LGC Newsletter – March 2011

LGC Newsletter – March 2011 NEWS: Guantánamo Bay: In early March, President Obama approved the resumption of military trials at Guantánamo Bay. Having pledged upon becoming president to close Guantánamo by early 2010 and allow civilian trials for prisoners, he has broken these promises and demonstrated that his administration has no intention to do either. Instead, he is keenly following the policies of his predecessor. In over nine years, only one prisoner has had a civilian trial. The shambolic trials held before military tribunals thus far, including that of child soldier Omar Khadr, have almost always resulted in plea bargains in which the defendant pleads guilty in return for a reduced sentence without any disclosure of any evidence against him or any real attempt to allow him to defend himself. The whole procedure is deeply unfair and flawed. Guilty pleas may arise as a result of the terms of the bargain, which are always kept secret, the possibility of early release, which often comes with conditions and does not ensure release at all, or the realisation that a fair trial at a Guantánamo Bay military court is impossible. Obama suspended the use of military trials on his first day as president when he signed an order for Guantánamo Bay to close by 22 January 2010. As well as lifting this suspension, he has now also signed an executive law to legalise the almost decade-long policy of indefinite arbitrary detention at Guantánamo Bay. Still expressing his verbal wish to see Guantánamo Bay close, his actions demonstrate otherwise. Amnesty International has issued the following relevant document: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR51/016/2011/en/2c6adc7b-f362-4120-b934-a6a0d4d17c6c/amr510162011en.pdf Extraordinary rendition: With the forthcoming Gibson Inquiry due to start proceedings soon, an inquiry whose stated aim is to “draw a line” under the past government’s policy of involvement in torture, new claims have emerged against the British government. A Kenyan national, accused of involvement in planning attacks in Uganda last year, was kidnapped and rendered to that country last summer, where he was held and tortured for two months, before being charged. He and his lawyers claimed that during that time he was questioned by an MI5 agent: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/30/uganda-kenya At the same time, former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf has stated that the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence services, had never been told by the British government – or that it had a policy to this effect – not to use torture when interrogating British nationals. Several claims have been made against the British government by individuals, both British and foreign nationals, while held in Pakistan. Furthermore, this month, the Foreign Office published guidance for all Foreign Office staff overseas on how to report torture or mistreatment they become aware of: http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/latest-news/?view=News&id=570338282 LGC Activities: Ten people attended the March Shut Down Guantánamo! Demonstration which was held in solidarity with American political and death row prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal. The next demonstration is at 12-1pm on Friday 1 April outside the US Embassy, Mayfair and then from 1.15-2.15pm at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park. This demonstration is in solidarity Bradley Manning, accused of illegally providing military information to Wikileaks. Please join us if you can. This month the LGC launched a new letter-writing campaign for Shaker Aamer: http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com/2011/03/sign-our-open-letter-to-president-obama.html Each month we will send a letter to the American president signed by UK nationals and residents to the let the American government know that we would like Mr Aamer back. In over 9 years of imprisonment, he has faced no charges and is unlikely to face a military tribunal. It is unclear why the US refuses to release him. More than 100 people from all over the UK added their names to the letter in March – thank you very much! If you have not yet added yours, please e-mail the LGC london.gtmo@gmail.com to do so. The LGC now has a new website: http://londonguantanamo.org.uk/ at which we hope to update information about our campaigns and actions regularly. The LGC can also be followed at: http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com/ and on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/London-Guant%C3%A1namo-Campaign/114010671973111

Press Release: Campaigners decry involvement of Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib interrogation firms in UK Census

Press Release - Friday, 25 March 2011 - For immediate release

The London Guantánamo Campaign [1] is concerned about the involvement in the upcoming UK-wide Census of two private companies that were contracted to carry out coercive prisoner interrogations at the notorious US military detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, Iraq. [2]

The latest ten-yearly Census will take place this weekend (27 March). It has drawn criticism from a range of peace and civil liberties campaigners opposed to the involvement of US-based military and intelligence agency contractors Lockheed Martin - one of the world’s largest military equipment manufacturers - and CACI - implicated in human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib. Concerns have also been expressed about the intrusiveness of the questions and issues of data confidentiality. [3]

Daniel Viesnik, from the London Guantánamo Campaign, commented:

“Members of the public with valid concerns about excessive state intrusion into their personal lives, or who may feel under particular suspicion by virtue of their ethnic, religious or political background, will be wary of completing the Census. The involvement of two private companies associated with coercive interrogations and other intelligence gathering on behalf of the US authorities will do nothing to allay those concerns, and will understandably result in many individuals choosing not to co-operate.”

ENDS

Notes to editor:
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.
http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com

2. The UK subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, USA was awarded a £150M contract to provide data capture and processing support services for the 2011 Census in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland.
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2008/0828_lmuk-2011-census.html

The UK subsidiary of CACI, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, USA, was awarded an £18.5M contract to provide census printing and data capture services in support of the 2011 Census in Scotland.
http://www.caci.co.uk/212.aspx

Links to articles relating to Lockheed Martin’s involvement at Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, and CACI’s involvement at Abu Ghraib:
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12757
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/06/scotland-census-abu-ghraib
http://www.alternet.org/books/149492/prophets_of_war%3A_how_defense_contractor_lockheed_martin_dominates_the_military_establishment

3. Further information on campaigns around the 2011 Census:
Lockheed Martin and the England and Wales, and Northern Ireland Census:
https://network23.org/countmeout
http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/2291/1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/feb/19/census-boycott-lockheed-martin
http://www.nocensustakingpart.co.uk/index.html
http://www.peacenewslog.info/2011/03/how-to-fill-in-your-census-form-without-lockheed-martin-profiting-long-version/

CACI and the Scotland Census:
http://www.ethicalcensus.org.uk
http://www.sacc.org.uk

Privacy and data confidentiality concerns:
http://www.no2id.net

Response from the FCO to LGC letter of 11 January 2011

On 11 January this year, as part of our actions to mark the ninth anniversary of Guantánamo Bay, the London Guantánamo Campaign (LGC) delivered a letter to the Prime Minister at Downing Street calling on the British government to take action over the closure of Guantánamo and to step up measures to see the illegal prison closed. The letter was signed by 75 individuals and representatives of organisations, including MEPs Baroness Sarah Ludford (Lib Dem) and Jean Lambert (Green) and MPs Caroline Lucas (Green) and John McDonnell (Labour). A short version of the letter was published in the Guardian newspaper on the same day. A further 200 signatures were collected on the same letter and posted to Downing Street later in the day during the LGC’s anniversary vigil.

We have now received a response to our letter from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) which is woefully inadequate in view of the ongoing detention without trial or charge of over 170 men for over nine years. The letter simply reiterates the same cut-and-paste points this government and its predecessor have churned out in correspondence over the past several years without addressing the concerns raised by campaigners. Contrary to what Ms Wilson claims, unlike many of its European counterparts, the UK has failed to accept any prisoners with no ties to this country and has failed, after more than 9 years, to secure the release of Shaker Aamer, who has a British family and the legal right to remain in the UK. All other European states have managed to repatriate their nationals and residents. It is unfortunate that this government does not wish to follow the good example set by other European states and accept other prisoners.

At the same time, the Obama administration has now confirmed its plans to move ahead with sham trials through military commissions and the indefinite detention of over 40 prisoners. This comes as no surprise with Obama’s record of broken promises over Guantánamo Bay. However such news is no comfort for the prisoners whose present and future remain hostage to the whims of an extra-legal system of arbitrary detention and abuse. Like Obama’s oral assurances at the time, the British government must go beyond its statements and substantiate its commitment to the closure of Guantánamo Bay through actions, such as those demanded in our letter. The LGC will respond to the FCO and invites those who signed the original letter to respond as well.

Sign our Open Letter to President Obama: Release Shaker Aamer

Open letter to President Obama from the British Public – We want Shaker Aamer back!

Please sign our open letter from the British public to the American president, demanding Shaker Aamer’s release from Guantánamo Bay and return to the UK.

Shaker Aamer is the last British resident held at Guantánamo Bay and has been held illegally without charge or trial for over nine years. As a result of organising prisoner protests, and standing up for his rights and those of his fellow prisoners, Shaker Aamer was held in continual solitary confinement for several years. He has never faced any charges, and the American government has never provided any explanation as to why it continues to hold him. According to a report in Harper's magazine in 2010, he was a witness to the murder of three prisoners who allegedly “committed suicide” in 2006.

172 prisoners remain at Guantánamo. The American government has no intention of closing the facility soon. The least it can do is allow Shaker Aamer to return to his family in the UK. The London Guantánamo Campaign asks all members of the British public, either in a personal capacity or as a representative of an organisation, political party, faith/social/political group, professional, etc. to sign our open letter to the American President Barack Obama demanding that he return Shaker Aamer to the United Kingdom immediately. Shaker Aamer’s reunion with his family, including the son he has never met, is already nine years too late.

If you would like to add your name to our open letter, which we will send to the American president at the end of each month with the list of signatories until we receive a favourable response, please send an e-mail with your name and town at least, and those of anyone else who wish to sign, to london.gtmo@gmail.com You can add the name of your organisation or group or any other information you wish to. The names of private individuals will be kept confidential.

---------------
Dear President Barack Obama,

We, the undersigned citizens and residents of the United Kingdom, write to you to urge you to release Shaker Aamer, a Saudi prisoner held at Guantánamo Bay for over nine years. Mr. Aamer is a legal resident of the United Kingdom and is married to a British woman with whom he has four children. We would like to see him returned immediately to his family in London.

Mr. Aamer has never been charged or tried and has been cleared for release. The British government does not deem him a threat and requested his return to this country in August 2007. This formal request was followed up recently by requests for his release made to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, and Foreign Secretary William Hague. A recently leaked cable from the US Embassy in London also shows that in 2009, British diplomats addressed a request for his release to your ambassador, stating that he would not be prosecuted upon return to the UK. This, and all other requests, have been ignored.

All British residents and nationals who returned to the UK in 2005-2009 have reintegrated back into their communities and into normal, peaceful lives. A member of your diplomatic mission to Luxembourg recently commended one of our former prisoners, Moazzam Begg, for his efforts to close Guantánamo Bay.

Like you, Mr. Aamer is a father. For the past nine years, for reasons unknown to him, his family, or us, he has been denied the opportunity to watch his children grow up, including his youngest son whom he has never met. Mr. Aamer’s family has suffered considerably in his absence, the reasons for which your administration is not prepared to disclose. Ironically, while you to continue to deny him the right to return to his family in London, it is in the very same area that he lived for years, and in which his family still live, that the new embassy of the United States will be located.

We, the British people, would like to see Mr. Aamer return to his family and his community immediately. We urge you to make whatever preparations are necessary to make that happen as soon as is possible. Nine years later, without due process or explanation, we believe this is the most reasonable demand we can make of you.

We look forward to your positive response and welcoming Shaker Aamer back to our country.

London Guantánamo Campaign

LGC Newsletter - February 2011

LGC Newsletter – February 2011

NEWS:
British Residents:
British resident Shaker Aamer has now been held at Guantánamo Bay without charge or trial for over 9 years.
On 4 February, a Wikileak cable published in the Daily Telegraph from the US Embassy in London in 2009 showed that British diplomats had raised Shaker Aamer’s case with the US ambassador and sought his return. Officials from the Foreign Office told the US Embassy that they did not believe that he would be prosecuted if returned to the UK or Saudi Arabia. The failure to release Shaker Aamer is largely due to the American administration.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wikileaks-files/london-wikileaks/8305176/SCT-AMBASSADOR-DAILEYS-MEETINGS-WITH-UK-OFFICIALS.html
On 5 February, the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign held a vigil outside Downing Street to mark the ninth anniversary of the illegal detention of Shaker Aamer at Guantánamo Bay. Around 40 people attended and were joined by Green MEP Jean Lambert and Kate Hudson from the CND. A letter demanding Shaker Aamer’s release was delivered to Downing Street. For a report and pictures of the demonstration:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/02/473533.html

Guantánamo Bay:
A seventh Guantánamo Bay prisoner has died in detention. Awal Gul, a 48 year old Afghan national, allegedly died of natural causes, most probably a heart attack on 3 February, after exercising. Held for over nine years without charge, the US accused Mr. Gul of being a member of the Taleban and supporting Al Qaeda but never brought any charges against him or produced any evidence to support these claims. His lawyers stated that they cannot know whether the stated cause of death is true. Mr. Gul left Guantánamo Bay in a coffin and was buried in Afghanistan on 7 February. More than 5000 people attended his funeral.
http://www.reprieve.org.uk/2011_02_04awalguldeathingitmo
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12361834
This month the Afghan government has been seeking the release of all Afghan prisoners held at Guantánamo, including a senior Taleban commander whose release could help to ease tensions in Afghanistan. There are currently over a dozen Afghan prisoners still held at Guantánamo Bay and it is likely that a delegation will visit the US to press for their release.

While Mohamed Riadh Nasri, a Tunisian prisoner transferred to Italy in 2009, was handed a 6-year sentence on 31 January for “criminal association with the aim of terrorism”, another Tunisian transferred along with him, Adel Ben Mabrouk, was released after his defence and the prosecution jointly pleaded that he had already spent eight years in Guantánamo and 18 months in jail in Italy prior to sentencing. He was given a two-year suspended sentence for associating with terrorists. However, following the recent upheaval in his native Tunisia, his future still remains uncertain.

Lawyers for Omar Khadr have filed papers seeking clemency from the military authorities at Guantánamo Bay so that he can spend a shorter time being held at the maximum security prison there and return to Canada earlier. Under the plea bargain and guilty plea reached in his case last autumn, Khadr must serve at least one year of his eight-year sentence at Guantánamo in a facility in which he is held in almost complete isolation.

The Obama administration notched up its third successive guilty plea in flawed military commission proceedings in mid-February when Sudanese prisoner Noor Othman Muhammad, in his 40s, pleaded guilty under a plea bargain which could see him released by 2015 and in which he must also testify in future cases against other prisoners. He “admitted” to working as a weapons trainer at terrorist training camps, supporting terrorism and conspiring with Al Qaeda. A lot of pressure is put on prisoners to plead guilty under these secret deals in kangaroo court proceedings and after nine years of arbitrary detention with no end in sight, a guilty plea may offer some glimpse of a chance of release from Guantánamo.

Extraordinary rendition:
In late January (27-31), Andrew Tyrie MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition appeared before the Information Tribunal to demand the disclosure of documents he had requested from the Ministry of Defence under the Freedom of Information Act. These documents concern the detention and transfer of detainees by British Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and may contain the names of individuals who have been rendered. The MoD has resisted making these documents public claiming it is expensive to do so and would undermine national security and relations with the US. Mr. Tyrie will continue to press for the disclosure of these documents as they are “important if we are to subject these and other allegations to scrutiny”.

On 4 February, German extraordinary rendition survivor Khaled El-Masri started proceedings in Macedonia against the government for its involvement in his kidnap and rendition. In 2003, in a case of mistaken identity, he was kidnapped while on holiday at the Macedonian border. He was held there for nearly a month before being taken to Afghanistan where he was tortured for four months. The experience has turned his life upside down, yet neither the American nor Macedonian governments have taken any responsibility for his ordeal. At the time, the US, Macedonia and Germany tried to play down what had happened. Similar proceedings were rejected by the US courts. He is suing the Macedonian government for €50,000 in damages and an apology. This case, which may last up to two years, is one of the very few opportunities any of the survivors or victims of extraordinary rendition have had to present their side of the story and seek justice in a court of law.

George Bush cancelled a trip to Switzerland in mid-February where he had been invited to deliver a speech for the United Israel Appeal, fearing that he may be arrested for war crimes or have to deal with demonstrations against him. Human rights groups in the country had been planning both. This would have been Bush’s first trip to Europe since outing himself as war criminal guilty of torture for having sanctioned the use of waterboarding. Human rights organisations had prepared a dossier of evidence for his arrest and instead presented it at a media event.

The forthcoming Gibson Inquiry into the involvement of the British intelligence services in torture, which may start hearing evidence as early as next month, is currently facing a boycott from several human rights NGOs. Nine organisations have been involved in talks with the three members of the inquiry panel concerning the structure of the inquiry, yet there are concerns that it will not meet the standards required under human rights law and may be little more than a pointless exercise with the very security agencies who are to be scrutinised continuing to insist on various information and hearings being kept secret. There are also fears that there will not be sufficient transparency and independence in the proceedings.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/feb/23/torture-inquiry-ngo-boycott-threat

Rangzieb Ahmed, 35, from Rochdale, currently serving a life sentence for terrorism-related offences had his appeal to have his conviction overturned rejected by the Court of Appeal after he argued that he had been tortured at the behest of MI5 in Pakistan. The court held that he had not been tortured but allowed him to appeal to the Supreme Court concerning MI5’s involvement in his case. Some parts of his hearing were held in secret and these were not all mentioned in the open judgment, nor were the points raised about his case by David Davis MP in parliament in 2009 all raised.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/feb/25/terrorist-torture-britain-pakistan-complicity-appeal

LGC Activities:
Ten people attended the February Shut Down Guantánamo! Demonstration which marked the fourth anniversary of our regular presence outside the embassy. The next demonstration is at 12-1pm on Friday 4 March outside the US Embassy, Mayfair and then from 1.15-2.15pm at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park. Please join us if you can.

""Extraordinary Rendition" has a human face, and it is mine"

Today, Khaled El-Masri, a German survivor of the CIA's extraordinary rendition programme will bring a court case against the Macedonian government seeking €50,000 in damages for his torture and abuse and an apology. Similar claims were rejected in the US and Germany. The US has never openly admitted involvement in his ordeal, however the recent Wikileaks showed that diplomats in the US and Germany did their best to keep the story out of the news at the time, in 2004. The case is expected to last at least two years and is one of the few windows of opportunity for some form of justice for the victims of this extra-legal regime. Please read his moving story below in his own words.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5geF4kmsvelogYuvSyKhSVQbizplg?docId=5851097

Also today, former Australian prisoner and survivor of extraordinary rendition, Mamdouh Habib, addressed an anti-Mubarak rally in his town of Brisbane. Mr. Habib recently reached an out-of-court settlement with the Australian government, although Prime Minister Julia Gillard is to launch an inquiry into Australia’s role in his kidnap and torture. Mr. Habib said he would use the undisclosed amount he received under the settlement to sue the Egyptian and American governments for torturing him. He also states that the new Egyptian vice-president Omar Suleiman was personally present on at least one occasion when he tortured. Of Egyptian origin, Mamdouh Habib was rendered from Pakistan to Afghanistan, Egypt and then on to Guantánamo Bay. Omar Suleiman has been closely linked to the CIA programme since the mid-1990s when he helped the Clinton administration design and implement it.


Here is Khaled El-Masri’s public statement about his ordeal (and as read by George Saunders http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/4051/prmID/1873):

The US policy of "extraordinary rendition" has a human face, and it is mine.

I was born in Kuwait and raised in Lebanon. In 1985, I fled to Germany in search of a better life. I became a citizen and started my own family. I have five children.

On December 31, 2003, I took a bus from Germany to Macedonia. When we arrived, Macedonian agents confiscated my passport and detained me for 23 days. I was not allowed to contact anyone.

I was forced to record a video saying I had been treated well. I was handcuffed, blindfolded and taken to a building where I was severely beaten. My clothes were sliced from my body with a knife or scissors, and my underwear was forcibly removed. I was thrown to the floor, my hands pulled behind me, a boot placed on my back.

When my blindfold was removed, I saw men dressed in black wearing ski masks. I was put in a diaper, a belt with chains to my wrists and ankles, earmuffs, eye pads, a blindfold, and a hood. I was thrown into a plane, my legs and arms spread-eagled and secured to the floor. I felt two injections and became nearly unconscious. I felt the plane take off, land, and take off.

When we landed again, I was beaten and left in a dirty and cold concrete cell with a bottle of putrid water. I was taken to an interrogation room where I saw men dressed in the same black clothing and ski masks as before. They stripped and photographed me and took blood and urine samples. I was returned to the cell.

The following night my interrogations began. They asked me if I knew why I had been detained. I did not. They told me I was now in a country with no laws, and did I understand what that meant?

They asked me many times whether I knew the men who were responsible for the September 11th attacks, if I had traveled to Afghanistan, and if I associated with certain people in Germany. I told the truth: that I had never been in Afghanistan and had never been involved in any extremism. I asked repeatedly to meet with a representative of the German government, or a lawyer, or to be brought before a court. My requests were ignored.

In desperation, I began a hunger strike. After 27 days without food, I was taken to meet with two Americans — the prison director and another man, referred to as “the Boss.” I pleaded with them to release me or bring me before a court, but the prison director replied that he could not release me without permission from Washington. He also said he believed I should not be detained in the prison.

After 37 days without food, I was dragged to the interrogation room, where a feeding tube was forced through my nose into my stomach. I became extremely ill.

I was taken to meet an American who said he had traveled from Washington and who promised I would soon be released. I was also visited by a German-speaking man who explained that I would be allowed to return home but warned that I was never to mention what had happened because the Americans were determined to keep it secret.

Almost five months after I was kidnapped, I was again blindfolded, handcuffed and chained to an airplane seat. I was told we would land in a country other than Germany, but that I would eventually get to Germany.

After we landed I was driven into the mountains. My captors removed my handcuffs and blindfold and told me to walk down a dark, deserted path and not look back. I was afraid I would be shot in the back.

I turned a bend and encountered three men who asked why I was illegally in Albania. They took me to the airport, where I bought a ticket home (my wallet had been returned to me). I had long hair, a beard, and had lost 60 pounds. My wife and children had gone to Lebanon, believing I had abandoned them. We are now together again in Germany.

I still do not know why this happened to me. I have been told that the American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, confirmed in a meeting with the German chancellor that my case was a "mistake" — and that American officials later denied she said this. No one from the American government has ever contacted me or offered me any explanation or apology for the pain they caused me.

LGC Newsletter - January 2011

NEWS:

Guantánamo Bay:
Former Australian prisoner Mamdouh Habib has dropped his case against the Australian government for its complicity in his torture and rendition. Arrested in Pakistan shortly after 9/11, he was held and tortured in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Egypt before being taken to Guantánamo Bay. He was released without charge in 2005. In 2006, he started proceedings against the Australian government, which sought to prevent this, but was last year given the right to bring his case and sue the government. He alleges that Australian agents were present when he was tortured during interrogations. In a similar move to the British government, the case was dropped after a confidential, out-of-court settlement was reached between the parties. Similarly as well, the Australian government does not accept liability for the claims that it was complicit in his torture.

On 6 January, a second Algerian prisoner was forcibly returned to his country. Saeed Farhi Mohammed, 49, was returned to the country even though he had expressed fears about possible further arbitrary detention and torture there. A federal judge ordered his release in November 2009 and held that his detention was illegal. In a similar situation to Ahmed Belbacha, having also been held at Guantánamo Bay for over eight years and having lived in the UK, he appealed against his return to Algeria. Like Ahmed, this was temporarily prevented, however since last year, as with the several other Algerian prisoners in the same situation, he was at risk of being returned at any time. Although his appeal is still pending before the US Supreme Court, he was sent to Algeria nonetheless. There has been no news of his situation since his return there. 173 prisoners remain.
More on this news:
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/01/06/us-stop-returns-guantanamo-detainees-fearing-mistreatment

On 11 January, another Algerian prisoner, Abdul Razak Ali, captured in Pakistan in 2002, had his habeas corpus petition rejected. He had been seeking a court order for his release on the basis of mistaken identity, that he had been mistaken for an Al-Qaeda member, but this was rejected by the court.

January 2011 marked two important anniversaries in the current incarnation of Guantánamo Bay: 11 January marked the entry into the tenth year of its operation as an illegal torture and arbitrary detention camp and 22 January marked the first anniversary of President Obama’s order to have the prison closed by early 2010, in one of his first acts as president. Since then, with the small number of prisoners released, continuing allegations of torture at the prison and the recent law passed in Congress to prevent the transfer of any more prisoners to the US mainland until at least October 2011, it is very clear that there is no political will or desire whatsoever to close Guantánamo Bay. President Obama’s office is allegedly working on plans to provide a legal structure for the continuing and indefinite detention without charge or trial of at least 50 of the prisoners who cannot be tried. The almost non-existent column space and air time given to this important issue over the past month show that in international and domestic political circles, this is no longer an issue of concern. That Guantánamo Bay and the illegal apparatus that come along with it will remain open and operational is now a given.

On 25 January, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, 36, who was convicted in November of one out of 285 charges against him linking him to the bombing of US embassies in east Africa in 1998, was handed a life sentence. He was found guilty of conspiracy to damage US property. Earlier in the month, lawyers representing him had pleaded for clemency in his sentencing as he had been tortured and “disappeared” for two years into CIA-run torture prisons, however when sentencing, Judge Kaplan stated that his claims of mistreatment “pales in comparison to the suffering and the horror he and his confederates caused”. Eric Holder, the US Attorney General, took the opportunity of his sentencing, to commend the work of the US civilian courts, as he is still in favour of civilian trials for prisoners as opposed to the military commissions which have since been promoted following the success of this hearing. He is now likely to be held at a super-max facility in the US. Gross abuses of prisoners are rife within the US domestic prison system as well.
For more on this news:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12279533

Mohamed Riadh Nasri, a Tunisian prisoner who, along with two other prisoners, was transferred to Italy in 2009, was handed a 6-year sentence on 31 January for “criminal association with the aim of terrorism”. Along with two other prisoners, he had been sent to Italy where they were wanted for prosecution. He had previously lived in Italy. Upon arrival in the country, the three men were held at the notorious Macomer Prison in Sardinia.

Extraordinary rendition:
In spite of the out-of-court settlement between the British government and former Guantánamo prisoners in November 2010, the case was brought to the Supreme Court on 24-26 January as several media and non-governmental organisations (BBC/The Guardian/The Times/Liberty/Justice) are bringing a case against MI5 and MI6 for attempting, in this case, to have evidence heard in secret without the knowledge of the claimants or their legal representatives. This would have involved the use of a “special advocate” system such as is in place for control order and national security deportation cases in which specially-vetted lawyers represent the claimants instead without any access to them. The security agencies argue that no intelligence obtained from abroad, through torture or otherwise, should ever be heard in court. However, last year the High Court held that such a move would undermine a claimant’s right to know what the evidence against them is.
In the light of the embarrassment of the Binyam Mohamed case last year, the government will propose a green paper later this year to restrict, if not to withhold completely, the disclosure of intelligence evidence in court.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/jan/24/guantanamo-inmates-supreme-court-battle%20

LGC Activities:
The LGC held a silent vigil in Trafalgar Square at lunchtime on 11 January to mark the solemn ninth anniversary of the opening of the prison camp in solidarity with the prisoners still held there, including Shaker Aamer. This was preceded by the delivery of a letter, with PeaceStrike, to Downing Street signed by over 75 organisations and individuals demanding that the British government step up its action to help close Guantánamo and the immediate release and return to the UK of Shaker Aamer. The LGC has received official acknowledgement of its letter. A shorter version of the letter was published in the Guardian newspaper on the same day.
Over 70 people attended the vigil which was a bright and colourful display that attracted a lot of attention on a grey day against the wonderful backdrop of the National Gallery. The LGC thanks everyone who attended and made this event a success.
For a report with some pictures:
http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com/2011/01/gone-beyond-words-nine-years-of.html
With more pictures:
https://indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/01/471955.html
Videos of the event (both around 3 minutes):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSkpCSv-o7U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb2wuVn998Q

To mark the first anniversary of President Obama’s broken promise to close Guantánamo Bay by early 2010, the LGC had the following comment piece published on Open Democracy:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/aisha-maniar/one-year-anniversary-of-obama%E2%80%99s-broken-promise-to-shut-guantanamo-bay

There was no monthly Shut Down Guantánamo! Demonstration in January. The next demonstration is at 6pm on Friday 4 February outside the US Embassy, Mayfair. It will mark the fourth anniversary of our regular demonstrations (first weekly and now monthly) outside the US Embassy. Please join us if you can. Guantánamo Bay must close and the remaining prisoners, like Shaker Aamer, and their families must be reunited. This will only happen through increased public pressure.
We also urge you to join the demonstration outside Downing Street on Saturday 5 February at 12pm to mark the ninth anniversary of Shaker Aamer’s illegal imprisonment at Guantánamo Bay.

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.