NEWS:
British Residents:
Shaker Aamer has brought a case before the Investigatory Powers Tribunal
against the security services for their ongoing involvement in his detention at
Guantánamo Bay. The case concerns untrue defamatory comments made about him by
the security services which continue to provide the basis of his detention and
their involvement in his interrogations in 2002 when he was held at Bagram in
Afghanistan.
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| September monthly demonstration, at Marble Arch |
Guantánamo Bay:
Two former Algerian prisoners, Nabil Hadjarab,
34, and Mouati Sayab, 37, who returned to the country after being released from
Guantánamo Bay on 28 August were released from jail under “judicial
supervision”, a form of supervised parole on 5 September, having been detained
upon their return:
In a meeting between Barack Obama and the Emir of Kuwait in Washington
on 13 September, the Kuwaiti leader raised the issue of the continuing
detention without charge or trial of two Kuwaiti nationals, Fayiz Al Kandari and Fawzi Al Odah. He
called on the US President to speed up the process of releasing them as part of
his commitment to close Guantánamo. During the visit, it was agreed that a
Kuwaiti delegation would visit Washington and Guantánamo to discuss the two
men’s cases. Previous stipulations for the men to be returned, such as the
building of a $40 million rehabilitation centre in Kuwait that remains unused,
have all been met by the Kuwaiti government.
Briefings were also given in September to the Kuwaiti parliament and
ministers concerning efforts by a special committee on the “Kuwaiti Hostages in
Guantánamo”.
The ongoing pre-trial hearings in the case of five men accused of
involvement in the 11 September 2001 attacks in New York resumed on 16
September and were immediately hampered by a number of problems, including a
sick defence lawyer and interruptions by the defendants demanding they be
allowed to speak. The hearing was then adjourned until Wednesday 18 September,
when it resumed to consider whether or not the pre-trial hearings should be
adjourned until next year to sort out some technical issues with computers and
secure communications. The judge will make his decision later on this matter.
Before the hearing, it was revealed that in a secret hearing in August,
the judge had made a secret judgment to not allow evidence to be withheld from
the defendants and their counsel by the US government. This was the first
secret hearing in this case, for which the courtroom was emptied of the public
and defendants and the judgment itself is heavily redacted.
Omar Khadr, 27, who returned from Guantánamo Bay to Canada on 29
September last year, where he remains detained in a maximum security jail, had
his first ever hearing in a proper court of law on 23 September, when he
appeared before an Edmonton court to consider whether he should be moved from a
maximum security jail to a provincial prison, in view of the offences that he
was convicted of at Guantánamo Bay took place when he was a minor and that such
a facility would be more conducive to his reintegration into society.
Supporters held a demonstration outside the court and over 120 pro-Omar Khadr
supporters crowded the courtroom to show their support, an emotional event for
many as it was the first they and Khadr came face to face. Omar Khadr did not
address the court or his supporters but his lawyer Dennis Edney spoke outside.
The judge has reserved judgment on the matter until a later date. This hearing
is the first on the road to securing justice for Omar Khadr.
On 24 September, the US military which was slow to report the existence
of a mass hunger strike at Guantánamo Bay declared that it was over with the
number of prisoners on hunger strike stabilising at 18 with 17 force fed for
the past few weeks. The US military said it will no longer provide updates on
the hunger strike. Lawyers for the prisoners who have visited recently say that
conditions have largely returned to how they were prior to the hunger strike. Six
prisoners had been on long-term hunger strike before this action started in
February. The hunger strike was met with heavy-handed and repressive measures,
including solitary confinement, physical searches of prisoners, deprivation of
personal items, and nasal-tube force feeding among others. The hunger strike
did achieve some of its objectives, forcing Barack Obama to revisit his broken
promises to close Guantánamo, but more needs to be done to ensure that the
remaining 164 prisoners are released and the prison closed.
Extraordinary Rendition
The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks marked the twelfth anniversary of the 11 September 2001
attacks by calling on the 47 members of the Council of Europe to be held
accountable for their involvement in the CIA’s extraordinary rendition
programme following the attacks, reflecting on “the anti-terrorist response
adopted by the USA and Europe. By allowing unlawful detentions and
interrogation techniques amounting to torture, this response caused further
suffering and violated human rights law.” He called for a full investigation,
for states to re-open investigations and not allow secrecy laws to prevent them
from disclosing what they know or affording impunity to state officials.
Following a failure to respond by European Union states to a resolution
passed by the European Parliament on 11 September 2012 on complicity in
extraordinary rendition, updating an earlier European Parliament report and calling
for mechanisms to be set up to ensure accountability, the European Parliament
set up on 4 September a new motion calling for accountability and
investigations by member states.
A former CIA chief, who is wanted in Italy, having been convicted of
involvement in the 2003 extraordinary rendition to Egypt, via Italy and
Germany, of Milan-based Sheikh Hassan Mustafa Osama
Nasr, has asked the country to pardon him. In July, Robert Seldon Lady was
briefly detained in Panama pending possible extradition to Italy to serve his
sentence, handed down in absentia. He apparently did not realise that the
conviction made him a fugitive and he could be extradited to Italy at any time
to serve his 9-year sentence. He also claims that he was told that what he was
doing at the time was legal.
On 16 September, three habeas corpus cases were brought before the DC
Circuit Court in Washington concerning prisoners held without charge or trial
at Bagram in Afghanistan. The right to know why you are detained (known as
habeas corpus) afforded to Guantánamo prisoners is not granted to prisoners at
Bagram. Having handed the prison over to the Afghan authorities last year, the
US military continues to hold and control the detention of 57 prisoners, mainly
foreigners. The court has been asked to consider whether or not they can
challenge their detention by bringing habeas corpus cases, to know why they are
being held, which has worked for some Guantánamo prisoners. The cases were
dismissed last year but the prisoners have been allowed to appeal. One case
involves a prisoner who was detained at the age of14 and was a minor at the
time. None of the individuals involved know why they are detained.
One of the lawyers, Eric Lewis, defending his client Amanatullah wrote the
following him and the bizarre “legal” conditions that justify continued
detention at Bagram: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/09/kafka-in-bagram.htm
Amnesty International has called on Lithuania to reopen its
investigation, closed in 2011, into its operation of torture prisons for the
CIA. It emerged in September that another prisoner, Mustafa Al-Hamsawi, a
45-year old Saudi national currently held at Guantánamo Bay and one of the
defendants in the 9/11 case was held there and tortured at some point between
2004 and 2006. A complaint was filed on his behalf with the Lithuanian
authorities on 13 September.
British extraordinary rendition victim Mahdi Hashi has been on hunger
strike in the US since August in protest at the harsh conditions of detention
he faces there. Hashi, 23, moved with his family to the UK from Somalia aged 7
and acquired British nationality. He returned to live in Somalia and
“disappeared” there last year. Shortly before his “disappearance”, he had his
British citizenship removed without explanation, which he is currently fighting
in the UK courts, and had been harassed by MI5 to work for it. He then
resurfaced months later in US custody, charged with involvement in terrorism
offences, for which he is currently detained in solitary confinement awaiting
trial.
LGC Activities:
The September monthly
“Shut Down Guantánamo!” demonstration was held on 5 September. Nine people
joined the protest. One of the protesters at this month’s demonstration was
Mavis Condon from the Raised Voices choir who sang a song she penned a few
years ago called “Time to Close Guantánamo”.
The October
demonstration will be at 12-1pm outside the US Embassy and 1.15-2.15pm outside
Speaker’s Corner, opposite Marble Arch, Hyde Park, on Thursday 3 October: https://www.facebook.com/events/525278384218245/
This month’s demonstration will be in
solidarity with Mahdi Hashi, British extraordinary rendition victim on hunger
strike in the US and British citizens Talha Ahsan and Babar Ahmad who were
extradited to the US on 5 October 2012.
The London Guantánamo Campaign has started to
work on its action to mark the 12th anniversary of Guantánamo Bay
opening in January 2014. If you are interested in getting involved in any way,
please let us know. We would appreciate your support.
