Solidarity Vigil
As we have done every year since 2010, the London Guantánamo
Campaign held a vigil in solidarity with victims and survivors of torture
everywhere on Friday 26 June to mark UN International Day in Support of Victims
of Torture. The silent vigil, held in Trafalgar Square on a busy Friday evening
was attended by around 40 people and supported by the Save Shaker Aamer
Campaign.
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| Noel Hamel (centre) with the banner he made for this event) |
One of dozens of events held worldwide to mark this
important date, the theme this year is the right to
rehabilitation. This involves a number of factors to help restore survivors
to the situation they were in – physically, mentally, psychologically,
materially – prior to being tortured as best as is possible. It covers a
variety of means such as compensation, physical rehabilitation, therapy,
justice and guarantees it will not happen again. Although a human right, many
victims do not receive any such treatment or facilities.
The right to rehabilitation was highlighted at the vigil
with placards, leaflets handed out with information on the issue and banners
mentioning the relevant UN articles on rehabilitation for torture victims. Although
usually very well received and supported by the general public, increasing
misinformation and propaganda in the mainstream media over various issues has
left quite a few people confused about what torture is and who torture victims
are.
Right to Rehabilitation and Guantánamo Prisoners*
The right to rehabilitation is a major issue for both former
and the remaining 112 Guantánamo prisoners. All are survivors of torture both
at the prison camp and in other US military and CIA-run facilities. The release
at the end of 2014 of a redacted version of the US Senate report into CIA
torture under the so-called War on Terror has shed further light on the abuses
and inhumane practices prisoners – the vast majority of whom have never been
charged or tried – have been subjected to. 
Earlier this month, gruesome details were published of the
torture faced by Majid
Khan who after being kidnapped in Pakistan in 2003 was held at secret CIA
torture prisons between 2003 and 2006 until being taken to Guantánamo Bay. Earlier
this year, lawyers
for one of the defendants facing trial for alleged involvement in the September
11 2001 attacks revealed details of the torture their client suffered through
CIA torture and from which he still suffers due to inadequate medical care,
including the inability to sit down comfortably due to rape.
Few prisoners have ever received adequate medical care at
Guantánamo Bay. It was only in 2014 that Omar
Khadr, held at Guantánamo Bay for over a decade, and released to his native
Canada in 2012 finally received treatment for a shoulder
injury he sustained in 2002. A former Russian
prisoner, released in 2004, still has a bullet lodged in his thigh from an
injury in an Afghan prison in 2001 due to inadequate care at Guantánamo and in
Russia.
In addition, the response to prisoners protesting their
indefinite detention through hunger strikes has been met with more torture
through force-feeding. The long-term effects of such action on the body are not
dealt with and can lead to further health complications later on. The US must
provide the prisoners it is currently holding with adequate medical care and
also expedite periodic reviews of prisoners held without charge or trial, deemed
“forever prisoners”, as a means of rehabilitation.
For prisoners who are released, rehabilitation can remain a challenge.
With the current drive to empty Guantánamo by the Obama administration, over
the past year, many of those released have been sent to third countries due to insecurity
and war in their own countries of origin. As the US washes its hands of
prisoners as soon as they are released, some can find themselves facing
almost-complete isolation and poverty in their new surroundings. In May
2015, a former prisoner released to Kazakhstan
at the end of 2014 died of kidney failure due to inadequate medical care at
Guantánamo and after his release.
While the US is applauded for prisoner
releases, not much emphasis is put on the often precarious situations former
prisoners find themselves in post-release. The US must ensure that all
prisoners are released to countries where they are safe and their physical and
moral integrity is not compromised. They must be guaranteed the right to
rehabilitation, including legal, medical and financial assistance.
The London Guantánamo Campaign remains committed to ensuring
justice for all Guantánamo prisoners. While we emphasised how this issue
affects Guantánamo prisoners, it relates closely as well to all prisoners who
have been and are the subject of extraordinary rendition, an ongoing programme
by the CIA.
Media of the event:
* These issues were raised at a meeting held in the UK
parliament on Tuesday 23 June 2015 on the case of British resident and Guantánamo
prisoner Shaker Aamer by Aisha Maniar, organiser of the London Guantánamo
Campaign
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