shaker_aamer_medical_report_illness/

A new petition has been put together calling on US Attorney General Eric Holder to release Shaker Aamer to his family in the UK. You can add your name here: http://www.change.org/petitions/u-s-attorney-general-eric-holder-release-shaker-aamer-and-let-him-return-home

Guantánamo Bay:

When pre-trial hearings into the alleged involvement of 5 Guantánamo prisoners in terrorist attacks in New York in September 2001 resumed for the first time this year, the hearing was abruptly halted by the judge following allegations that the FBI spied on client-lawyer confidentiality and had placed an informant among the defence counsel. The hearing has now been set back to June 2014.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/04/14/4059006/911-defense-lawyers-accuse-fbi.html

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2014/04/can-the-ksm-trial-be-saved.html

At the same time, pre-trial hearings have continued in the case of Yemeni Abd Al-Nashiri, accused of attacks on US navy vessels in the Arabian Gulf in 2000. Prior to the resumption of hearings in this case, the judge in the case ordered the CIA to release details – names, dates and places – to Al-Nashiri’s defence lawyers of the time he spent in CIA secret prisons between his arrest in 2002 and his transfer to Guantánamo Bay in 2006.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/04/17/4064798/guantanamo-judge-to-cia-disclose.html

An expert testifying in his case, Dr Sondra Crosby, stated that Nashiri had been physically, sexually and psychologically tortured in her statement and that he had not received adequate treatment for the trauma he had suffered at Guantánamo Bay. She stated: ““He suffers from chronic pain. He suffers from anal-rectal complaints,” she said. Also, “difficulty defecating, hemorrhoids, pain in sitting for a long time,” which she said are typical of “survivors of sexual assault.”
Al-Nashiri has scars on his wrists, legs, ankles “consistent with the allegations and history that he gave me.” And he suffers from wide mood swings — from “irritability, anger, extreme emotional intensity to silence” — that are “red flags” of trauma and torture” http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/04/24/4078197/expert-testifies-accused-uss-cole.html

Extraordinarily, the court also sat in session on Sunday 27 April to hear the testimony of his psychiatrist via video link:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/04/27/4083692/guantanamo-holds-rare-war-court.html

On 8 April, Yemeni Ghaleb Nassar al-Bihani became the fourth prisoner to appear before the Periodic Review Board to determine whether he should be cleared for release. His lawyers have said he would be happy to be sent to a third country, if not Yemen.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303910404579490062875190076

On 25 April, the Review Board cleared another Yemeni prisoner, Ali Ahmad al-Razihi, for release and transfer to Yemen, although no Yemenis have been released since Barack Obama lifted a moratorium preventing cleared prisoners from returning to the country since 2010.

Former Canadian prisoner Omar Khadr, who had surgery last month to a shoulder injury he sustained in Afghanistan in 2002 has returned to the medium-security Bowden Institute where he was transferred earlier this year and has resumed his studies. He has an appeal hearing on 30 April at the Alberta Court of Appeal following a decision last year not to transfer him to a provincial prison, where he would have better rehabilitation facilities; his lawyers argue that it is illegal for him to be held in a maximum-security facility given that his crimes were allegedly committed as a minor and his sentence must reflect that.

http://freeomarakhadr.com/2014/04/27/april-30-2014-edmonton-appeal-hearing-omar-khadr/

A 45-year old US soldier faced a court martial on 3 April at Guantánamo Bay on charges of sexual harassment and rape of female junior soldiers under his command while serving there. He admitted sexual harassment and having sexual relations with them, but denied rape. He also admitted having lied to investigators looking into the matter. He faces at least a 15-year sentence for the offences he has admitted to. The offences are alleged to have taken place in 2012 and 2013.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Gitmo-defendant-denies-rape-allegation-at-S-A-5375391.php   

Extraordinary Rendition

On 3 April, the US Senate’s Intelligence Committee voted to release a 6000-page report it compiled, completed several years ago, into the CIA’s extraordinary rendition programme, at a cost of over $40 million. The report details the torture of a number of victims of the programme and is said to contain shocking new information about the programme and its brutality, however it is likely to be many months before any part of it is disclosed and will now be handed to the CIA for it to remove “sensitive” parts of the document. It is likely that only a redacted version of an executive summary of the report, consisting of several hundred pages will be made public. The content of the report could impact on various ongoing court cases involving victims, including military tribunals at Guantánamo Bay. In at least one case, lawyers have asked to see the secret report to aid their defence case. Nonetheless, the actual ramifications and possible new information made public by the disclosure of any parts of the report remain to be seen.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/senate-votes-to-release-cia-interrogation-report/2014/04/03/8ebc1b70-bb60-11e3-9a05-c739f29ccb08_story.html

LGC Activities:

The April “Shut Guantánamo!” demonstration was attended by 6 people. The May

demonstration will be at the regular time of 12-1pm outside the US Embassy and 1.15-2.15pm outside Speaker’s Corner, Marble Arch on Thursday 1^st May: https://www.facebook.com/events/654231457963800/  

As part of a global day of action to mark the anniversary of Barack Obama’s latest pledge to take action to close Guantánamo Bay and transfer the prisoners, the LGC will hold a demonstration a 12-2pm in Trafalgar Square (north side, outside the National Gallery). All are welcome to join us. Placards and orange jumpsuits provided, although not mandatory and you are welcome to bring your own http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/demonstration-not-another-day-in.html