NEWS:
British Residents:
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| LGC monthly demo, 7 November |
Shaker Aamer’s wife, father-in-law and daughter met with Foreign
Secretary William Hague in early November to discuss progress on efforts to
release him to the UK. Mr Hague wrote to Shaker Aamer last month; he has
received the letter and replied. His MP Jane Ellison has also recently met
American ambassador Matthew Barzun to discuss cooperation on his case.
On 17 November, CBS TV show 60 Minutes showed interviews and
footage of Guantánamo Bay http://www.cbsnews.com/news/life-at-gitmo/
which included Shaker Aamer shouting out to reporters: “Please we are tired. Either you leave us to die in peace or either
tell the world the truth. Open up the place, let the world come and visit!” He also added: “You
cannot walk even half a metre without being chained. Is that a human being? That's
the treatment of an animal.”
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| rally for Shaker Aamer |
The Save Shaker Aamer Campaign held a march and rally for Shaker Aamer
to mark 12 years of his detention in Battersea on 23 November. Several dozen
people joined the march and the rally was well attended, with speakers
including politicians John McDonnell MP, MEP Jean Lambert and a representative
from Jane Ellison MP’s office, journalists Victoria Brittain and Andy
Worthington, and organisations such as the CND and STWC. Aisha Maniar from the
LGC addressed the rally, singling out the media for its failure to report on
Shaker Aamer’s case or what happens at Guantánamo Bay, and its partial and
inaccurate reporting when it does. The rally was poorly attended by mainstream
media, who are largely responsible for the fact that few people know about
Shaker Aamer’s plight and that of the other 163 prisoners.
Media from the day:
Guantánamo Bay:
Although the US military officially declared
the mass hunger strike at Guantánamo Bay to have ended in September, having
fallen to 11 prisoners on hunger strike and being force fed at the beginning of
this month, that number has recently started to rise again to 15, all of whom
are being force fed, according to the Miami Herald newspaper, which has
been tracking the hunger strike:
A new report, Ethics Abandoned, published
on 4 November by a 20-person independent panel of health experts accused
doctors and psychologists working in the US military and CIA detention centres
of having “violated standard ethical principles and
medical standards to avoid infliction of harm. The Task Force on Preserving
Medical Professionalism in National Security Detention Centers (see attached)
concludes that since September 11, 2001, the Department of Defense (DoD) and
CIA improperly demanded that U.S. military and intelligence agency health
professionals collaborate in intelligence gathering and security practices in a
way that inflicted severe harm on detainees in U.S. custody.”
The report lists practices that include the “designing, participating in, and enabling torture and cruel,
inhumane and degrading treatment”
of prisoners, and recommends that medical practitioners follow professional
codes of ethics and that their professional and governing bodies strengthen
their commitment to such ethics.
Former prisoners Australian David Hicks and
Canadian Omar Khadr, who were both convicted by a military tribunal, have
formally started proceedings to appeal their convictions in the US courts. David
Hicks was held at Guantánamo Bay for 5 years and was convicted on material
support charges, which last year a US federal appeals court found to be a
retroactive application of a law that did not exist at the time, in the
successful appeal filed by former Bin Laden driver, Salim Hamdan.
Omar Khadr, the only person since World War II
to have been convicted before a war crimes tribunal for offences committed as a
minor, was held in Guantánamo Bay for almost 10 years, before being released to
Canada in September 2012, where he is serving the rest of his sentence. Hicks
too was detained upon his return to Australia and the governments of both
Commonwealth countries were complicit in the prolonged ordeal of their citizens
at Guantánamo Bay. Both men argue that a plea bargain was their only way out of
Guantánamo Bay. Hicks has argued that he entered an “Alford plea” whereby, in
US law, he pleaded guilty to an offence in a criminal court but he did not admit
the act and asserts his innocence. David Hicks spoke about his case and the
lasting impact of Guantánamo to Australian TV:
Although in Hicks’ case, the court has allowed
the case fully, Khadr’s case could drag on for much longer as the court has
asked first for consideration of whether or not the case can even be brought,
given that part of the plea bargain was that he would not appeal the secret
deal. Although Hicks’ case involved a similar clause, his lawyers claim it was
not binding.
As well as launching this US appeal, Omar Khadr
has launched an appeal in the Canadian courts against the decision not to
transfer him to a federal prison. He has been held in maximum security
facilities since his return to the country. His lawyer, Dennis Edney, is appealing
on the basis that the judge ““erred in his
interpretation” of International Transfer of Offenders Act when he denied
Khadr’s request to be transferred to a provincial jail”. Khadr’s lawyers argue that his detention is
illegal as he committed the offences as a minor and his detention should be
considered on that basis.
Award-winning jazz musician, composer and
singer Esperanza Spalding has released a new music video “We Are America” in
response to the ongoing abuse of prisoners and the hunger strike at Guantánamo
Bay. In the video, she is joined by fellow musicians Stevie Wonder, Janelle
Morae and Harry Belafonte. You can hear her catchy message for justice and
freedom here, and read an interview in which she explains why she recorded the
track: https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/watch-esperanza-spalding-protests-guantanamo-injustice-new-music-video
Some political progress has been made on
closing Guantánamo this month with the recently appointed envoys for the
closure of Guantánamo Clifford Sloan and Paul Lewis visiting the facility and
on 25 November, the US Senate passed amendments to the military authorisation
bill that would make it easier for Barack Obama to transfer prisoners to the US
and abroad.
Following years of similar reports, it has now
been admitted that the CIA ran a secret prison within Guantánamo called “Penny
Lane”, after the Beatles’ song, which served as a facility to turn prisoners
into double agents working for the CIA after early release.
Extraordinary Rendition
The African Commission of Human Rights heard its
first court case concerning extraordinary rendition on 1 November. Sitting in
Gambia, and hearing a case brought before the court against Djibouti by a
Yemeni national, 49-year old businessman Mohammed Abdullah Saleh al-Asad, who
was kidnapped in Tanzania (where he resided) in 2003, “rendered” and tortured
by CIA interrogators in Djibouti and Afghanistan, before being returned to
Yemen in 2005 after the CIA realised he has no connections to terrorism. The
Yemeni authorities continued to hold him until mid-2006.
Similar to the
cases of Abu Zubaydah and Abd Al-Nashiri, both currently facing trial and
potentially the death penalty at Guantánamo Bay, against Poland for torture and
facilitating rendition, which will be heard on 3 December by the European Court
of Human Rights (ECtHR), such courts offer the only avenue for victims to seek
redress. Such actions would be impossible against the US directly, in view of
the “state secrets doctrine”, which would block any case being brought.
Instead, victims are resorting to courts with broader jurisdictions to make
claims against states that colluded with the US. States such as Poland have
repeated refused to and/or failed to investigate their own collusion in crimes
against humanity. An application by Poland in October to have parts of the
cases heard in closed, secret session was turned down by the ECtHR. However, “the
court will hold an additional hearing, behind closed doors, a day earlier, the
spokeswoman said, adding that the proceedings of that hearing "are
confidential, and no public statement will be made about their nature or
content."”
LGC Activities:
The November monthly
“Shut Down Guantánamo!” demonstration was held on 7 November. Seven people
joined the protest. The December 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 5 December: https://www.facebook.com/events/268246853323758/
On 12 November, Dan Viesnik from the LGC
contributed to an Islam Channel programme, “Analysis” on medical ethics and
torture in US military detention facilities, alongside Polly Rossdale from
Reprieve and Makbool Javaid from Cageprisoners:
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| Cakes donated to LGC by a supporter |
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| Cakes donated to LGC by a supporter |
At the rally for Shaker Aamer on 23 November,
at the LGC stall,
supporters of our campaign made and donated cakes for sale, as well as some
artworks, which helped us to raise around £100 for our campaign. The LGC is a
self-funded organisation and any donations – of funds/time – to our completely
voluntary work are much appreciated.
The LGC has now announced details of its
demonstration to mark 12 years of the opening of Guantánamo Bay on Saturday 11
January:
https://www.facebook.com/events/246710665485484/
