LGC Newsletter – February 2013

NEWS:

British Residents:

February 14 marked the eleventh anniversary of Shaker Aamer’s imprisonment at Guantánamo Bay. The anniversary was marked on 13 February by the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign (SSAC) with a vigil in Parliament Square in the afternoon. Several dozen people attended. They were joined by MPs Sadiq Khan, Jane Ellison, John McDonnell and Caroline Lucas. Activists wore orange jumpsuits and held placards calling for Shaker Aamer’s release and return to the UK. A letter was delivered by the SSAC to the Prime Minister David Cameron to coincide with the anniversary.

http://www.demotix.com/news/1794251/guant-namo-protest-free-shaker-aamer#media-1794197

On 14 February, Amnesty International marked the anniversary by delivering a petition with 20,000+ signatures to the US Embassy in London demanding US President Barack Obama release Shaker Aamer: http://www2.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/urgent-action-network-blog/20674-reasons-bring-shaker-aamer-home All the signatures were collected within a month with an additional 30,000 collected by Amnesty USA.

Names can still be added to the petition for Shaker Aamer’s release to David Cameron: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/33133 This petition can be signed until 20 April 2013; 100,000 signatures on the petition will lead to a debate on this issue in Parliament.

Guantánamo Bay:

In spite of the military commission system at Guantánamo Bay comprehensively having fallen apart over the past few months with the rulings in the Hamdan and Al-Bahlul cases to overturn convictions - due to the retroactivity of the charges (offences did not exist in law at the time they were committed) and as some charges are not recognised war crimes - the Pentagon has pressed ahead with pre-trial hearings this month.

Abd Al-Nashiri, a victim of extraordinary rendition kidnapped in the UAE in 2002, whose story was covered in the LGC’s “All Roads Lead to Guantánamo” action in January and who currently has cases pending against Poland and Romania for its involvement in his torture, was the first to have his pre-trial hearings resume in the first week of February. He is accused of having masterminded attacks on American military vessels in the Gulf in the early 2000s and faces the death penalty. During the pre-trial hearings, motions were dropped for the case to be halted as the defence claims that the CIA had listened in to private conversations between Al-Nashiri and his lawyers. The judge, however, allowed a doctor with expertise in dealing with torture victims to give video evidence on how Al-Nashiri should be examined in a pre-trial medical examination that will determine whether he is fit to stand trial. A CIA report has admitted that he was waterboarded and threatened with a drill to make him confess. At a pre-trial hearing last year, he was even physically unable to sit at his trial due to the pain of the injuries he suffered during the four years that he “disappeared” into CIA secret jails. His defence lawyers claim he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The pre-trial hearing is likely to resume in mid-April.

Pre-trial hearings also resumed in the case of five men accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks in New York in September 2001. This case, which is also heavily affected by the Hamdan ruling last year, continued its controversial path when it was discovered that the CIA listened in to confidential meetings between the defendants and their lawyers (in the guise of smoke detectors in meeting rooms - spying on such meetings is illegal). Lawyers also complained that the defendants had confidential legal documents removed from their cells during cell inspections, as well as books and other personal items. All of this had led defence lawyers to question whether they are being prevented from fulfilling their duties. The system applied at the military commissions is a new system that is untested and is being made up as the trials progress. In view of the use of torture evidence and the clear lack of fairness in the proceedings, the trials cannot be considered more than show trials. Pre-trial hearings in this case are also due to resume in April.

Extraordinary rendition:

On 5 February, Open Society Foundations published an important new report on extraordinary rendition and international collusion in it. The report “is the most comprehensive account yet assembled of the human rights abuses associated with CIA secret detention and extraordinary rendition operations. It details for the first time what was done to the 136 known victims, and lists the 54 foreign governments that participated in these operations. It shows that responsibility for the abuses lies not only with the United States but with dozens of foreign governments that were complicit.”

The United Kingdom is included among that list of countries: “The U.K. government assisted in the extraordinary rendition of individuals, gave the CIA intelligence that led to the extraordinary rendition of individuals, interrogated individuals who were later secretly detained and extraordinarily rendered, submitted questions for interrogation of individuals who were secretly detained and extraordinarily rendered, and permitted use of its airspace and airports for flights associated with extraordinary rendition operations”

The report can be read at http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/globalizing-torture-20120205.pdf

After months of stalling and moving the investigation away from the centralised prosecution service, Poland has decided to drop charges against Zbigniew Siemiatkowski, the former intelligence chief in a further blow to its investigation into its role in running a torture facility for the CIA. He was charged last year after it emerged that he had extensive knowledge about the facility and relations with the CIA. In a disappointing move to an investigation that started off with promise in 2008, lawyers and activists in Poland have accused the authorities of stalling the investigation to prevent embarrassment for senior officials. Following on from the ruling against the CIA at the end of last year finding it guilty for the torture and extraordinary rendition of German Khaled El-Masri by the European Court of Human Rights, further evidence has been filed against Poland in a case brought against it by Abd El-Nashiri for collusion in his torture at secret CIA-run torture facilities there. Lawyers for another victim, Abu Zubaydah, have filed a complaint at the European Court of Human Rights to hear his case as the investigation in Poland, now in its fifth year, is progressing so slowly.

http://rt.com/news/poland-drops-charges-investigation-136/

Following a ruling last September to uphold the convictions of CIA agents and Italian intelligence officers involved in the 2003 extraordinary rendition of an Egyptian national, Hassan Mustafa Nassar, who was kidnapped near his home in Milan, a Milan court has sentenced former intelligence chief Nicolò Pollari to 10 years in prison and his former deputy Marco Mancini to 9 years for their role in the kidnapping and rendition. Pollari’s lawyer has claimed that he has been unable to represent his client properly as large parts of the case fall under Italian national security secrecy laws. The two men are likely to appeal the sentences and will not be jailed until the appeal process is exhausted.

LGC Activities:

The LGC marked the sixth anniversary of its regular “Shut Guantánamo!” demonstration in February with a special “I am still waiting for…” action at which activists held up placards with their messages to President Obama. The action then continued until 5pm, taking a slight detour to the other side of Marble Arch to Speaker’s Corner, for an impromptu action outside the Odeon cinema where torture film Zero Dark Thirty was playing. Around a dozen activists joined the afternoon action (see  picture) and the public response was very positive and supportive. The next demonstration will on Thursday 7 March at 12-1pm outside the US Embassy, Grosvenor Square, W1A and then 1.15-2.15pm outside Speaker’s Corner, Marble Arch (Hyde Park): http://www.facebook.com/events/495292530508706/

LGC Newsletter – December 2012

NEWS:

British Residents:

Shaker Aamer has launched a defamation action against the British intelligence services MI5 and MI6 for making “knowingly false statements” to the US military about him. These include allegations that he is a member of Al Qaeda and helped to recruit people to fight in Afghanistan. The action was announced by Reprieve, the legal charity representing Shaker Aamer, and comedian Frankie Boyle, who put up the money to bring the case from a libel case he had won earlier against a newspaper and had donated to Reprieve. The government has not commented on the case.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20715511

Earlier this month, it was announced that officers from Scotland Yard will go to Guantánamo Bay to question Mr Aamer about allegations of abuse and torture he has made against the British intelligence services which are currently being investigated by the Metropolitan police: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hopes-rise-for-guantanamos-last-uk-inmate-8373869.html

Guantánamo Bay:

Amnesty Canada has launched a new campaign for former Guantánamo prisoner Omar Khadr who was returned to the country in September 2012, where he was promptly sent back to prison and is awaiting parole. Omar Khadr continues to be held in solitary confinement with limited access to other prisoners and facilities. Having spent all of his adult life thus far at Guantánamo Bay, he is finding it hard to adapt to life outside, a task not facilitated by his continuing imprisonment. Take action for Omar Khadr: http://www.amnesty.ca/get-involved/take-action-now/omar-khadr-the-case-is-not-closed

The US military has stated the official cause of death of Yemeni prisoner Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif who died in September 2012 is suicide. His body was recently repatriated to Yemen and there has been much controversy over the possible cause of his death following over a decade of abuse. Claiming his death to be caused by substance abuse, the US military also claimed that he was suffering from acute pneumonia at the time of death. Earlier in the month, investigative journalists Jason Leopold and Jeff Kaye from Truth Out unveiled further facts surrounding the death of Mr Abdul Latif and contradictions in the official story about his death: http://truth-out.org/news/item/13234-latif-letter-about-guantanamo-speaks-from-the-grave-i-am-being-pushed-toward-death-every-moment

Extraordinary rendition:

On 13 December, the government announced that it had reached a £2.2 million settlement with the family of Sami Al-Saadi, one of two Libyan men whose rendition to torture in Libya it had facilitated in 2004. The pay-out ends the family’s litigation against the UK authorities; however, the family of another man, Abdel Hakim Belhaj, are continuing their action against the government. Mr Al-Saadi, his wife and four children were forcedly rendered from Hong Kong to Libya where they were detained and tortured. Although the settlement means that the government has not made an admission of liability, the settlement is tantamount to an admission of guilt. Mr Al-Saadi made the following statement about why he decided to settle: “My family suffered enough when they were kidnapped and flown to Gaddafi’s Libya. They will now have the chance to complete their education in the new, free Libya. I will be able to afford the medical care I need because of the injuries I suffered in prison.

“I started this process believing that a British trial would get to the truth in my case. But today, with the government trying to push through secret courts, I feel that to proceed is not best for my family. I went through a secret trial once before, in Gaddafi’s Libya. In many ways, it was as bad as the torture. It is not an experience I care to repeat.

“Even now, the British government has never given an answer to the simple question: ‘Were you involved in the kidnap of me, my wife and my children?’” [Source: Reprieve]

Speaking one day before the Justice and Security Bill was debated in the House of Commons, Chichester Conservative MP and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Extradition Rendition made the following statement in a press release:

“For over six years, the APPG has been trying to get to the truth about alleged British complicity in the kidnap and torture of detainees. We still don’t know it. Mr al-Saadi’s case highlights the need to hold a full judge-led inquiry as soon as possible. Only then can we draw a line and move on.

This is the sort of case that could be caught by the secret courts provisions of the Justice and Security Bill. In the future, if the Bill comes into effect unamended, a person suing the Government for his rendition and torture could be shut out of his own case. So would the lawyers for the claimant, the press, and the public. Any evidence deemed damaging to national security would require the case to be heard in secret. The judge would only hear the Government’s evidence and the claimant wouldn’t be able to challenge it. The claimant wouldn’t know why he or she won or lost; what allegations were made against him; or what case was made on his behalf by the Special Advocate. This flies in the face of the fundamental principles of our legal system and is unacceptable.”

On 13 December, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg unanimously found Macedonia guilty of involvement in the torture, abuse and illegal imprisonment of German rendition victim Khaled El Masri. In its judgment, the court condemned the use of torture and rendition by the CIA and called the extraordinary rendition programme “torture” for the first time. El Masri has also unsuccessfully tried to bring actions against other states involved in his torture. On holiday in 2003, he was kidnapped at Skopje airport in Macedonia, tortured there for almost a month, before being taken to Afghanistan for several months where the abuse continued. When the Americans realised they had the wrong man, he was released by the road side in Albania and told that no one would believe him if he told them of his ordeal. However, the European Court found Mr El Masri’s claims to be founded “beyond reasonable doubt” and ordered Macedonia to pay him 60,000 euros in compensation in this landmark legal ruling.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/dec/13/cia-tortured-sodomised-terror-suspect

LGC Activities:

The December monthly LGC demonstration was a special demonstration to mark Human Rights Day on 10 December. Around 20 people joined in a reading of articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. There will be NO monthly demonstration in January due to the anniversary event on 11 January.

The LGC invites you get involved in our action to mark the 11^th anniversary of Guantánamo Bay on Friday 11 January 2013. For more details on what we are planning and how you can get involved: http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.co.uk/#!/2012/11/your-invitation-to-join-us-to-mark-11.html Please join us if you can. You can also follow our progress and get involved via Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AllRoadsLeadToGuantanamoTwitter: @allroadsleadG11 and Tumblr: www.thelondonguantanamocampaign.tumblr.com

Aisha Maniar from the London Guantánamo Campaign will be speaking on Monday 7th January 2013 at 7.30pm at a Brent Stop The War meeting, "All Roads Lead to Guantánamo" about the latest challenges for President Obama, soon to be reinaugurated, with respect to Guantánamo and upcoming actions to mark the eleventh anniversary. All welcome. The meeting is at Rumi's Cave, 26 Willesden Lane, NW6 7ST (nearest underground: Kilburn). For more details, e-mail brent@stopwar.org.uk

""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.