Gone Beyond Words: Nine Years of Guantánamo Bay

Report by Aisha Maniar, London Guantánamo Campaign

Tuesday 11 January 2011 marked nine years since the opening of the illegal US-run detention and torture camp at Guantánamo Bay. Creeping up on almost a decade of life in its current incarnation, Guantánamo Bay continues to house 173 prisoners and the US government has recently passed legislation to block the transfer and civilian trial of prisoners on the US mainland. Over 90 prisoners of Yemeni origin are prevented from returning home and the US administration is currently planning to introduce measures to perpetuate the illegal regime with the “indefinite detention” of prisoners who cannot be tried or released as they allegedly pose a security risk.

One British resident whose return to the UK was sought by the Brown government in 2007 remains there. Shaker Aamer, a Saudi national with a British family in south London, and a son he has never met, has been held without charge or trial for over nine years. Four other men whose release was sought at the same time have all long since returned to the UK. The Foreign Secretary William Hague and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg recently raised his case with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The day kicked off with the delivery of an open letter to Downing Street with PeaceStrike. The letter, a shorter version of which was published in the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/11/guantanamo-closure-obama-deadline was signed by 75 individuals and representatives of organisations, including MPs Caroline Lucas and John McDonnell, MEPs Baroness Sarah Ludford and Jean Lambert, Kate Hudson (CND), Bruce Kent (Pax Christi) and others and called on David Cameron to intervene personally in Shaker Aamer’s case and to take measures to help the US close Guantánamo Bay.
The full letter and list of signatories can be read at: http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com/2011/01/open-letter-to-prime-minister-david.html
Signatures were also collected on the letter at the Beyond Words: Silent Witness to Injustice vigil in Trafalgar Square later that afternoon. Around 200 further signatures were collected from activists, tourists and the public to be sent to the Prime Minister.

Around 70 people then turned the area outside the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square orange for a bright and visual silent protest demanding the closure of Guantánamo Bay at lunchtime (1pm). On a cold and grey afternoon, the National Gallery got a new temporary art installation outside for an hour as protesters coming from as far away as Bradford, Brighton, Worthing and Bedford called on the British and American governments to take immediate action to close Guantánamo Bay. A simple humane and legal plea which has fallen on the deaf ears of the international community for the past nine years was instead made visually, with activists handing out leaflets, collecting signatures on letters, cards and petitions and taking part in a very good-humoured protest to mark yet another very sombre anniversary.

From the top of Trafalgar Square, the future certainly looks very orange and unless governments act now to close Guantánamo Bay, the situation looks set to be perpetuated well beyond its first decade. Saturday 22 January will mark one year since President Obama’s broken promise to close the detention camp, yet no remorse is shown by governments around the world for their complicity in crimes against humanity, all norms of law and the broken lives and continued suffering of hundreds of families, including one in south London.

More pictures at: https://indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/01/471955.html

Some messages of support:
Baroness Sarah Ludford, Liberal Democrat MEP for London [via e-mail]:
“Sarah Ludford stressed that as vice-chair of the European Parliament’s US delegation she will continue to press Washington for the complete closure of Guantanamo, to lobby in London and Brussels for European cooperation in resettlement of men who cannot return to their home countries for fear of torture and in particular to press for her constituent Shaker Aamer to come home to London.”

Dr Shahrar Ali, Green Party, London:
“We’re here in solidarity with those hundreds of people still incarcerated in a pre-Magna Carta medieval state of justice which is no justice at all”.

Val Brown, activist, Bedford:
“I’m here today not only to close Guantánamo but to make everybody aware of the people that are still in there, especially Omar [Khadr] and Shaker [Aamer]. I just think it’s so disgusting that a country can do this to people”.

Noa Kleinman, Amnesty International UK North America Coordinator, Bradford:
“It felt very necessary to come down today although it’s really very depressing that this is the ninth year of Guantánamo and we’re very close to nine years for Shaker Aamer at Guantánamo so I guess we just have to keep on campaigning. We can’t stop”.

Abdul Jaleel Bain, Justice for Aafia Coalition, London:
“I’m here today for the Justice for Aafia Coalition and also to support the campaign for the freeing of Shaker Aamer, and more widely for the closing of Guantánamo Bay prison which is still open despite the fact that President Obama promised to close it one year ago and he hasn’t done that. It’s been a pleasure to come here on what is actually quite a bad day as Guantánamo is still open, there are still people there. The biggest group is a group of Yemenis. There is also Shaker Aamer who is actually from this city. I’m here to show that I’m a Londoner, a British person, a Muslim and representing my organisation. I support the movement to close Guantánamo Bay and I will continue to come here for as long as it takes until that day comes”.

Joy Hurcombe, Brighton Against Guantánamo, Worthing:
“I’m here today to take part in the vigil to shut Guantánamo. People from all of London watched our demonstration and saw and heard that Guantánamo is still not shut. We want Obama to shut Guantánamo now. There are people there who have been there for nearly as long as it’s been open, for nearly nine years and they are being denied all their human rights. They have no access to family, to friends, lawyers, to the outside world and it’s Obama’s disgrace and shame that he has broken his promises. They are there with broken lives and we are here to show the world that Guantánamo must be shut”.

Maria Gallestegui, PeaceStrike, London:
“I’m here to support the London Guantánamo Campaign. It’s a great honour to be here and to share this occasion and basically to send the message out, not just in this country but throughout the world. Talking to tourists, there’s so many people who just do not realise that Guantánamo still exists, it’s still operational and that this so-called war on terror is still being promoted by governments throughout the world and the media throughout the world, so it’s giving the false impression that we need to be terrified in our beds every night for fear of consequences that quite honestly are not realistic and we should be befriending each other and tearing down the walls of hatred and extending the hand of friendship to build a whole new understanding of each other, not built on hatred and fear”.

Open Letter to Prime Minister David Cameron on Ninth Anniversary of Guantánamo Bay

The London Guantánamo Campaign will today deliver an open letter to Downing Street urging Prime Minister David Cameron to take action to help close Guantánamo Bay on its ninth anniversary. The letter has been signed by 75 individuals in a personal capacity and on behalf of organisations. Signatories include MPs Caroline Lucas and John McDonnell, MEPs Baroness Sarah Ludford and Jean Lambert, London Assembly Member Darren Johnson, journalists Andy Worthington and Victoria Brittain, former prisoner Bisher Al Rawi and many others.
A shorter version of the letter is published today in the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/11/guantanamo-closure-obama-deadline

The letter and full list of signatories (in alphabetical order) is below:

Dear Prime Minister,
Guantánamo Bay has now been open for nine years. During that time, your predecessors were successful in securing the return to the UK of all British nationals held there, and all but two of the former British residents. Nevertheless, they were knowingly complicit in the ordeal of the men and their families. Almost a year after the expiry of President Obama’s own deadline to close Guantánamo, the facility still holds some 174 prisoners.
We welcome recent efforts by Foreign Secretary William Hague and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to raise the case of Shaker Aamer, the last legal British resident in Guantánamo Bay, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. These measures must translate into his immediate and unconditional release and return to his family in the UK. Shaker has never been charged or tried for any crime, and no reasons have been given by the US for his continued detention, despite him being cleared for release in 2007. Shaker is, like you, a father, but his four children have had to grow up without their father for the past nine years, and his youngest son has never even met his father. We urge you to intervene personally in his case.
Guantánamo Bay will not close without concerted efforts by the international community, and Britain must play its part and follow the lead of other European countries that have accepted innocent prisoners on humanitarian grounds. One such man with links to the UK is Ahmed Belbacha, also cleared for release since 2007, who resided in Britain for two years. He cannot return to his native Algeria for fear of his life and liberty, so he continues to languish in Guantánamo. We would ask you to urgently request his return to the UK, and to offer to take other cleared prisoners awaiting release in order to make possible the early closure of Guantánamo.
A series of military tribunals at Guantánamo Bay over the past year, including that of a child soldier, Omar Khadr, show clear contempt for justice and the rule of law by our US allies. In 2011, four years away from the celebration of 800 years of the Magna Carta and the rule of law in England, influential in US and international law, the United Kingdom must show greater leadership in ensuring that basic legal and humanitarian principles are upheld.
We, the undersigned,

Len Aldis, secretary of Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society, Mark Barrett, Campaign for Real Democracy, Councillor Jonathan Bloch Lib Dem Councillor, Haringey Council, Victoria Brittain, Adrienne Burrows, Peace and Justice in East London, Chris Cole, Figtree, Liz Davies, Chair, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, Hilary Evans, Kingston Peace Council/CND, Maria Gallastegui, Peacestrike, Lindsey German, convenor of Stop the War Coalition, Richard Haley, Chair, Scotland Against Criminalising Communities, Noel Hamel, Chair, Kingston Peace Council, Maryam Hassan, Justice for Aafia Coalition, Desiree Howells, Peace and Justice in East London, Kate Hudson, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Joy Hurcombe, Brighton Against Guantánamo, Cllr Darren Johnson, Green Party member of London Assembly, Bruce Kent, vice-president of Pax Christi, Jean Lambert, Green MEP, Les Levidow, Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC), Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, Sarah Ludford, Liberal Democrat MEP, Aisha Maniar, London Guantánamo Campaign, John McDonnell, Labour MP for Harlington and Hayes, Millius Palayiwa, Director, Fellowship of Reconciliation, England, Asim Qureshi, executive director of Cageprisoners, Milan Rai, co-editor of Peace News, Estella Schmid, Campaign Against Criminalising Communities, Ray Silk, Save Shaker Aamer Campaign, Walter Wolfgang, Labour CND, Rosemary Addington, Khadijah Al-Hilali, Dr Shahrar Ali, Green Party, Bisher Al-Rawi, Karima Azzouni, Abduljaleel Bain, Steve Barnes, Shaun Brown, Maude Casey, Manish Dhokia, Paschal Egan, David Ferrard, Aman Fida, Michael Fisher, Martin Francis, Anne Gray, C.C.H. Gwyntopher, David Harrold, Mary Holmes, Gillian Hurle, Miranda James, Ewa Jasiewicz, Zelda Jeffers, N.M. Kleinman, Ann Kobayashi, Sarah Lasenby, Christine MacLeod, Jim McCluskey, Simon Moore, Corinna Mullin, Anita Olivacce, Roshan Pedder, Mike Phipps, Malcolm Pittock, Ian Pocock, David Polden, M.A. Qavi, Emma Sangster, Daniel Viesnik, Sam Walton, Frances Webber, Adrian White, Adrian Windisch, Richard Wolff, Andy Worthington

PRESS RELEASE: BEYOND WORDS: SILENT WITNESS TO INJUSTICE

PRESS RELEASE – For immediate release

BEYOND WORDS: SILENT WITNESS TO INJUSTICE

Photo opportunity: Activists dressed in orange jumpsuits and black hoods holding placards and banners calling for the closure of Guantánamo Bay.

The London Guantánamo Campaign [1] will hold a silent vigil to mark the 9th anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo Bay on Tuesday, 11 January 2011, from 1-2pm, at the top of Trafalgar Square (opposite the National Gallery). All London MPs and MEPs have been invited. Green London Assembly Members Jenny Jones and Darren Johnson have pledged their support. Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford also pledged her support and stressed that as vice-chair of the European Parliament’s US delegation she will continue to press Washington for the complete closure of Guantánamo and to lobby in London and Brussels for European cooperation in resettlement of men who cannot return to their home countries for fear of torture.

Aisha Maniar, from the London Guantánamo Campaign, says: “Nine years after the opening of the US military interrogation and detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, and almost one year beyond President Obama’s own deadline for its closure, [2] the London Guantánamo Campaign today calls upon the US President to take urgent action to honour his pledge to close the facility. He must ensure justice for the remaining prisoners through fair trials in civilian courts of law, or their release to countries where their safety and liberty can be ensured.

“The British Government must assist in the closure of the prison by following the example of other EU countries that have accepted prisoners cleared for release who cannot return to their country of origin due to fears for their safety. It must also step up its efforts to secure the freedom of British resident Shaker Aamer, who has been held by the US military for nine years without charge of trial. Shaker’s immediate and unconditional release and return to the UK is long overdue. [3]

“Nine years of torture and arbitrary detention at Guantánamo Bay and similar prisons have not made the world a safer place. Rather, governments who practice and condone torture and detention without charge or trial, citing national security as a justification for their illegal actions, undermine both the rule of law and fundamental human rights. President Obama’s failure to keep to his pledge to close Guantánamo, his new plans for the indefinite incarceration of prisoners without charge or trial, [4] and his approval of extrajudicial executions indicate that he shares his predecessor’s contempt for the rule of law.”
Contact: london.gtmo@googlemail.com
Saturday 8 January 2011
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The London Guantánamo Campaign 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.See: http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com The London Guantánamo Campaign produced an EDM with Caroline Lucas MP (Green: Brighton Pavilion) in November 2010 stating our current demands of the British government: http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=42093&SESSION=905
2. President Obama signed a decree shortly after his inauguration in January 2009 ordering the closure of Guantánamo Bay within 12 months. Today, 174 prisoners remain at Guantánamo Bay, including former British residents Shaker Aamer and Ahmed Belbacha.
3. Shaker Aamer was cleared for release by the US military in 2007. He claims to have been tortured repeatedly during his time in US custody, on one occasion in the presence of a British intelligence agent. He has a British wife and four children living in Battersea, south London. He has never met his youngest son, who is now 8 years old. Both the Foreign Secretary and the Deputy Prime Minister recently raised Shaker’s case with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in person during separate visits to the US.
4. The first civilian trial of a Guantánamo prisoner, Ahmed Ghailani, recently took place on the US mainland. On November 17, 2010, a jury found him guilty of one count of conspiracy, but acquitted him of 284 other charges including all murder counts. Congress has since blocked the transfer of any more prisoners to the US mainland for trial before October 2011. This may be supplemented by an order to allow the indefinite detention without charge or trial of at least 50 of the remaining prisoners.

LGC Newsletter - December 2010

LGC Newsletter – December 2010

NEWS:
British Residents:
Reprieve and Leigh Day solicitors have asked the High Court in London to review the British government’s failure to release crucial information to Ahmed Belbacha’s legal team in the US, which is currently trying to prevent the US government from deporting him forcibly to Algeria. In his native Algeria, Mr. Belbacha faces a 20-year prison sentence passed in his absence on the basis of flimsy evidence and the threat of torture. Another Algerian prisoner was forced to return to Algeria against his will earlier this year; he promptly “disappeared” for several days and now faces charges related to terrorism. This move could force the British government to take action which could save his life; Reprieve believes that the British government has “repeatedly declined to co-operate or to admit their part in Ahmed’s abuse and near-decade-long imprisonment.” Facing the imminent threat of a forced return to Algeria, Ahmed Belbacha has long expressed his desire not to be returned to that country, which he had fled in fear of his life.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/15/ahmed-belbacha-guantanamo-bay

The Save Shaker Aamer Campaign (SSAC) and other organisations, including the LGC, held a successful day of action in Battersea on Saturday 11 December to raise awareness about Shaker Aamer’s case and demand his release. Shaker Aamer has been held without charge or trial illegally for over 9 years. Deemed innocent by the British government, his release was demanded by Gordon Brown in 2007 along with four other prisoners who have all returned to the UK. Recently, both the Foreign Secretary William Hague and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg have raised his case with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, yet Shaker Aamer appears to be no closer to release. The day of action kicked off at midday with a symbolic demonstration and march from the site of the new American Embassy in Vauxhall, attended by around 70 people, to the Battersea Arts Centre for a public meeting, attended by over 100 people, and addressed by local MP Jane Ellison, Shaker Aamer’s UK lawyer Gareth Peirce, Moazzam Begg, journalist Yvonne Ridley and several others. In the evening, there was a film screening of Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo, which focuses on Shaker Aamer’s story, followed by a discussion with Andy Worthington and Omar Deghayes at the same venue.
http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com/2010/12/day-for-shaker-aamer-11-december-2010.html
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/155069.html
http://news.scotsman.com/uk/Day-of-action-to-highlight.6657904.jp
http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/local/wandsworthnews/8735080.Protesters_demand_release_of_last_British_Guantanamo_detainee/

Guantánamo Bay:
Following the only civilian trial held so far in the US for a Guantánamo prisoner last month, in which Tanzanian national Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was convicted of one of 285 charges, the US Congress passed a law to prevent any other prisoners being transferred or tried on the US mainland. Although Ghailani, to be sentenced in late January, faces a life sentence, many in Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, would like to see prisoners, such as Khalid Sheikh Mohamed (KSM) face military trials at Guantánamo Bay rather than civilian trials, fearing that these are more likely to lead to an acquittal. However, as the Ghailani trial showed, they are also fairer and abide by recognised principles of law, such as the rejection of evidence obtained through the use of torture. This move was criticised by the US Attorney General Eric Holder, who had announced civilian trials for prisoners such as KSM in 2009. The transfer ban will apply until at least 30 September 2011. This bill, covering other military defence spending issues, including the war in Afghanistan, was passed by both houses in the US Congress on 22 December and also sets new conditions for the release of prisoners.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/09/guantanamo-bay-criminal-courts-barack-obama
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/us/politics/23gitmo.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
At the same time, the White House issued a draft executive order, yet to become law, which would allow the indefinite detention without trial of some prisoners held there. There are currently 174 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, of whom 48 would be affected by this order, whom it would be difficult to try before a civilian or military court largely due to the nature of the evidence against them and as they are deemed to be “too dangerous”. This would also involve a change in the prisoner status review system, giving prisoners greater rights to challenge their detention and more often.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/21/AR2010122105523.html
Both of these measures are a major setback to plans to close Guantánamo Bay and in effect propose keeping the prison open for much longer to house the 48 prisoners for whom the US government is proposing “prolonged indefinite detention” and military trials for others. Almost a year since the deadline of President Obama’s broken promise to close Guantánamo Bay and nine years since the arbitrary detention and torture camp opened, it is still no nearer to closing and justice still fails to feature as a possible remedy for those held there. The White House has conceded that Guantánamo Bay is far from closing any time soon.

Instead, in order to defend the indefensible, in early December, the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) issued a report stating that out of the 598 prisoners released by the US government, over 25% were now suspected or confirmed to have returned to committing crimes against the US. This is several times more than Pentagon reports two years ago. According to the report, more than 90 former prisoners were confirmed to have returned to armed combat against the US. The report does not provide the names of any prisoners as such and since more than 99% of these prisoners were released without trial or conviction, there cannot be any conclusive evidence that they are recidivists and have “returned” to a life of crime against the US.

More evidence has emerged this month on the issue of illegal drugs being used on prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay and experimentation on prisoners. Doctors who administered a controversial antimalarial drug, known as mefloquine, to prisoners, known to have serious neuropsychological side effects such as suicidal thoughts, seizures, depression and hallucinations, were told to keep quiet about its use, even though there was no medical reason for the drug to be given to prisoners. Albert J. Shimkus, a former commanding officer and chief surgeon at Guantánamo Bay, defended the use of high doses of the drug on prisoners in 2002-2003. There have been concerns and reports about the use of illegal and psychotropic drugs on prisoners and possible experimentation on prisoners in the past. The collusion of medical professionals in torture and abuse at Guantánamo Bay is documented, however due to the classification of medical records and silence over the treatment of prisoners, much vital information has yet to emerge.

Yemenis make up the largest single nationality at Guantánamo Bay with over 90 prisoners. The return of Yemeni prisoners who are cleared for release to their country has been blocked for over a year now on the ground that Yemen poses a security threat. Most have had little communication with their families over the past nine years, through letters and more recently telephone calls. However, since mid-December, the Red Cross in the US and Yemen have started facilitating video conferencing for prisoners and their families so that they can talk to each other for at least one hour at a time. Several prisoners and their families have since tried this facility.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/12/28/guantanamo.yemen.video/

Extraordinary rendition:
A series of cases brought before the High Court in London seeking a fresh inquiry into alleged torture and abuse of Iraqi citizens by British soldiers in Iraq between 2003 and 2008 have been rejected. High Court judges upheld the Defence Secretary’s refusal to hold a wide-ranging inquiry into whether there was systemic abuse of Iraqis during this period by British troops. The judicial review brought on behalf of over 200 people was rejected as other inquiries are currently ongoing, however the judges did not rule out that such an inquiry may be necessary in the future, given the seriousness of the allegations.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/iraqis-lose-bid-for-torture-claims-inquiry-2165829.html

LGC Activities:
The LGC is saddened to report the death of Salim Akbar, a member of the steering committee of the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign (SSAC). A board member of the Islamic Cultural and Education Centre in Battersea and a local community activist, Mr. Akbar was involved in various human campaigns, including that to seek the release of Shaker Aamer, a personal friend of his. Salim Akbar, aged in his mid-thirties, died of a heart attack on 17 December. He had played a key role in organising the Day for Shaker Aamer on 11 December and had hugely facilitated and contributed to an event held by the LGC at the Battersea Mosque for Shaker Aamer in Ramadan (August) in 2009 as well as many other demonstrations and events organised by the SSAC and others to raise awareness about Mr. Aamer’s case. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.

Two people attended the December monthly Shut Down Guantánamo! There is no demonstration in January.

The London Guantánamo Campaign invites you to join us for our action to mark the ninth anniversary of Guantánamo Bay on Tuesday 11 January 2011, Beyond Words: Silent Witness to Injustice. We will be holding a silent lunchtime vigil in Trafalgar Square, opposite the National Gallery. We would like to have 14 participants hold up a letter of the alphabet to spell out: S-H-U-T G-U-A-N-T-A-N-A-M-O. If you are attending and would like to volunteer to hold up a letter of the alphabet, please let us know.
The flyer is attached and the event is also up on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/event.php?eid=156090414425731&index=1

If you are not in London and/or organising an anniversary event elsewhere, please let us know and we will be happy to help you publicise it. If you are unable to attend, please consider contacting your MP and asking them to sign EDM 1093 (and invite them to the 11 January vigil). The EDM is at:
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=42093&SESSION=905
An EDM is a motion signed by MPs in support; if enough MPs sign, a debate can be held in Parliament on the issue. Although this does not happen often, it is a good way of finding out how MPs feel about an issue and when asking your MP to sign, a good way for constituents to make them aware of the issue. It has been signed by 17 MPs so far.

Thank you for your support in 2010. Please join us in 2011 to up the pressure on politicians on both sides of the Atlantic to press for the closure of Guantánamo Bay sooner rather than later and the speedy return of prisoners like Shaker Aamer to their families. Let us not be looking forward to a decade of Guantánamo Bay this time next year!

A Day for Shaker Aamer, 11 December 2010, Battersea

The Save Shaker Aamer Campaign (SSAC), along with numerous other human rights organisations, including the London Guantánamo Campaign, trade unions, political parties and social movements organised a day of action, involving a rally, march, public meeting and film showing to put pressure on the British government to press for the release and return of Shaker Aamer, the last British resident held at Guantánamo Bay, to this country. Shaker Aamer, a 42-year-old Saudi national, with a British wife and four British children, has been held illegally, without charge or trial at Guantánamo Bay for almost nine years. The British government does not consider him a threat and sought his return to the UK in August 2007. Four other men, whose return was also sought at that time, have long since returned. Following the out-of-court settlement made with former prisoners last month in a case concerning the UK’s involvement in their torture, the British government announced it would be stepping up its efforts to seek his release. Since then, Foreign Secretary William Hague and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg have spoken to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about his case. Unfortunately, Mr. Aamer is still held at Guantánamo Bay and since the election of a Republican Congress in the US, efforts are being made by American politicians to block the release of any more prisoners.

Campaigners from London and other parts of the UK took part in the day of action on Saturday 11 December, which kicked off at the site of the new American Embassy in Nine Elms in Vauxhall, south London. About 70 people took part in a rally at midday overlooking the River Thames which was addressed by former Labour MP for Battersea Martin Linton, who had campaigned for Mr. Aamer’s release while his MP, Chris Nineham from the Stop The War Coalition, Sheikh Suliman Gani from Tooting Mosque and Joy Hurcombe from Brighton Against Guantánamo, reading a message of support from Jeremy Corbyn MP. The rally then set off on an hour and a half long noisy procession from Vauxhall to the Battersea Arts Centre for a public meeting in the afternoon attended by around 100 people. Speakers at the meeting included current Battersea MP, Jane Ellison, who since being elected in May has also worked hard and pressed her government and others in parliament to take action for the release of Shaker Aamer, his solicitor Gareth Peirce, journalist Yvonne Ridley, Sheikh Suliman Gani, Lindsey German from the Stop The War Coalition, Moazzam Begg and others.

In the evening, there was a film showing of Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo, which focuses on Shaker Aamer’s story, followed by a discussion with Andy Worthington and Omar Deghayes.

Almost NINE years since it opened, Guantánamo Bay is still open for business. A vote in the US Congress last week has set back attempts to have those facing prosecution sent to the US mainland to face trial in civilian courts rather than the military-style kangaroo courts used at Guantánamo Bay. A report in Congress has also claimed that many prisoners who have been released – only two prisoners who have been sentenced have since been released – overwhelmingly return to terrorism-related crime, even though it has never been established – even through their torture and arbitrary detention for years at Guantánamo Bay, Bagram and elsewhere – that they had committed any identifiable crime in the first place. This has been a popular ruse by the American administrations of both Bush and Obama with each new “birthday” notched up by Guantánamo. However, the Americans are not alone in being responsible for the fact that Guantánamo Bay and its extralegal regime are still in operation. Much of the rest of the world has failed to do anything to help close Guantánamo Bay either.

In Shaker Aamer’s case, the British government MUST take further action and ensure he returns to his family in London. Write to your MP [find them at http://www.theyworkforyou.com/] and demand they express your concerns to the Foreign Office, write to the Foreign Office yourself private.office@fco.gov.uk and ask for action to be stepped up for Shaker Aamer’s release, ask your MP to sign EDM 1093 http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=42093&SESSION=905 tabled by Caroline Lucas MP, calls for Shaker Aamer’s return to the UK and outlines all the demands the LGC is making of the current government.

More importantly, make a stand against Guantánamo Bay, torture and arbitrary detention by joining the London Guantánamo Campaign on Tuesday 11 January at lunchtime in Trafalgar Square London for a silent protest vigil to mark nine years of torture and abuse of human rights and due process at Guantánamo Bay: http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com/2010/12/beyond-words-silent-witness-to.html

LGC Newsletter – November 2010

NEWS:
British Residents:
On 16 November, Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke announced in the House of Commons that the British government had reached a confidential out-of-court settlement with half a dozen former Guantánamo prisoners and had added a further half dozen to the recipients of an undisclosed compensation settlement. Dubbed “hush money” by the tabloid press and the end of the court case brought by former prisoners to force the government to disclose what it knew about their torture and arbitrary detention in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay, it also means that uncertainty will prevail as to what the British government knew and did and leaves many questions open to those who doubt the integrity of prisoners held without trial, and without charges in some cases, for many years. In making his statement, Mr. Clarke stated “No admissions of culpability have been made in settling those cases and nor have any of the claimants withdrawn their allegations. This is a mediated settlement.” This means that the cases can be reopened at some later date. While the government said that no admission of guilt had been made in its case, it is quite clear that if there was no guilt no compensation settlement would have been made. As a result, most of the evidence of involvement in international wrongdoing by the British government which the case sought to have made public will remain secret. The case, brought at the High Court in May last year, never moved past the procedural stage, with much legal wrangling as to what the government was prepared to make public and how; the government demanded that large parts of the hearing be held in secret without the men bringing the case or their lawyers knowing the evidence being discussed or presented, effectively making it impossible for them to challenge it. This was allegedly on national security grounds. It has always been clear that the government was prepared to fight attempts to disclose the evidence in this case and that the case would be a drawn out affair without necessarily achieving its desired aims. One of the former prisoners bringing the case, Moazzam Begg, wrote in the Independent about why they chose to make the settlement:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/moazzam-begg-we-settled-so-we-could-get-our-lives-back-2139647.html
The government hopes that the Gibson Inquiry, to which this case provided a major hurdle, would settle some of the questions raised by it. The Gibson Inquiry itself has been much criticised already and the actual terms of how it will operate have yet to be clarified. Unfortunately, in his announcement, Mr. Clarke continued to refer to the “mistreatment” of prisoners abroad, which the Gibson Inquiry is to look into. “Mistreatment” is not a legal term and the allegations are of human rights abuses, some of which, like torture, constitute crimes against humanity. Furthermore, the current government, which is wholly responsible, has given no reassurances whatsoever that its agents are not currently involved in similar practices abroad. At least one further allegation of British intelligence services being complicit in the abuse of a British national abroad has emerged since the May election.
In this statement, Mr. Clarke also referred to government plans, already mentioned by the Prime Minister, to publish a green paper next summer on the use of intelligence in judicial proceedings. The paper would “examine mechanisms for the protection and disclosure of sensitive information in the full range of civil proceedings, inquests and inquiries” and “will also consider complementary options to modernise and reform existing standing intelligence oversight mechanisms”. This proposal seeks to prevent litigation of the type mentioned above and cases similar to the Binyam Mohamed case, with the main aim being to protect Britain’s diplomatic relations with other countries.

Several other court cases are still ongoing before the Gibson Inquiry can start. In one of them, the criminal case concerning misconduct by the security services in Binyam Mohamed’s case, the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmar QC, has advised the Metropolitan police not to prosecute an MI5 agent known as Witness B, who was singled out, due to insufficient evidence to prosecute him. However, a wider criminal investigation is continuing into the allegations made in this case, although that may not lead to any prosecution. Commenting on this decision, Andrew Tyrie MP, the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition said, “Any information that would have been available in the court cases and criminal investigations must be available to the inquiry”.

Another major obstacle to the government drawing a line under its involvement in Guantanamo Bay is that almost a decade later, British resident Shaker Aamer remains there. It emerged shortly after the announcement of the settlement that the former prisoners had offered to forego compensation if Mr. Aamer’s release could be secured. His release was also a major discussion point of the settlement. Since then, both the Foreign Secretary William Hague and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg have spoken to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about his release. Amnesty International has also started a campaign for Shaker Aamer’s release and the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign (SSAC) is holding a day-long event on 11 December to raise awareness about his case. Now is the ideal time for the British government to take action after having dragged its heels over Mr. Aamer’s release in the three and a half years since Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote to the US seeking his release along with four other prisoners who have all since long returned to the UK.

Guantánamo Bay:
In a first test for the Obama administration on how it would fare in putting prisoners on trial before civilian courts, the jury in the trial of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian former prisoner and victim of extraordinary rendition, found him guilty of only one charge, of conspiracy to damage or destroy US property with explosives, out of 285 charges, including murder and conspiracy to murder. He now faces a minimum of 20 years in prison. He was accused of involvement in the 1998 bombing of US Embassies in East Africa. Charged in 2001, he was kidnapped in Pakistan in 2004, after which he “disappeared” until he was sent to Guantánamo Bay in 2006. He will be sentenced on 25 January 2011. Considered a good day for justice, the verdict was not favourable to the US administration which was also planning to try others facing charges before civilian courts. It may now reconsider and change its plans. Some Republicans have called for future trials to be scrapped.

Extraordinary rendition:
Former American president George W. Bush, currently on a book tour promoting his memoirs Decision Points, outed himself a war criminal by confessing to having authorised the use of waterboarding on at least three prisoners. He further claimed that the use of waterboarding helped to save lives by foiling attacks at Heathrow Airport and Canary Wharf; these claims have been denied by British officials. He has since failed to elaborate on how his vague claims managed to prevent these and other attacks elsewhere and how this was the only “viable” means of obtaining this information. The Mayor of London Boris Johnson has warned George Bush not to bring his book tour to European capitals stating that, as a result, “he might never see Texas again” after being prosecuted for war crimes. Commenting on the nature of George Bush’s admissions, Mr. Johnson said, “It is hard to overstate the enormity of this admission”. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/borisjohnson/8133411/George-W.-Bush-cant-fight-for-freedom-and-authorise-torture.html

The US Department of Justice has decided that there will be no prosecutions over the destruction of tapes in 2005 showing the torture faced by prisoners at a US black site in Thailand. 92 tapes in total were destroyed showing the “enhanced interrogation techniques” used to extract confessions from Abdul Rahman Al-Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah, both still held at Guantánamo Bay but who no longer face any charges. No reasons were given for why the prosecution was dropped, which would reveal whether soldiers acted of their own will or were following orders from above, or why the tapes were destroyed, although there is speculation that this was to avoid any further embarrassment for the US following the disclosure of photographs of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib.

Amnesty International has published a report on the role played by European states in extraordinary rendition through secret prisons and facilitating torture flights, outlining the measures that have and should be taken to investigate and prosecute those involved.
http://amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR01/023/2010/en

An appeal hearing was held at the High Court in London in a case dubbed by MP David Davis as a clear “case of passive rendition” involving Rangzieb Ahmed who was jailed for life in 2008 for directing acts of terrorism. He was ordered to serve at least ten years. However, following a statement in Parliament last year by David Davis in which, using parliamentary privilege, he disclosed the nature of the allegations of torture Mr. Ahmed made about when he was interrogated in Pakistan, he was allowed to appeal his conviction. He claims the UK government was involved and much of his 2008 trial was held in secret due to the sensitivity of the intelligence evidence and how it was obtained.

LGC Activities:
The November monthly Shut Down Guantánamo! on Friday 5 November was attended by 4 people. There will be no demonstration in January as it precedes the ninth anniversary action by a few days. We invite you to join us for that instead.

The London Guantánamo Campaign launched an Early Day Motion (EDM) with MP Caroline Lucas this month on the closure of Guantánamo Bay, largely laying down what the British government should be doing now to help close Guantánamo Bay. An EDM is a motion signed by MPs in support; if enough MPs sign, a debate can be held in Parliament on the issue. Although this does not happen often, it is a good way of finding out how MPs feel about an issue and when asking your MP to sign, a good way for constituents to make them aware of the issue. Please ask your MP to sign the EDM and to join the London Guantánamo Campaign on Tuesday 11 January 2011 in Trafalgar Square to mark the ninth anniversary of Guantánamo Bay [flyer attached – please circulate].
The EDM is at:
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=42093&SESSION=905 It has been signed by 10 MPs so far.

Following the verdict in the Ghailani case, the LGC had a letter published in The Guardian newspaper making largely the same demands: that the British must act and act now to help close Guantánamo Bay: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/22/ghailani-warning-to-uk

The London Guantánamo Campaign invites you to join us for our action to mark the ninth anniversary of Guantánamo Bay on Tuesday 11 January 2011, Beyond Words: Silent Witness to Injustice. We will be holding a silent lunchtime vigil in Trafalgar Square, opposite the National Gallery. We would like to have 14 participants hold up a letter of the alphabet to spell out: S-H-U-T G-U-A-N-T-A-N-A-M-O. If you are attending and would like to volunteer to hold up a letter of the alphabet, please let us know.
The flyer is attached and the event is also up on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/event.php?eid=156090414425731&index=1
Please join us and let others know about this event.

Beyond Words: Silent Witness to Injustice
Tuesday 11 January 2011
The London Guantánamo Campaign

invites you to join
a silent vigil from 1-2pm

on the north side of Trafalgar Square, opposite the National Gallery (at the top of the steps from Trafalgar Square)
For more details and/or to register your interest in taking part, please call
07809 757 176 or e-mail london.gtmo@gmail.com
www.londonguantanamo.org.uk
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=156090414425731&index=1

Get your MP to sign EDM 1093: Guantánamo Bay

1: Get your MP to sign EDM 1093:
The London Guantánamo Campaign has teamed up with Caroline Lucas MP (Brighton Pavilion, Green Party) to produce the following EDM:

EDM 1093: Guantanamo Bay

"That this House notes with regret that President Obama's pledge to close the US Military Detention Centre at Guantánamo Bay by January 2010 is almost one year overdue and little closer to realisation; welcomes gestures by other European States to accommodate and receive innocent prisoners who have been cleared for release to help close the facility; notes with dismay that on 11 January 2011 the detention facility will have been open for nine years and that British resident Shaker Aamer has now been held there without charge or trial for almost the same length of time; urges the Government to step up its action to secure his release without further delay; and further notes the case of Ahmed Belbacha, previously resident in the UK and facing the imminent threat of forced return to his native Algeria where there are fears he will face abuse of his human rights; applauds the lead taken by countries such as Ireland, France, Spain, Germany and Bulgaria, who have accepted prisoners cleared for release from Guantánamo Bay by the US authorities on humanitarian grounds but who cannot return to their country of origin; and urges the Government to take similar measures to accept a number of such cleared prisoners."

We urge everyone to ask their MP to sign this important EDM. On 16 November, when Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke made the official statement about the out-of-court settlement with former prisoners concerning the government’s collusion in their torture and illegal detention, support for the closure of Guantánamo by MPs across the board was unequivocal. Sadiq Khan MP (Tooting, Labour) stated: “The Labour party has been, and will remain, completely opposed to Guantanamo Bay” and Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood in whose Bournemouth East constituency Ahmed Belbacha lived declared, “I am sorry that we did not do more to speak out against Guantanamo Bay and everything that it stands for”. Ask your MP to take a stand against Guantánamo by signing the EDM and joining the LGC on Tuesday 11 January for a lunchtime vigil in Trafalgar Square to mark the 9th anniversary of Guantánamo Bay. Write to your MP [find their contact details at www.theyworkforyou.com] and ask them:
- to sign the EDM
- to join the 9th anniversary vigil on Tuesday 11 January 2011
A short e-mail should be enough.

Amnesty International action for Shaker Aamer‏

From Amnesty International UK: please take the following action for Shaker Aamer and circulate to others

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague reportedly raised Shaker’s case with US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton at a meeting in Washington on 17 November, which is very welcome news. Please contact your MP and ask them to raise Shaker Aamer’s case with UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, urging him to maintain the pressure on the US to release Shaker or give him a fair trial. Please use the text below (but feel free to personalise your letter to make a bigger impact and to add your own voice):
[LETTER TEXT]
Dear [NAME] MP
I am writing to you about Shaker Aamer, the former British resident who has been detained without trial for nearly nine years in the US detention facility at Guantánamo Bay. He alleges that he has been tortured.
Shaker Aamer has never been charged or convicted of any criminal offence while in US custody. Despite this, he remains in detention. Shaker’s British wife and children live in London and his youngest child has never met his father.
President Obama has pledged to close Guantánamo Bay and the British government has asked the US for Shaker Aamer’s release – most recently in a November meeting in Washington, according to reports. Despite the seeming willingness of the UK authorities to permit his return to the UK and the absence to date of any charges, Shaker Aamer remains detained without trial at Guantánamo Bay.
But, the UK Government must maintain pressure on the US for Shaker Aamer’s release if his case is to be resolved.
Please raise Shaker’s case with the Foreign Secretary William Hague and:
-Welcome his statement in Washington that he has called on US Secretary of State Clinton to return Shaker Aamer to the UK and request that he reports back to parliament on these discussions;
-Urge the Foreign Secretary to continue to press the US to quickly agree a timetable for Shaker’s trial or return to the UK.
Jane Ellison MP is the Constituency MP for Shaker Aamer’s wife and children. She will be happy to brief you further on the case.
Yours sincerely, NAME, ADDRESS FOR REPLY (address optional)

Better still, of course, is to arrange a meeting with your MP and raise the concerns set out in this letter directly with them.

Please raise any queries about this action by emailing activism@amnesty.org.uk

LGC Newsletter - October 2010

LGC Newsletter – October 2010

NEWS:

Guantánamo Bay:
The first civil trial of a Guantánamo prisoner was due to start on 6 October in New York. At a hearing on that day, Judge Lewis Kaplan, in the case of Tanzanian Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, accused of involvement in two US Embassy bombings in east Africa in 1998, ruled to prevent a key prosecution witness from giving evidence at the trial, as it was held that he had mentioned Mr. Ghailani when interrogated under duress. The bulk of the admissible evidence against him was to have come from this witness. Mr. Ghailani, 36, who denies all charges against him, was kidnapped and “disappeared” in Pakistan in 2004 and was taken to a CIA secret prison where he was tortured before being taken to Guantánamo Bay in 2006. The court already held that any evidence obtained while he was detained at secret prisons or at Guantánamo Bay is inadmissible. As several other witnesses for the prosecution in the case have died in the 12-year interim period, the US government’s case against him is increasingly weak. The trial was delayed for a week and started again on 12 October. After the jury was sworn in, the trial started with the prosecution accusing Mr. Ghailani of being an Al Qaeda operative intent on killing and his defence team claiming otherwise. The trial, which is expected to last weeks before the jury deliberates on its verdict, may be shorter than was originally anticipated. This is a key case to test how the Obama administration may deal with other prisoners facing charges at Guantánamo Bay through the civilian courts, instead of at a military tribunal. If convicted, Mr. Ghailani faces life imprisonment. Others previously tried and convicted in this case are currently serving life sentences in the US.

Following the postponement of 24-year old Canadian Omar Khadr’s military tribunal in August after his defence lawyer was taken ill, the case was due to resume on 18 October. However, moves have been made recently to reach a plea bargain, whereby Omar Khadr would plead guilty to all charges, including killing a US military officer when he was 15, and then be allowed to serve a shortened sentence in Canada. For this reason, the hearing on 18 October was adjourned again with a sentencing hearing set for 25 October, at which Omar Khadr pleaded guilty to the charges. On 31 October, he was sentenced by a military jury to 40 years’ imprisonment for war crimes. This was apparently a harsher sentence than the prosecution had hoped for. The details of the plea bargain were kept secret from the jury who passed the sentence. Under the plea bargain, Omar Khadr waived his right to challenge the charges or the sentence. Also under the plea bargain, he will only serve one more year in US custody, as the deal ensured that he would not serve more than eight years in total, and he may serve the other seven in Canada. Although not present or represented when the deal was negotiated between the US military and Mr. Khadr’s lawyers, the Canadian government has said, in leaked official documents, that it will consider this matter favourably, i.e. allow Omar Khadr to be repatriated and serve the rest of his sentence there. Omar Khadr’s Canadian lawyer, Dennis Edney, said after the verdict, that “fundamental principles of law and due process were long since abandoned in Omar’s case” and “We have over 1,200 American soldiers killed in Afghanistan, and we’ve made a 15-year-old boy pay for that” (Source: Vancouver Sun). He also reported that his client had said that he had not expected to get justice at Guantánamo Bay. As in a separate "guilty" plea entered by another prisoner a few months ago, the details of the deal will remain secret and the full evidence against Omar will not be made known. Omar Khadr had rejected a similar plea deal earlier this year. Although it claims to have played no part in negotiating the deal, through, it the Canadian and American governments have both avoided embarrassment over their illegal and abusive treatment of this young man. The US realised that given the circumstances (tortured child soldier) and the weakness of the evidence against him, in a case brought more than eight years after the facts were alleged to have taken place, Omar Khadr would and could not get a fair hearing and US prosecutors would end up looking ridiculous in the process, even though the judge had allowed torture evidence to be admitted in his case. Omar Khadr is still the loser in this process, having lost more than a third of his life so far and his youth in Guantánamo Bay, he is now also a convicted terrorist on the basis of a face-saving plea bargain for the US and Canada. He will not be released until he is at least 32.
A new documentary was released in Canada at the start of the resumption of his trial: http://www.youdontlikethetruth.com/
Amnesty International issued the following news after the guilty plea was made public: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/usa-must-address-omar-khadr-rights-violations-following-plea-deal-2010-10-25
Alex Neve, the secretary general of Amnesty Canada has been attending the hearing and updating reports on his blog: http://www.amnesty.ca/blog_post2.php?id=2186
Eight years on, in spite of a change of government and cosmetic improvements to the detention facilities, there is still no interest in justice, due process or the basic rights and dignity of prisoners. Outside of the parallel “justice system” Guantánamo has created, which runs contrary to recognised international law, individuals such as Omar Khadr would never have even been brought to trial, let alone be accused of war crimes. As stated by the LGC when this case started in August this year, its ramifications for other child soldiers, of whom there are up to 500,000 in this world, will be disastrous. The prosecution stating that Mr. Khadr was not a “victim” but a “terrorist”, without providing substantive evidence to back this up, and circumventing the most basic procedures and standards of any criminal trial, henceforth sets a very dangerous precedent.

Estonia decided this month that it would not agree to accept prisoners from Guantánamo Bay. Like the British government, it supports the EU policy of accepting inmates, as various countries, like Ireland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, France, Germany and others have done, but refuses to accept prisoners itself.

In mid-October, former Australian prisoner David Hicks published his book, currently only available in Australia, Guantánamo: My Journey, covering his five-year prison ordeal at Guantánamo from 2002 to 2007. He was released following conviction and served part of his sentence in Australia where he was banned from speaking to the media for one year. The book took two years to write and excerpts from it were published in Adelaide Now: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/extracts-from-david-hicks-memoir-guantanamo-bay-my-journey/story-e6frea83-1225939306465
As well as courting controversy for writing the book, the book is also currently being investigated to see whether it comes under the procedures of crime laws which would make it illegal for Mr. Hicks to profit from his conviction. However, as the process at Guantánamo Bay is illegal, it may not apply. The Australian police and courts are currently considering this issue.

The latest terrorist bomb threat story from Yemen is a further set back for the release of over 80 Yemeni prisoners still held at the prison camp. As well as constituting the single largest nationality of prisoners, most of them are also free to leave if they can find somewhere to go to. Following similar threats in late 2009/early 2010, the US suspended the return of Yemeni prisoners to their country. Only one has been released after the US government was ordered to by a federal court. Recently, the US prevented another prisoner whose release to Luxembourg it was negotiating after the man expressed his wish to return to his country even if he was sent to Luxembourg first. Yemen, which has now been added to the list of most dangerous countries in the world and a sponsor of international terrorism, is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a high infant mortality rate, one of the highest rates of malnutrition in the world and where many have to live without the most basic of essentials. The prisoners just want to return to their homes and their families and are now being held hostage at Guantánamo due to world events they clearly have nothing to do with.

Extraordinary rendition:
In early October, Reprieve announced that, along with other human rights NGOs in Pakistan, it was bringing legal action against the Pakistani government in the Lahore High Court on behalf of seven Pakistani nationals held prisoner indefinitely and without charge at Bagram, over its involvement in their kidnap, “rendition” and detention. Some of the prisoners have been held for years, one has been held there since he was 14 and others have been abused; all are held without knowing the reason why. They have limited contact with their families through the Red Cross and no access to lawyers.

In an unusual move, on 28 October, the head of MI6, Sir John Sawers, gave a first public talk about the work of his agency. In it, he stated that the UK was not involved in the use of torture but that it faced a “dilemma” over its use. He claimed that his agency always respects human rights. However, he criticised operational secrets of both the UK security services and foreign partners being made public in court cases, such as in the Binyam Mohamed case. While in the ongoing case brought by former Guantánamo prisoners from the UK, government lawyers urged the judiciary not to interfere in the executive’s role by seeking the disclosure of security secrets, Sawers felt it necessary to tell judges how to do their job by asking them to ban the disclosure of any secret evidence from the UK security services or the CIA. The involvement of the security services and senior officials in various ministries, including ministers, in torture in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, has already been clearly evidenced through the Binyam Mohamed case, the current Guantánamo case and the ongoing Chilcot Inquiry. Sir John Sawers also welcomed the forthcoming Gibson Inquiry into Britain’s involvement in “mistreatment” overseas but asked that any information concerning MI6 be kept confidential.

LGC Activities:
The October monthly Shut Down Guantánamo! on Friday 1 October was attended by 6 people. The next demonstration will be on Friday 5 November at 6-7pm outside the US Embassy, Grosvenor Square, W1A 1AE.

Many thanks to everyone who wrote to the prisoners released to Slovakia in August/September this year. Below is a message from Reprieve on their behalf. You can continue to write to the three prisoners by writing to Polly Rossdale, c/o Reprieve, PO Box 52742, London, EC4P 4WS:
Adel, Polad and Rafiq, the three men, former Guantanamo prisoners resettled in Slovakia, would like to send their salams and thanks to everyone who kindly sent them cards and letters of support.
It means a lot to them to know that people wish them well, especially after the difficult time they had when they first arrived in Slovakia.
The situation is getting better for them and they are beginning to enjoy their new lives after Guantanamo.
If anyone else would like to write to the men please send letters c/o Polly Rossdale at Reprieve.
Thank you, Chloe and Polly (‘Life After Guantanamo’ team at Reprieve)
For more on this action and the former prisoners in Slovakia:
http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com/2010/08/write-to-released-guantanamo-prisoners.html