All Roads Lead to Guantánamo...Follow the Action Here!

As well as updating the day's actions on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/AllRoadsLeadToGuantanamo), Twitter @allroadsleadg11 and Tumblr http://thelondonguantanamocampaign.tumblr.com/, we will be updating the information on this blog every half hour here.

Update on Wednesday 16 January:
The day of action received extensive press coverage and more images and reports can be viewed and read online on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/AllRoadsLeadToGuantanamo and Twitter: http://twitter.com/allroadsleadg11
Background to the day of action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzhe9BnrGIk (video)
http://onesmallwindow.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/guantanamo-bay-epic-fail-for-obama/ (article)
Val Brown and Aisha Maniar from the LGC spoke to Russia Today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiW9GIaCNDs (video)
Coverage of the tours:
Photographs of Shaker Aamer tour: http://www.demotix.com/news/1719753/walks-shame-follow-rendition-routes-guantanamo#media-1719592
http://www.demotix.com/news/1719753/walks-shame-follow-rendition-routes-guantanamo#media-1719592
Val Brown leading the Omar Khadr tour shot footage of readings from outside each of the embassies the tour visited:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z6D1ElFqOA (Afghan Embassy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIGEZREpkqg (Spanish Embassy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUUUfn-JAXE (Portuguese Embassy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwq5kqmQFcM (Canadian Embassy)
http://freeomarakhadr.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/remember-canada-is-complicit-in-the-ongoing-torture-of-omar-khadr/
Around 70 people braved the cold weather and joined the vigil in the evening outside the US Embassy:
Video report: http://www.therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=9498   
News reports: http://www.wespeaknews.com/politics/candelight-vigil-to-mark-11-years-of-guantanamo-134196.html
http://aljazeera.net/humanrights/pages/639643f0-446c-4c0f-ad79-5c4c5352b4c8 (Arabic)
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/11/london-protest-marks-11-years-since-establishment-guantanamo-bay-prison/
Photo reportage: http://www.demotix.com/news/1724834/vigil-outside-us-embassy-london-11th-anniversary-guant-namo#media-1724456
http://www.demotix.com/news/1719778/vigil-marks-11-years-detention-guant-namo#media-1719777
http://www.demotix.com/news/1719240/vigil-guantanamo-bay-detainees-outside-londons-us-embassy#media-1719283
http://www.demotix.com/news/1719692/vigil-guantanamo-bay-prison-outside-us-embassy-london#media-1719522
Pictures from protests around the world: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/11/3177614/photo-gallery-01-11-095943.html
Messages of support read outside the US Embassy:
Green Party MP Caroline Lucas (Brighton Pavillion and Hove): “There is no excuse for the continued existence of Guantanamo Bay or the ongoing detention of British residents such as Shaker Aamer. The Green Party calls on President Obama to keep his promise and end what is a stain on America’s reputation globally.”
Green London MEP Jean Lambert: "11 years too long! Guantanamo Bay must close, and all remaining detainees charged with crimes or allowed to return home."
Lib Dem London MEP Sarah Ludford: "“Barack Obama must finally in his second term fulfil his promise of closing the disgraceful legal black hole of Guantanamo and rebuild the US’ human rights reputation. In any case, my constituent Shaker Aamer must return home to his family in London after 11 years of totally illegal incarceration.”


Update at 4:45pm GMT:

Adnan Latif/Ahmed Belbacha tour at Turkish Embassy, more questions from the cops, then on to Portuguese Embassy where they finished at 16:45. Now on to US Embassy for 6pm vigil - Adnan Latif's body left Guantánamo decomposed weeks ago in a ...bodybag to his family in Yemen. His soul left on 8 September 2012. He was 36. His lawyers say Guantánamo and extended arbitrary detention killed him. In 2010, Obama placed a moratorium on returns to Yemen as it was too dangerous.
Ahmed Belbacha, cleared for release almost 6 years, remains at Guantánamo for want of a safe third country to return to. Sentenced in absentia in Algeria in 2009 to 20 years for membership of a "terrorist organisation" abroad, a claim now taken back by the Pentagon, and unwanted by the UK where he lived for 18 months, he remains there for want of a safe place to go.

The Shaker Aamer tour has also come to an end and is heading to the US Embassy too.

The Omar Khadr tour is at the Spanish Embassy and the Abd El Nashiri tour has left the Polish Embassy.

Update at 4:15pm GMT:
The Adnan Latif/Ahmed Belbacha tour took the bus to the Turkish Embassy. A large number of prisoner were flown through Incirlik and to other European countries before being taken to Guantánamo Bay: http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?load=detay&link=126951 These were mostly stop-overs and for refueling.

The Omar Khad team is currently en route from the Afghan Embassy, where he was picked up and detained at Bagram for several month in 2002 before being flown to Spain before Guantánamo.

The Abd El Nashiri tour went from the UAE Embassy to the Thai Embassy as he was held at a secret prison there and tortured for several months before being taken to Poland, along with other "high value" prisoners, such as Abu Zubaydah, where they are heading to.

Diplomatic police are still on the look out for our tours.

Update at 3:45pm GMT:
Jean Lambert MEP (Green) for London has joined the Shaker Aamer tour. This tour crossed paths with the Adnan Latif/Ahmed Belbacha tour on Knightsbridge travelling to their respective embassies. Many prisoners travelled the same routes on different dates, hence we combined the Latif and Belbacha tours as they were taken to Guantánamo through the same countries. Moazzam Begg and Russian prisoner Ravil Mingazov, the latter still held at Guantánamo, travelled the same journey as Shaker Aamer on different dates.

The Adnan Latif/Ahmed Belbacha tour has now arrived at the Afghan Embassy and the Abd El Nashiri tour is heading there. El Nashiri was held at the notorious Salt Pit torture prison near Kabul. Afghanistan is also home to the still functioning Bagram prison where the remaining 50-odd foreign prisoners enjoy less rights than those at Guantánamo and which was described by Moazzam Begg as "worse than Guantánamo". Almost all the prisoner at Guantánamo were "processed" through Bagram, regardless of where they were kidnapped.

Diplomatic police have spoken to our tours as the embassies are calling each other and the police to "warn" of Guantánamo activists in the area. "No smoke without fire" is a claim often thrown at the Guantánamo prisoners, the vast majority of whom have never even been tried. Well, that also applies to the governments of states who colluded in the "rendition" and torture of prisoners in spite of their continuing denial and whose silence on the matter has been bought through their complicity.

Update at 3:15pm GMT:
The Adnan Abdul Latif and Ahmed Belbacha tour's first stop was the Pakistani Embassy where Noel Hamel from Kingston Peace Council spoke about the start of their ordeal, Geraldine Cowan from the LGC read out a poem by Adnan Abdul Latif and Dan Viesnik from the LGC spoke to express solidarity with victims of drone strikes in Pakistan. More people have joined the tour and embassy staff came out to take some leaflets. The group is leafleting and talking to the public along Knightsbridge before heading off to the Afghan Embassy.
Both men tried to flee Afghanistan and the violence following 9/11 and the start of the US war in Afghanistan. They were picked up in Pakistan and sold by local tribes and militias to the US military for a bounty. Contrary to popular belief, most prisoners were not combatants but foreign nationals sold by local groups for a bounty of up to $20,000, a small fortune for them.

Update at 2.45pm GMT:
The Abd El Nashiri tour has kicked off at the UAE Embassy at 2pm, the state in which he was kidnapped in 2002 with the help of state agents and handed over to the CIA, before being "rendered" and tortured through 3 continents and taken to Guantánamo not once but twice where he currently faces the death penalty for evidence adduced through torture, including waterboarding.
Pictures here: sdrv.ms/TOTie4
He currently has two cases against Poland and Romania at the European Court of Human Rights for his torture there: read the FACTS of his horrific ordeal in this European Court document: http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search.aspx?i=001-112302

 

 

Update at 1pm GMT:

The tours will all commence between 2 and 3pm and will start at the embassy of the country the prisoner was kidnapped in, or captured on the battlefield in the case of Omar Khadr.

News so far about Guantánamo:
Press release from Reprieve about the eleventh anniversary and British resident Shaker Aamer:
http://reprieve.org.uk/press/2013_01_11_after_11yrs_gtmo_brit_still_imprisoned/
Amnesty International UK launches a new petition on the eleventh anniversary for Shaker Aamer: http://action.amnesty.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1194&ea.campaign.id=18208
There is also an ongoing petition to the Prime Minister for Shaker Aamer’s return:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/33133

Video in the New York Times about the death of Yemeni Adnan Abdul Latif:

http://www.nytimes.com/video/2013/01/10/opinion/100000001998311/death-of-a-prisoner.html?smid=tw-share

News about the anniversary and today’s actions in the UK:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/detainee-let-down-by-ministers-say-former-guantanamo-inmates-8446862.html

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/01/11/282938/londoners-to-hold-antigitmo-vigil/

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/128133

All Roads Lead to Guantánamo

All Roads Lead to Guantánamo
Friday 11 January 2013 marks the 11^th anniversary of the opening of the illegal prison camp at Guantánamo Bay. Out of the 779 prisoners known to have been held at Guantánamo since January 2002, 166 remain. After eleven years, there is little awareness about the issue and the plight of the prisoners held in legal limbo on an island far away… The bottom line remains that everyone has the right to justice and fair and due process and to know the reasons for their detention. There are exceptions where torture is permitted.

As campaigners in Europe, the London Guantánamo Campaign is marking this sombre anniversary with a series of walking tours around London, covering the stories of five prisoners, and taking in the embassies of states involved in their journey to Guantánamo, to highlight international collusion in the torture and arbitrary detention there. Many prisoners were never in Afghanistan or Pakistan fighting the Americans in the first place but were kidnapped elsewhere and no one was taken directly to Guantánamo. Join us this afternoon to find out more…

The tours will take in the journeys of British residents Shaker Aamer (http://www.reprieve.org.uk/cases/shakeraamer/) and Ahmed Belbacha (http://www.reprieve.org.uk/cases/ahmedbelbacha/), both cleared for release almost 6 years ago, Omar Khadr, a child prisoner (www.freeomarakhadr.wordpress.com),  Abd El-Nashiri, a victim of “extraordinary rendition” tortured and imprisoned in three continents before being taken to Guantánamo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Rahim_al-Nashiri) and Adnan Abdul Latif, a Yemeni prisoner who died in dubious circumstances at Guantánamo in September 2012 (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/opinion/sunday/death-at-guantanamo-bay.html).

Now see the post above: http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.co.uk/#!/2013/01/all-roads-lead-to-guantanamofollow.html

MEDIA RELEASE: Campaigners mark Guantánamo 11th anniversary with day of action on Friday 11 January, London

All Roads Lead to Guantánamo – series of afternoon “rendition tours”, leading to vigil outside US Embassy, Grosvenor Square, at 6-8pm

10 January 2012 - For immediate release

Photo opportunity: During the vigil at the US Embassy, there will be a visual display with activists dressed in orange jumpsuits and black hoods.

Just one week before the inauguration of Barack Obama to his second term, the illegal US military prison camp at Guantánamo Bay will mark its eleventh anniversary; the closure of the prison was once a key election pledge, and the subject of a presidential decree in his first term.

Campaigners in London, led by the London Guantánamo Campaign [1], will mark the anniversary with a symbolic action designed to draw attention to the ongoing plight of individuals caught up in Guantánamo's nefarious web as well as states that have colluded in its continuing existence. It will begin with a series of afternoon walking tours, recounting the journeys of five prisoners to Guantánamo Bay [2]. Each tour will take in the embassies of the states that facilitated their rendition there [3].

All the “roads” travelled will converge for a candlelight vigil outside the US Embassy at 6pm, where the names of the prisoners will be read out in the style of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo [4], as well as messages to President Obama about Guantánamo Bay.

Aisha Maniar, an organiser from the London Guantánamo Campaign, said:

“We’re calling on President Obama to take the opportunity presented by his re-election to make good on his first term presidential decree and election pledge. Eleven years of political inertia, excuses and downright lies have resulted in eleven years of arbitrary detention, torture and legal limbo for 166 prisoners. Four prisoners have died during President Obama’s first term and only 72 have been released [5], even though many more are cleared for release.

 

“The failure of the United States to recognise international law and due process rights is also the failure of the international community, through its collusion in the torture and “rendition” of these men to Guantánamo Bay, and its failure to assist in closing it down. However, campaigners around the world will not be silenced. We will continue to remind the US government and all other complicit states of their obligations under international law and of the human rights norms they claim to support.”

Contact: e-mail: london.gtmo@gmail.com

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 daytime tours will cover the journeys to Guantánamo Bay of the five following prisoners:

1 - Shaker Aamer (Saudi national, British resident: http://www.reprieve.org.uk/cases/shakeraamer/)

2 - Ahmed Belbacha (Algerian national, British resident: http://www.reprieve.org.uk/cases/ahmedbelbacha/)

3 - Omar Khadr (Canadian child prisoner released September 2012, convicted in military tribunal: www.freeomarakhadr.wordpress.com)

4 - Abd El-Rahim Al-Nashiri (Saudi victim of extraordinary rendition, facing trial and death penalty http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Rahim_al-Nashiri)

5 - Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif (Yemeni prisoner died at Guantánamo Bay, September 2012 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/opinion/sunday/death-at-guantanamo-bay.html)

3. The tours will take place in the afternoon after 2pm (starting at different times). They may be joined by sending an e-mail to the London Guantánamo Campaign london.gtmo@gmail.com or can be followed online via social media: Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AllRoadsLeadToGuantanamo), Twitter @allroadsleadg11 and Tumblr http://thelondonguantanamocampaign.tumblr.com/

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothers_of_the_Plaza_de_Mayo

5. http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/USLS-Fact-Sheet-Gitmo-Numbers.pdf

Where is the world....?

They are artists of torture,
They are artists of pain and fatigue,
They are artists of insults and humiliation.
Where is the world to save us from torture?
Where is the world to save us from the fire and sadness?
Where is the world to save the hunger strikers?

-Adnan Latif* (found dead in his cell, 8 September 2012)

On Friday 11^th January, the London Guantánamo Campaign invites you to join us in this part of the world to mark the 11^th anniversary of the opening of the Guantánamo Bay prison camp. Falling just days before Barack Obama is inaugurated for his second presidential term, he has made it harder to close Guantánamo Bay by signing into law the National Defense Authorization Act 2013, imposing restrictions on the transfer of prisoners for another year. This year: take action and make a difference. With less than a week to go, there is still much you can do:

1 – Join one of our educational “All Roads Lead to Guantánamo” daytime tours of embassies, recounting the journeys of five prisoners to Guantánamo Bay. Joining one of our tours is easier than joining a gym and you’re guaranteed to get exercise (and learn something useful!). For more details and TO JOIN, please e-mail us at london.gtmo@gmail.com and visit: http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.co.uk/#!/2012/11/your-invitation-to-join-us-to-mark-11.html

Your help with this part of the action will be greatly appreciated.
*Adnan Latif is one of the prisoners whose journey we will recount

2 – Join our vigil outside the US Embassy at 6-8pm. All are welcome: http://www.facebook.com/events/137186296431211/ Any help with the vigil will also be greatly appreciated.

3 – As part of the vigil, we will be reading out YOUR messages to President Obama about Guantánamo Bay. Please send us your short messages: 50 words maximum (Tweet/SMS length) by e-mail: london.gtmo@gmail.com / on our Facebook Page (below) or Twitter (@allroadsleadg11) 

4 – On Monday 7^th January, Aisha Maniar from the LGC will speak at the Brent Stop The War meeting about what is currently happening at Guantánamo Bay, actions to mark the 11th anniversary and what President Obama should do about the prison. 7:30pm, Rumi’s Cave, 26 Willesden Lane, NW6 7ST (Tube: Kilburn, buses: 98, 316, 332, 16, 189, 328)

http://stopwarbrent.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/brent-stop-the-war-meeting-monday-7th-january-2013/

5 – Need more information?

Watch our promo video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzhe9BnrGIk
Read an article about why this action matters and you should be a part of it: http://onesmallwindow.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/guantanamo-bay-epic-fail-for-obama/

6 – Spread the word – let your friends and family know about the day of action:

Like our page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AllRoadsLeadToGuantanamo from where you can follow the action on the day as well as at:

Twitter: @allroadsleadg11 https://twitter.com/allroadsleadg11  

Tumblr: http://thelondonguantanamocampaign.tumblr.com/  

LGC blog: www.londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com  

The action on the day will be educational and interactive; follow our updates on the various tours, news on prisoners, facts about Guantánamo Bay and what you can do, and give us your feedback online.

Be a part of history. We hope to see you there – in person or virtually – and send a strong message to President Obama, weeks before he assumes his second term in office, that GUANTANAMO MUST CLOSE.

For any queries, or further information, please contact the London Guantánamo Campaign

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

On Friday 11th January 2013… All Roads Lead to Guantánamo Bay: How Can You Get Involved?

It is now less than one month until the 11^th anniversary of Guantánamo Bay on 11 January 2013 and the London Guantánamo Campaign’s “All Roads Lead to Guantánamo” day of action. 166 prisoners remain there, almost entirely without charge or trial after a decade. In his first term in office, President Obama has failed to live up to the principles of freedom, justice and human rights he claims to espouse. The responsibility thus falls on the shoulders of civil society – us – to take action.

There are lots of ways in which you can get involved in this day of action from ALL OVER THE WORLD. For the past 11 years, the US and other governments have had plenty of excuses for inaction, what’s YOURS?

1 – Join our educational tours retracing the journeys of five prisoners to Guantánamo Bay: some who remain, some who have died, and some who were never near Afghanistan in the first place. The purpose of the tours is to raise awareness. We would especially appreciate the involvement of people who can help to provide live streaming of the tours, and provide updates on the tours as they progress through videos, pictures, audio, text comments, etc. relayed via e-mail/SMS/Twitter/Facebook and Tumblr.  For more information on the tours and to join, please e-mail us: london.gtmo@gmail.com For more details: http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.co.uk/#!/2012/11/your-invitation-to-join-us-to-mark-11.html

2 – As part of our vigil outside the US Embassy at 6-8pm in the evening: http://www.facebook.com/events/137186296431211/ we will be reading out YOUR messages to President Obama about Guantánamo Bay. Please send us your short messages: 50 words maximum (Tweet/SMS length) by e-mail: london.gtmo@gmail.com/ on our Facebook Page (below) or Twitter (@allroadsleadg11) 

3 – Please help raise awareness of this event and anniversary: invite your friends and family to join.

Watch and share our promo video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzhe9BnrGIk&feature=plcp

You can follow the news and action from now and on the day (live) on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AllRoadsLeadToGuantanamo
Twitter: @allroadsleadg11 https://twitter.com/allroadsleadg11
Tumblr: http://thelondonguantanamocampaign.tumblr.com/
LGC blog: www.londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com

We anticipate the action on the day to be educational and interactive, so we look forward to you staying tuned to our updates on the various tours, news on prisoners, facts about Guantánamo Bay and what you can do, as well as your feedback. Feel free to share any relevant information – from around the globe - with us too!

 4 – If you can only attend the vigil we are organising outside the US Embassy in the evening, we would appreciate help with:

-          Holding up banners

-          Stewarding

-          Reading out messages and the names of current prisoners

-          General organisation

5 – The London Guantánamo Campaign is an entirely volunteer organisation. We too will be taking time off our day jobs. We largely fund our own activities, however if you are able to make a small contribution to the cost of the banners we will use on the day – outside the embassy and as part of the tours – it would be greatly appreciated. Please e-mail us for more details on how to do this.

6 –If you are a filmmaker, photographer or media worker, and you’d be interested in covering this action (tours/vigil), please get in touch with the co-ordinator, Aisha Maniar, at the e-mail address below. More details on media involvement: http://www.spectacle.co.uk/spectacleblog/guantanamo/london-guantanamo-campaign-11-january-2013/

Be a part of history. We hope to see you there – in person or virtually – and send a strong message to President Obama, weeks before he assumes his second term in office, that GUANTANAMO MUST CLOSE.

For any queries, or further information, please contact the London Guantánamo Campaign

LGC Newsletter - November 2012

NEWS:
British Residents:
November 24 marked the eleventh anniversary of Shaker Aamer’s capture in Pakistan and illegal detention without trial or charge. In 2001, he was captured and shortly thereafter sold to the US military for a bounty by his captors. He has been held ever since in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, since February 2002, without charge or trial and has been beaten and abused frequently. Supporters from the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign marked the anniversary with a vigil in Trafalgar Square. 

Guantánamo Bay:

Barack Obama was re-elected president of the United States for a second term on 6 November. Immediately thereafter, human rights advocates from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and others, such as Amnesty International, called on the president to make good on his broken first term promise to close Guantánamo Bay, and to end indefinite detention and drone strikes: http://jurist.org/paperchase/2012/11/aclu-urges-obama-to-close-guantanamo-during-second-term.php
Shortly before the election, Barack Obama reaffirmed on US TV his wish to close Guantánamo Bay in non-specific terms.
Since then, a report published on 27 November by the official Government Accountability Office (GOA), led by Senator Dianne Feinstein, stated that the 166 remaining prisoners could be safely reabsorbed into the US penitentiary system and identified almost 100 facilities in the US mainland where they could be held: http://jurist.org/paperchase/2012/11/government-report-guantanamo-detainees-could-be-safely-absorbed-by-us-prisons.php Such a move would require legislation and the Department of Justice would not be able to authorise such movement itself.
Since then, however, the Senate has voted to prevent the transfer of any Guantánamo prisoners to the US mainland in the coming year in an amendment proposed to the National Defense Authorization Bill 2013; this bill must be passed every year and the act which resulted in early 2012 saw the introduction of indefinite detention for American citizens. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/senate-votes-bar-transfer-guantanamo-bay-detainees-u-s-year-article-1.1210713  Human rights groups had written to President Obama before the vote asking him to use his presidential powers to veto the vote if measures were passed to prevent him closing Guantánamo, but senators have voted against it in any case: http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2012/11/groups-call-on-obama-to-veto-ndaa-over-potential-guantanamo-150415.html The final decision, as with the introduction of indefinite detention for US citizens last year, lies with the president himself.
While disputes and wrangling continue over who is to blame for the almost 11-year history of Guantánamo and who is preventing its closure – Congress or the Senate – the actual issue of the on-going detention and abuse of prisoners outside of the known confines of the law is brushed aside. In spite of the “hope” raised by the GOA report, the fact remains that the vast majority of prisoners are not “bad men” and do not need further incarceration but to be repatriated to their countries of origin and their families. Such is the case of both British residents, Shaker Aamer and Ahmed Belbacha, who were cleared for released almost 6 years ago, and over 30 Yemeni prisoners, who are prevented from leaving due to a ban on their return to Yemen. The responsibility for that, however, lies with the countries they have come from as well, such as the UK, who should be making greater efforts to repatriate their nationals and residents.

To this end, this month, Yemen’s new president officially demanded the return of 80 prisoners to the country and the repatriation of the body of the late Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif, who died at Guantánamo in September. The government said it was dropping the demands the former president, deposed in the Arab Spring, had made for their return. It also rejected attempts to send them to third countries, demanding they be returned to their families. http://yemenpost.net/Detail123456789.aspx?ID=3&SubID=6211&MainCat=3

An autopsy has been carried out on the body of Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif, a Yemeni prisoner who died at Guantánamo in September this year. The manner of death has been given as suicide but the cause of his death has not been disclosed, although there are alleged inconsistencies with the stories that emerged at the time of his death, for example concerning whether there were signs of self-harm. His body is currently in the process of being returned to his family in Yemen; however, they will not be able to hold an independent autopsy to determine the cause of his death as his organs are reported to have decomposed since his death. The official story on his death, as with those of 8 other prisoners over the past 6 years, remains a mystery: http://truth-out.org/news/item/12967-latif-autopsy-report-calls-gitmo-death-a-suicide-mystery-endures  

Extraordinary rendition:

Two NGOs, the Canadian Centre for International Justice and the American Centre for Constitutional Rights have brought a complaint to the United Nations Committee Against Torture against Canada on behalf of former Guantánamo prisoners Hassan bin Attash, Sami el-Hajj, Muhammed Khan Tumani and Murat Kurnaz for the country’s failure to arrest former US president George W Bush during his visit there last October. The complaint claims that Canada breached its obligations under the Convention Against Torture by failing to arrest and investigate George Bush for his involvement in war crimes against the men in Afghanistan and at Guantánamo, where they were held illegally and tortured.

The British Ministry of Defence has conceded that it cannot hand over prisoners it has captured to the authorities in Afghanistan due to the high risk of torture and abuse in Afghan prisons: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/29/defence-secretary-prisoners-afghan-security There is now a moratorium on the handover of prisoners by British troops. Earlier in the month, on 19 November, Afghan forces took control of Bagram on the order of President Karzai, claiming that the US had failed to honour its side of the agreement on the handover of the prison. While the Afghan authorities have released a number of former prisoners placed under their control over the past 9 months, concerns remain for the 57 foreign nationals the US wishes to retain control over. The move has been welcomed by some human rights NGOs; however conditions of detention by the Afghan authorities are not necessarily better than those of the US: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/world/asia/karzai-orders-takeover-of-afghan-prison.html?_r=0

LGC Activities:

The November monthly LGC demonstration was a special demonstration to mark the US elections on 6 November and was held in solidarity with a number of other grassroots campaigns for human rights with a focus on joint UK-US issues, such as the case of Shaker Aamer and Bradley Manning. The LGC was also joined by a number of outstanding young spoken word artists who made an artistic contribution. Around 50 people attended and showed solidarity. Videos of almost all the speakers are available on the LGC’s YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/LondonGtmoCampaign?feature=mhee

Media on the demonstration: http://www.demotix.com/news/1577350/london-guant-namo-campaign-holds-protest-outside-us-embassy?lbclear=74#media-1577324

Next month’s demonstration will exceptionally move to Monday 10^th December at 6-8pm to coincide with International Human Rights Day. We invite you to join us in a reading of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/Language.aspx?LangID=eng) you may read whichever article you believe to be most relevant. These rights are supposed to apply to all people and all times. Reading not compulsory: http://www.facebook.com/events/407857662620286/  

 The LGC invites you get involved in our action to mark the 11^th anniversary of Guantánamo Bay on Friday 11 January 2013. We will be holding a planning meeting in the Café in the Crypt, St Martin’s in the Field Church, off Trafalgar Square (opposite National Gallery) at 2-4pm on Sunday 2 December. 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/AllRoadsLeadToGuantanamo and Twitter: @allroadsleadG11

Your invitation to join us to mark 11 years of Guantánamo Bay: All Roads Lead to Guantánamo

You are cordially invited….

Looking for the ultimate cure to the January blues? Looking for a New Year’s resolution you can keep? …The London Guantánamo Campaign may have an answer for you…

We invite you to join us on our “All Roads Lead to Guantánamo Bay” tour on Friday 11^th January. We invite you, at no additional cost to yourself*, to join us on one of several journeys across the capital, visiting different embassies to recount the tortured journeys of several of the almost 800 men who have been sent to Guantánamo Bay over the past 11 years, ending at the ultimate destination of the US Embassy in Mayfair for a vigil at 6pm. Some of the prisoners have been released, some have died there and some still remain…

We offer you a variety of tours of varying lengths (average: 1.5 – 3.5 hours) for different prisoners, which you may choose from. You may join all or part of a tour. The tours will take place during the daytime. It may be necessary to arrange to take time off work or study to join in. We anticipate that some of the shorter tours will be suitable for those with mobility issues and/or with small children.

We appreciate that it may not be possible for everyone to take time off work and join us in the daytime. In that case, you can follow the action as it unfolds across the capital via Twitter and Facebook. We’d also like you to make your own way to the US Embassy at 6pm and join us for a candlelight vigil calling on the closure of Guantánamo Bay on its 11^th anniversary. In the following weeks, President Obama will be inaugurated for a second term, so come on London (and the UK), let’s send him a strong message: second time around, Obama, YES YOU CAN!

How to join a tour:

We are looking for both “tourists”to join the tours and “tour guides” to lead them; all information provided in the latter case. Simply send an e-mail to the London Guantánamo Campaign: london.gtmo@gmail.com and we will send you details of the routes and prisoners whose journeys we are retracing for you to decide which one you would like to join. You will then be put in touch with the “tour guide” who will provide you with more details of the specific route. If you would like to get involved in planning, please let us know.

On the day, it is up to you if you wish to wear an orange jumpsuit or your usual attire.

Still not convinced?!

Please check out our video with good reasons why you should join this unique and important action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzhe9BnrGIk

Update:
The London Guantánamo Campaign has now organised five "tours" for the 11th January action - of varying lengths (mainly 1-3 hours) starting at different times that afternoon. There is one longer tour (for the fit and active) covering a particularly cruel journey to Guantánamo and one "slow" tour for a deceased prisoner. The tours are educational, so if you don't know much about Guantánamo Bay and what's been happening over the past 11 years, we hope we can enlighten you.
You can also keep up to date and interact with this action via Facebook “All Roads Lead to Guantanamo” or Twitter @allroadsleadG11

* Approximate cost of travel in the zone 1 & 2 areas of London by public transport will be notified to tourists; however, the London Guantánamo Campaign cannot offer to help cover individual costs of transport, food, etc.

All Roads Lead to Guantánamo Bay...on 11th January 2013

11 YEARS OF TORTURE, INJUSTICE, RENDITION AND ARBITRARY DETENTION

11 YEARS OF GUANTÁNAMO BAY

 

on Friday 11th January 2013

all roads lead to Guantánamo Bay

The world has too long turned a blind eye and connived in the illegal practices associated with it. Around 160 prisoners remain there.

The London Guantánamo Campaigns invite you to join us as we mark this 11th anniversary with a mystery tour across the capital, recounting the journey of 11 PRISONERS, visiting the embassies of the countries involved in torture flights and extraordinary rendition and leading up to a candlelight vigil outside the US Embassy at 6pm

 

JOIN US….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzhe9BnrGIk

Please feel welcome to visit our Facebook page:

All Roads Lead To Guantanamo

or follow us on Twitter @allroadsleadG11                                                                                                                                                                        For more details and to sign up for the tour, please e-mail: london.gtmo@gmail.com or call: 07809 757 176

www.londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com

MEDIA RELEASE: “Truth, Justice and the American way?” British activists to mark US elections with demonstration outside US Embassy, 6pm on 6 November 2012

MEDIA RELEASE: “Truth, Justice and the American way?” British activists to mark US elections with demonstration outside US Embassy, 6pm on 6 November 2012

5th November 2012 – for immediate release

The London Guantánamo Campaign [1] will hold a demonstration, “Truth, Justice and the American Way?”, outside the US Embassy in London at 6-8pm on Tuesday 6^thNovember to coincide with the US presidential elections. Speakers from various organisations and performers will raise human rights concerns of common interest to the US and the UK [2].

Aisha Maniar, an organiser for the London Guantánamo Campaign, says, “Four years ago, a new American president, Barack Obama, promised the world a change it could believe in. One change he put his name to in writing was the closure of Guantánamo Bay and the end of military tribunals there. That has not materialised; the American administration has added drone attacks to its repertoire of extralegal activity, expanded the scope of arbitrary detention without charge or trial, [3] and over 160 prisoners remain at Guantánamo Bay after almost 11 years, including British resident Shaker Aamer [4].

“The continually deteriorating human rights situation would not be possible without the collusion of its allies, such as Britain, which has recently seen fit to extradite its own citizens to potential cruel and unusual treatment in US Supermax prisons, has turned a blind eye to the plight of US-UK national Bradley Manning, and is seeking to protect allies such as the US and potentially illegal intelligence-gathering activity by both countries through the Justice and Security Bill [5]. The world deserves much better than this.”

Contact: e-mail: london.gtmo@gmail.com
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. http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com
2. The full list of speakers:

Chris Nineham (Stop The War Coalition), Dr Shahrar Ali (Green Party), Joy Hurcombe (Save Shaker Aamer Campaign), Hamja Ahsan (Free Talha Campaign), Aviva Stahl (Cageprisoners), Anthony Timmons (WISE Up for Bradley Manning), Ilyas Townsend (Justice for Aafia Coalition); performances by Miz The Poet, Ibrahim Sincere and Ed Greens.

http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/demonstration-truth-justice-and.html
3. In the National Defense Authorization Act 2012: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr1540enr/pdf/BILLS-112hr1540enr.pdf

4. 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. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown sought his release in August 2007, along with four other residents held at Guantánamo Bay, the last of whom was released in February 2009. http://www.reprieve.org.uk/cases/shakeraamer/

Number of prisoners still at Guantánamo Bay: http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/USLS-Fact-Sheet-Gitmo-Numbers.pdf

5. Former Justice Minister Kenneth Clarke recently speaking about the bill: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20182465