Wednesday, January 30, 2013

LGC Newsletter – January 2013

NEWS:
British Residents:
To mark the eleventh anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo Bay on 11 January, Amnesty International UK launched a new petition calling on President Obama to release Shaker Aamer. The petition which currently has around 20,000 signatures will be delivered to the US authorities on 14 February, the date marking the eleventh anniversary of Shaker Aamer’s imprisonment at Guantánamo Bay without charge or trial. The petition can be signed here. The e-petition to the British Prime Minister currently has around 23,000 signatures: 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.
The human rights NGO Reprieve, representing Shaker Aamer, marked the 11th anniversary with a press release calling for his release:
http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/2013_01_11_after_11yrs_gtmo_brit_still_imprisoned/

Guantánamo Bay:
Canadian former prisoner Omar Khadr, convicted at a Guantánamo military tribunal and who is currently serving the rest of his sentence at the Milhaven Institution in Canada as a maximum security prisoner, has recently reappointed his former lawyer Dennis Edney: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/omar-khadr-turns-again-to-former-high-profile-lawyer-current-ones-step-down-1.53722 Mr Edney previously represented Omar Khadr when he was held at Guantánamo Bay. He will take over from his previous lawyers in a case in which he is suing the government for breach of his human rights. Mr Edney is also likely to appeal Omar Khadr’s conviction at Guantánamo obtained through a secret plea bargain, following the recent quashing of other convictions in Guantánamo military tribunals by the US federal appeals courts. Although Omar Khadr is eligible for day parole from March this year, as he is currently being held as a maximum security prisoner, he is unlikely to be considered for parole for another two years.
A new petition has been put together calling on the Canadian government to release Omar Khadr and seeking his reintegration into Canadian society: sign here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/omar-khadr-takeastandforjustice/

It has been a busy month in the US courts for appeals against convictions at Guantánamo Bay and the resumption of the trial at Guantánamo Bay of five men accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks in New York in September 2001.  
On 25 January, the federal appeals court overturned the conviction of Ali Hamza al-Bahlul, a Yemeni prisoner convicted by a Guantánamo military tribunal in 2008 and sentenced to life imprisonment. In this case, in a brief judgment with no reasons given, convictions for material support for terrorism, conspiracy and solicitation to commit war crimes were overturned. The only person to have ever been given a life sentence out of the seven prisoners convicted at Guantánamo Bay, he has been held alone and away from other prisoners following his conviction. He will remain locked up in solitary confinement throughout the three-month period the US government has to appeal.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/25/3200788/appeals-court-throws-out-terrorism.html
This reversal of a Guantánamo military tribunal conviction follows that of Salim Hamdan, which was overturned in October 2012, as the offence of “providing material support for terrorism” did not exist at the time of the actual offence. The US government had until 18 January to appeal this decision, but did not. The question of whether the judgment in the Hamdan case could apply to other cases was one of the issues considered in the Al-Bahlul case.
At the end of January, the cases of five men accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks in New York in 2001 resumed at Guantánamo Bay. Although still at pre-trial stage, the key Hamdan ruling has also had an impact on this case. Anticipating the possible overturning of the conviction for conspiracy, which is not considered a war crime, the chief prosecutor in this case Brigadier General Mark Martins asked for the conspiracy charges against the five defendants in the case to be dismissed and for them not to be tried on this count. Although dismissing these charges could undermine the rest of the case, following the judgment in the Hamdan case, a conviction for conspiracy could be appealed and later result in the case, and a conviction made, being thrown out. The five defendants potentially face the death penalty. This request was turned down by the Pentagon. Undeterred, however, Mark Martins has applied again, following the reversal of the Al-Bahlul conviction, which saw a conviction for conspiracy overturned. This has led to a public dispute between the prosecutor it appointed and the Pentagon over whether the US can charge terrorism suspects with offences that are not considered as such under international law. An excellent comment on this in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/sunday-review/military-tribunals-and-international-war-crimes.html?_r=1&
The pre-trial hearings resumed on 28 January. The defendants attended the first day, during which controversy arose after audio to observers at the hearing was cut for three minutes after one of the defence lawyers representing the five prisoners asked if the court needed to meet in secret closed session to discuss some matters, raising questions about whether there is external censorship of the proceedings unknown to those in court: http://rt.com/usa/news/sound-cut-september-11-992/ Pre-trials motions will be discussed all of this week, including a motion by the defence to have the black site secret prisons the five men were held at in various locations around the world, including within the European Union, preserved as evidence.

As well as marking the eleventh anniversary of the opening of the current prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, this month also marked the inauguration of Barack Obama to his second term as president of the United States. The London Guantánamo Campaign issued the following press release:
http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.co.uk/#!/2013/01/media-release-london-guantanamo.html, calling on the president to “use this opportunity to put right his failings in his first term as president and demonstrate his commitment to the rule of law and the principles of freedom and justice he verbally espouses”.
In the US, the re-inauguration was marred by controversy when at a party to celebrate the inauguration, famous US rap star Lupe Fiasco openly criticised President Obama on his poor first-term record on foreign relations, particularly with respect to war and the Palestinians: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4ewU8xoDVY
In the UK, veteran peace campaigner Lindis Percy from the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases (CAAB) was arrested outside the US military base at Menwith Hill for holding up an upside down US flag with the words ‘NOW THEN….SECOND AND ONLY CHANCE OBAMA’
http://www.caab.org.uk/about/caab-reports Ms Percy has been bailed but not charged.
Barely weeks into his second term, President Obama has continued to show his resolve not to close Guantánamo by closing the office of the special envoy for the closure of Guantánamo Bay. Daniel Fried, who has held the post since it was created in 2009 early on in President Obama’s first term, has been re-assigned to another office and the office he was responsible for has closed. Its duties, which including working out diplomatic agreements for the transfer of prisoners, have been reassigned to the office of the State Department’s legal adviser. The removal of a senior official responsible for this task almost immediately into President Obama’s second term shows that the issue is no longer of priority to his administration, in spite of his verbal statements that he would still like to see Guantánamo Bay close: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/us/politics/state-dept-closes-office-working-on-closing-guantanamo-prison.html  

Extraordinary rendition:
Lawyers for two men held at secret torture facilities in Poland in 2003 and 2004, where they were tortured and subject, among other abuses, to waterboarding and mock executions have accused the Polish government of stalling the investigation into Poland’s role in the CIA’s extraordinary rendition programme to protect the collusion of senior politicians and officials. The investigation into the allegations made by two current Guantánamo prisoners Abd El-Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah, who both “disappeared” for years and currently have cases against Poland and Romania pending at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg for involvement in their torture, started in 2008. However, last year, the case was transferred from prosecutors in the capital to regional authorities. The European Parliament has also accused Poland of not doing enough to investigate, even though credible evidence has emerged, including documents, of the existence of a secret torture facility and receipts and agreements relating to its operation on behalf of the CIA: http://rt.com/news/poland-investigation-cia-prisons-839/

On 29 January, lawyers for almost 1000 prisoners held by the British forces in Iraq between 2003 and 2008 brought a judicial review before the High Court in London to call for an inquiry into allegations of abuse by British soldiers. These allegations include claims of sexual and physical abuse by soldiers. The claimants want the inquiry to demonstrate that Britain broke the international laws of war through the systematic use of torture. The Ministry of Defence has tried to block such an inquiry for the past few years and insists, as it did in the Baha Moussa case, that any abuse was the action of a few bad apples in the army and not the result of an endemic and systemic culture of torture and abuse, in spite of almost 1000 victim testimonies to the contrary. As the tenth anniversary of the Iraq War approaches, permission for this inquiry could be both timely and vital: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/29/iraqi-detainees-demand-uk-inquiry and http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jan/19/britain-guilty-systemic-torture-iraq

LGC Activities:
There was no monthly “Shut Guantánamo!” demonstration in January. The next demonstration will on Thursday 7 February 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/150885085064099/ This action marks the sixth anniversary (first one in February 2007) of our regular demonstrations outside the US Embassy. We said we’d continue our presence until Guantánamo closes. From the above news, it is clear that President Barack Obama has no intention of fulfilling his promise to close Guantánamo any time soon. Please join us: inspired by an action held by the US NGO Witness Against Torture (www.witnesstorture.org), the LGC will hold a “I am still waiting for…” action outside the US Embassy: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.579084985450615.167204.298743860151397&type=1 We invite you to join us with your own banner, or we’ll provide paper and markers, stating what you are still waiting for vis-à-vis the closure of Guantánamo. If you cannot join the action, we invite you to make your own banner, pose with it, and send the picture to us: london.gtmo@gmail.com

The London Guantánamo Campaign marked the 11th anniversary of the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay with a day of action on Friday 11 January. The actions consisted of four walking tours between embassies recounting the journeys of four prisoners to Guantánamo Bay and a vigil outside the US Embassy on a fairly cold evening attended by over 70 people. Many thanks to everyone who took part, helped in the preparations and on the day.
The actions were covered live through social media and received extensive press coverage too.
To coincide with the anniversary, Aisha Maniar and Val Brown from the LGC gave interviews to Russia Today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiW9GIaCNDs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOwCgubl414
Media coverage of the tours and vigil:

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.”

Sunday, January 20, 2013

MEDIA RELEASE: London Guantánamo Campaign calls on President Obama to close Guantánamo Bay prison in his second term as president

20 January 2013 - For immediate release

On 20 January 2013, Barack Obama will be inaugurated to his second term as president of the United States of America. The London Guantánamo Campaign [1] calls on President Obama to seize the opportunity presented by his second term as president to make good on broken promises to close Guantánamo Bay and put an end to the practice of extraordinary rendition.

In January 2009, one of Barack Obama’s first actions as president was to sign a decree [2] pledging to close Guantánamo Bay by January 2010 and place a moratorium on military commissions. One hundred and sixty six prisoners currently remain at Guantánamo Bay with only 72 released [3] in his first term and several military commissions are underway.

Aisha Maniar from the London Guantánamo Campaign said:

“Unlike the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay who have never been offered a chance, Barack Obama is being given a second chance, by the American people. He must use this opportunity to put right his failings in his first term as president and demonstrate his commitment to the rule of law and the principles of freedom and justice he verbally espouses.

“Barack Obama “inherited” arbitrary detention and prisoner abuse at Guantánamo Bay as part of the bitter legacy of the Bush era. Yet, rather than remedy the damage done by his predecessor, he has embraced it and the past four years have been entirely of his making. Should Barack Obama fail in his second term “to let freedom ring” [4] for the prisoners of the arbitrary regime he has perpetuated, he will go down in history as the president who deliberately blew the opportunity to close Guantánamo and re-establish legality and justice time and again.”
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
4. Barack Obama’s public inauguration will fall on 21 January 2013, which is Martin Luther King Day, a public holiday in the United States.

Friday, January 11, 2013

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:

News about the anniversary and today’s actions in the UK:
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 11th 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).

Thursday, January 10, 2013

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/

Sunday, January 06, 2013

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 11th January, the London Guantánamo Campaign invites you to join us in this part of the world to mark the 11th 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 7th 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  
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

Saturday, January 05, 2013

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.
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.
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 11th 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