Screening of “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” in Edinburgh, January 12, 2010

On Tuesday January 12, at 7.30pm, at the Friends Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh, SACC (Scotland Against Criminalising Communities) presents an open meeting and screening of the new documentary film “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (co-directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington) to mark the 8th anniversary of the opening of the “War on Terror” prison at Guantánamo Bay. The screening will be followed by a discussion.

About the film

“Outside the Law” tells the story of Guantánamo (and includes sections on extraordinary rendition and secret prisons) with a particular focus on how the Bush administration turned its back on domestic and international laws, how prisoners were rounded up in Afghanistan and Pakistan without adequate screening (and often for bounty payments), and why some of these men may have been in Afghanistan or Pakistan for reasons unconnected with militancy or terrorism. It provides a powerful rebuke to those who believe that Guantánamo holds “the worst of the worst” and that the Bush administration was justified in responding to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 by holding men neither as prisoners of war, protected by the Geneva Conventions, nor as criminal suspects with habeas corpus rights, but as “illegal enemy combatants” with no rights whatsoever.

Featuring former prisoners Omar Deghayes and Moazzam Begg, lawyers Clive Stafford Smith and Tom Wilner and journalist Andy Worthington, “Outside the Law” tells the story of Guantánamo and the “War on Terror” primarily by focusing on the stories of Shaker Aamer (who is still held), Binyam Mohamed and Omar Deghayes.

Andy Worthington says:

One year ago, it looked feasible that Guantánamo would close by January 2010. We now know that President Obama’s self-imposed deadline will be missed, partly through the unprincipled agitating of opportunistic opponents in Congress and the media, and partly through the government’s own lack of courage in the face of this opposition, but this is no reason for complacency. As the eighth anniversary of the prison’s opening approaches, it remains imperative that those who oppose the existence of indefinite detention without charge or trial — and who call, instead, for the full reinstatement of the Geneva Conventions for prisoners of war, and federal court trials for terrorists — maintain the pressure to close Guantánamo, and to charge or release the prisoners held there, as swiftly as possible.

For further information about the film, and inquiries about screenings, visit this page, and to order it on DVD, visit the Spectacle website. As featured on Truthout, Democracy Now! and ABC News.

For further information about Tuesday’s screening, please contact Richard Haley.

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 (and I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter). Also see my definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, updated in January 2010, details about the new documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (co-directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington, and launched in October 2009), and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.