Binyam Mohamed – Justice Betrayed: A Political Cartoon by Lewis Peake
5.2.09
I’ll shortly be posting an analysis of yesterday’s High Court judgment in the case of British torture victim Binyam Mohamed — and a transcript of Jon Snow’s interview with Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Channel 4 News yesterday evening — but in the meantime I’m proud to present the latest cartoon by British political cartoonist Lewis Peake, whose other work, featured on this site, consists of five extraordinary pictures of hunger strikes and torture in Guantánamo, based on censored drawings by imprisoned al-Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Haj, who was released last May, and a recent picture marking the inauguration of Barack Obama, which cleverly incorporates the ghosts of the previous administration’s crimes.
Lewis has, I believe, captured exactly what has been happening with Binyam’s long quest for justice on both sides of the Atlantic, as our modern-day monkeys do everything in their power to prevent all mention of their responsibility for his horrific torture.
Andy Worthington is the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison (published by Pluto Press, distributed by Macmillan in the US, and available from Amazon — click on the following for the US and the UK). To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to my RSS feed.
Click here to email Lewis.
Who's still at Guantánamo?
2 Responses
Frances Madeson says...
Andy,
It isn’t just the officials who are willfully oblivious. I am out and about in New York City almost every day, and I have to tell you, I NEVER overhear any conversation about the fate of the Guantanamo men. It is not discussed, debated, or even referenced in the conversations of ordinary people. I find that shocking as it is so much on my own mind. I am desperate to change that. I want the word Guantanamo to fly trippingly off the tongues of Americans in the same sentence with: We really should do something about getting those men out of there right now!
The status quo is beyond frustrating.
I have contacted Cage Prisoners via e-mail and let them know of my sincere desire to effectuate a hunger strike. I am scheduling a base line physical and making whatever preparations I can think of on this end, including shoring myself up intellectually and emotionally by reading about Gandhi and Satyagraha.
As it happens, I was raised in St. Louis, Missouri, home of civil rights activist and Iranian hostage hunger striker (1980) Dick Gregory. If he could do it, (and he weighed under 100 pounds when he ended his strike–a terrifying prospect) I feel I can too. At least I want to do my utmost to try to express my solidarity with the Guantanamo hunger strikers. Maybe if people in the US can physically see me, an otherwise hale American woman–sacrificing daily pleasures, risking health, and literally shrinking before their very eyes– they will be moved finally to do the necessary.
...on February 5th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
connie says...
http://oneheartforpeace.blogspot.com/2009/02/seeking-to-save-binyam-mohamed-british.html
Here are some other suggested actions with various articles on Binyam
...on February 6th, 2009 at 3:39 am