I’ve cross-posted below a report on that meeting, plus a copy of the letter submitted by Witness Against Torture, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Defending Dissent Foundation, No More Guantanámos, Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International and Voices for Creative Non-Violence, which provides an excellent round-up of the problems with the Obama administration’s failure to thoroughly repudiate its predecessor’s “War on Terror” policies, and to hold accountable those who committed crimes in the name of national security.

Activists meet with Justice Department official

On Tuesday, June 15th — a day after the acquittal of Witness Against Torture members in D.C. Superior Court of charges stemming from a January protest — a coalition of groups and individuals met with Portia Roberson, the head of the Office of Public Liaison at the Department of Justice. Our goal was to express our frustration with detention policies under the Obama administration and articulate steps we’d like to see the Justice Department take. The letter we submitted to DoJ, which outlines those steps, is attached [I’ve posted it below].

The meeting included Richard  Sroczynski, Matt Daloisio, Helen Schietinger, and Jeremy Varon from WAT; Sue Udry from Defending Dissent; Leili Kashani (Education and Outreach Director) and Bill Quigley (Legal Director) from the Center for Constitutional Rights; and Orlando Tizon from the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International. We were honored to have, as late additions to the meeting, Syed Anwar Hashmi and Jeanne Theoharis. Syed is the father of Fahad Hashmi, a student from Queens, NY, who spent over 3 years in severe pre-trial solitary confinement at the MCC prison in New York City. He was accused of housing a suitcase with waterproof socks and rain ponchos that were delivered to a terrorist organization in Pakistan. Fahad continues to be subject to draconian “special administrative measures” (SAMs) that create conditions of detention amounting to torture [Note: Fahad Hashmi received a 15-year sentence for providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization on June 10]. Jeanne Theoharis, Fahad’s academic advisor at Brooklyn College, has done extensive work to publicize Fahad’s plight, rally support on his behalf, and expose the unjustifiable brutality of SAMs.

The meeting was both interesting and constructive. Ms. Roberson conveyed repeatedly that she appreciates our disappointment and anger even, and was very intent on learning more about our point of view. She was particularly impressed that we are not, for the most part, professional human rights advocates but instead “everyday people.” Her message was that she’d love to advocate, internal to DoJ, on our behalf. She would therefore like from us documentation supporting our position and demands. She also expressed a strong willingness to have a follow-up meeting.

We were both gracious toward Ms. Roberson and honest about our upset. We certainly appreciate the openness to dialogue. We will provide the materials she requested, and pursue additional meetings with her and others in DoJ. That said, actions speak far more loudly than words, and we insist on real changes in policy, not simply expressions of sympathy. We made all this clear, representing our position with both force and dignity.

The most moving portions of the meeting were hearing from Orlando, as a torture survivor, about the need for accountability, and from Mr. Hashmi about the nightmare his son and the entire family have endured. Ms. Roberson appeared personally touched by this.

The consensus in the group was that we should pursue things with DoJ as far as they will take us. Whatever her sympathies, Ms. Roberson does not set policy.  Others in the Justice Department have staked out deeply disturbing positions on various matters — from indefinite detention to the use of Military Commissions — knowing full well the objections of our community. It will be interesting to see if we will be granted a hearing with those at DoJ responsible for policy, and if any aspect of our demands will be met.

Many thanks, everyone.

Jeremy Varon, Witness Against Torture

Witness Against Torture’s Letter to the Department of Justice

Ms. Portia Roberson
Director of the Office of Public Liaison
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20530-0001
June 10, 2010

Dear Director Roberson,

We appreciate the discussions with your office over the last months, as well as your agreeing to meet with us on June 15. Under the Obama administration, the Justice Department has appeared more open to dialogue than previously, and we value this change. In advance of the meeting, we would like to outline our concerns and the steps we urge the Department of Justice to take.

Who we are:

We represent some among the countless Americans sick at heart at U.S detention policies who are determined to see them change. We have worked at the grassroots level for the closure of the detention camp at Guantánamo, the release and resettlement of men detained in error, an end to U.S. torture, and accountability for those who designed and carried out torture policies. We have assiduously followed intricate policy and legal debates. We have learned the stories of men detained so as to plead their cases publicly. We have advocated for justice in the face of official hostility and public fear. And we have supported those in government who have sought to end extra-legal detention, immunity for state crimes, and the cruel and degrading treatment of others. Our guiding belief is that lawful and moral detention policies are essential both to U.S. security and to being a good and just society, worthy of its ideals.

Our Concerns:

Encouraged by his campaign, we shared the hope that the election of Barack Obama would mean restored respect for the rule of law and human rights. So also we envisioned a Justice Department no longer captive to the partisan agenda of the Executive. We were therefore heartened when, on day one of his administration, President Obama signed executive orders mandating the closure of the detention facility at Guantánamo in a year and banning the torture practices labeled “enhanced interrogation techniques.” These measures, along with a rhetoric promising transparency and accountability, augured well for a decisive break with Bush-era policies.

Yet, in the last eighteen months, our hope for change has been almost entirely drained. The achievement of what should be modest goals, such as the closure of Guantánamo, now lies in grave doubt. The Obama administration and the Holder Justice Department have sustained many of the most objectionable of the Bush policies. The administration has consistently acted to accommodate the fear mongering and belligerence of the rightwing, rather than to fulfill its mandate to restore fairness and justice. Our country now stands at a crossroads. Its current path risks entrenching policies inimical to the Constitution and American values. We are reaching out to you in hope that it is not too late to turn in the direction President Obama first promised.

Below we outline areas of our greatest concern, highlighting how the Obama
administration and DoJ have worked against their stated intentions and proper charge.

Guantánamo

The detention facility remains open long after the deadline for its closure. Men cleared for release continue to languish there, as do some who have had federal judges rule that there are no valid grounds for their detention. This is unacceptable. If Guantánamo was, on day one, a foreign policy liability and a stain on the rule of law, it remains so eighteen months later.

We appreciate the difficulties in closing the camp. The Republican leadership and rightwing media consistently distort key facts and stoke public fear, making rational discussion about the camp’s fate difficult. Still, this is no excuse for the failure to close it. As habeas petitioners continue to win their hearings, as a fuller picture of the detention of innocent men emerges, and as evidence of the role of Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib, and other ills in radicalizing America’s enemies mount, the rationale for closing the prison only grows stronger.

Moreover, the Obama administration and the Department themselves have had a hand in the current morass. We make note here of the Department’s tragic decision to challenge [Judge] Ricardo Urbina’s ruling in October 2008 that 17 Uighurs at Guantánamo be released immediately into the United States. Had the DoJ let that ruling stand, allowing the Uighurs to peacefully settle here, foreign governments may have been more willing to take in men from Guantánamo. Further, their resettlement would have pre-empted the baseless argument sweeping through Congress that bringing men from Guantánamo into the United States in all cases represents an intolerable security threat.

In addition, the administration continues to erect obstacles to forestall the repatriation even of men allied to governments who have done everything the United States has asked to guarantee that they pose no security risk. Documenting such delays with respect to his Kuwaiti client [Fayiz al-Kandari], Lt. Col. Barry Wingard recently concluded that “the US’s ever-increasing demands have now entered the realm of the absurd.”

We should add that the DoJ’s invocation of qualified immunity, political question doctrines and state secrets privilege to block lawsuits concerning extraordinary rendition and torture (as in Arar v. Ashcroft, et. al.) has not only denied the plaintiffs a chance at restitution, but prevented an accounting of how some of those detained — far from “evildoers” — are themselves victims of American incompetence and cruelty.

Finally, the administration has never publicly refuted the Pentagon’s grossly exaggerated tally of detainees “returning to the battlefield” upon release from Guantánamo. As Professor Mark Denbeaux has shown [PDF], the Pentagon’s numbers are based in flawed methods, such as counting speech acts critical of US policy as evidence of “recidivism.” Quoting these baseless numbers, pundits and politicians perpetuate the myth of a “revolving door” from Guantánamo to terrorism. In general, the Obama administration has let stand the big lie regarding Guantánamo: that it always housed, and continues to house, the “worst of the worst.” With the entire prison population stigmatized this way, the principled resolution of the fate of the men imprisoned there remains remote.

Bagram and Habeas Corpus

The problem with Guantánamo is not the physical existence of the prison, but the effort to contrive areas outside the boundaries of U.S. and international law. To maintain “legal black holes” elsewhere perpetuates the Guantánamo problem. The prison at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan is one example. We have learned, by virtue of a FOIA request, the names of men detained at Bagram. However we do not know their nationalities, the circumstances of their capture, or what evidence, if any, warrants their detention (leaked [Maj. Gen. Doug] Stone report indicates 400 of 600 should never have been detained and should be immediately released). Nor do Bagram prisoners have proper legal counsel. It may be that many of those prisoners, like those at Guantánamo, were detained on flimsy bases. But without more information about them, as well as a system for assessing the validity of their detention, we will never know. Further, Bagram has been the subject of allegations of gross physical abuse — including the fatal beating of captives — beyond what is alleged to have taken place at Guantánamo.

The recent ruling holding that men captured away from the Afghan battlefield but brought to Bagram have no habeas rights is distressing; we are appalled that the Department of Justice would even contest the lower court judgment. The new ruling substantially undoes the victory for the rule of law that the 2008 Boumediene decision represents, reviving Bush-era conceits of executive power. We understand that prisoners captured in war have not historically enjoyed habeas rights. But all such prisoners are entitled, according to the Geneva Conventions, to an expeditious and competent hearing to determine the validity of their detention. This is a right that the Bush administration systematically denied. The Combatant Status Review Tribunals fell far below minimum standards of due process, and were rightly rejected by the Supreme Court in favor of habeas hearings. The spirit of Boumediene is the proposition that “war on terror” suspects should have a legitimate chance to argue the wrongfulness of their detention, and that this opportunity should exist for all suspects, regardless of where they are imprisoned. Given the frequent imprisonment of innocent men, nothing inspires confidence that one could dispense with the habeas process.

The Obama administration has taken the dangerous position that foreign nationals can be captured nearly anywhere in the world, brought into an active war zone, and denied the ability to plead their innocence. This position validates the reckless view that the United States is less safe if it takes prudent steps to ensure that it does not detain innocent men.

Indefinite Detention

As outlined in President Obama’s May 2009 address, the administration plans to detain some Guantánamo prisoners indefinitely, without charge or trial. This measure would apply to those against whom insufficient evidence exists for prosecution or from whom “evidence” was extracted through torture. The administration thus proposes a system of the preemptive incarceration based on the alleged probability of future crime, and not verifiable past conduct. This is as a frightful plan, which grants the U.S. executive near-tyrannical powers. Such a scheme must be rejected out of hand given its blatant inconsistency with the constitutional requirement of due process.

Accountability

Despite its promise of a new era of accountability and respect for the rule of law, the Obama administration has repeatedly acted to ensure immunity for nearly all those under the Bush administration who committed and authorized torture. In simplest terms, the administration has failed to enforce the law.

The President has declared that waterboarding is torture, and has suggested that other “enhanced interrogation” techniques are as well. We are bound by the Convention Against Torture to investigate and prosecute those who ordered or committed such acts. The DoJ, however, has declined any comprehensive criminal inquiry, limiting its investigation to those who allegedly committed acts beyond what “enhanced interrogation” protocols authorized. In this decision, it has endorsed the Bush administration claim that the law is whatever the administration says it is.

Even if one accepts the limited culpability of those who acted in accordance with what they thought was lawful, one might expect meaningful sanction for those who distorted the law. We therefore applauded the judgment of the Office of Professional Responsibility that John Yoo and Jay Bybee not only adopted tenuous legal opinions but also engaged in lawyering that fell well outside established professional norms. Its findings were to trigger potentially severe professional sanctions. Yet DoJ’s David Margolis, on spurious grounds, over-rode OPRs findings, issuing a tame reprimand of Yoo and Bybee that largely vindicates them. We thus find ourselves in the shameful circumstance in which torture was committed but no one is held accountable.

Some have suggested that to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into torture would be to politicize already sensitive issues. We disagree. The rule of law should be blind to politics. To decline mandatory prosecution is itself to politicize the law. President Obama has defended the grant of immunity as an effort to have the country “move forward” rather than “look back.” But the best — and perhaps only — way to prevent future torture is to hold accountable those guilty of torture in the past.

Recommended Steps

The above reflections all speak to our core demands: that Guantánamo be closed immediately, with its inmates released or charged and tried in civilian courts; that there be no system of indefinite detention anywhere; that habeas rights be granted to all detainees held by the US; and that the Justice Department conduct a comprehensive investigation of alleged torture under the Bush administration. Short of these broad measures, we have articulated smaller steps the Justice Department, in combination with other offices, should take.

Grant family visits: The United States should immediately grant the families of all detainees the right to visit them. Family visits are commonly granted to prisoners of all kinds, and those at Guantánamo and Bagram should be no exception.

Human rights assessment: The history of abuses at US detention facilities has been extensive. The United States should therefore consent to a comprehensive, public assessment by a credible human rights organization to verify that conditions at the prison are consistent with the Geneva Conventions. Such an inquiry should feature access to the detainees and look seriously at such controversial measures as extended solitary confinement and the force-feeding of those refusing food. We likewise propose such an assessment of Bagram prison.

Expand investigation and prosecution: The Justice Department should expand the investigative mandate of prosecutor John Durham to include former senior officials possibly complicit in authorizing torture policies.

Investigate obstruction of justice: Colonel Lawrence B. Wilkerson, Chief of Staff to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, recently signed a declaration for a court case indicating firsthand knowledge that in August 2002 Vice-President Cheney and other senior administration officials knew that many of those at Guantánamo were detained in error. However, according to Col. Wilkerson, the Bush administration did not want to “look bad” and so suppressed knowledge of this fact. Wilkerson’s statement should be the basis for a DoJ obstruction of justice inquiry focusing on the possible suppression of evidence of the innocence of captives at Guantánamo.

Investigate human experimentation: The Justice Department, especially in light of the newly released report by Physicians for Human Rights, should investigate the authorization and commission of potentially illegal human experimentation in the application and monitoring of “enhanced interrogations.”

Address “recidivism” claims: DoJ and other relevant agencies should issue a credible report assessing the frequency of men released from Guantánamo who then engage in criminal activities against the United States. Such a report should be based in sound, transparent methods, not based on flawed or self-interest reports, reviewed by extra-governmental bodies, and include a detailed work-up of all known or suspected cases of former detainees’ involvement in terrorism.

We thank you for your time and consideration, and look forward to a productive meeting.

Sincerely,

Witness Against Torture
Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Center for Constitutional Rights
Defending Dissent Foundation
No More Guantanámos
Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International
Voices for Creative Non-Violence

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) and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. 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, currently on tour in the UK, and available on DVD here), and my definitive Guantánamo habeas list, and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.

Shahrina had a list of 24 prisoners provided by Amnesty International (mirrored here), and approached me to ask if I had a list of all the prisoners still held. I explained that I didn’t have a specific list of the remaining prisoners, but that she could extract their names from my definitive prisoner lists (available here, here, here and here), which she then did, announcing the project via a Facebook note entitled, “What if YOU were tortured … and no one knew about it??!”

As Shahrina explained in her note, announcing a deadline of July 12 for writing to all the remaining prisoners, and asking her friends to nominate prisoners to whom they would write, “A single letter to these prisoners is a huge ray of light in their lives. Think about it — why can we not even do just that?! Is that how busy and occupied we are with life?”

As she also explained, “It will be nice if you could leave your name and address as you sign off the letter — as some brothers like to write back. This also gives the brothers hope that they do have support — and gives them the opportunity to talk about their lives to someone. It gives them the opportunity to lighten their hearts. You have the honour of lifting their weights and giving them the chance to speak about what it is REALLY like in there. If you still wish not to disclose any information — then please do not let this put you off. It’s not compulsory that you disclose such information — it is just comforting for the brothers to know they have someone else to communicate with — who really cares.”

I thought this was such an excellent idea — as did my colleagues at Cageprisoners — that the team at Cageprisoners also put together a campaign page, entitled, “Do not forget to write to the remaining prisoners in Guantánamo,” which contained the following information:

Guantánamo Bay may be off the radar screens, with some people actually believing the place has been closed down simply because Obama had promised to do so within a year of his presidency, but how can the men held there for so many years simply be erased from our memories? The campaign against the US prison may not have achieved the ultimate goal of acquiring justice for all the prisoners, but it has ensured that the men of Guantánamo are not forgotten. At least that’s what it should have done.

A practical part of any campaign is to engage those whom it affects most — in this case the prisoners (and their families).

A letter can literally go a long way in helping to relieve the ordeal of men who have been incarcerated in the world’s most notorious prison for close to a decade, without charge or trial in any fair or recognised legal system. After years of neglect, torture, abuse, cruel and unusual treatment the remaining prisoners at Guantánamo Bay still have no light at the end of the tunnel. Their strength and resilience has been in their faith, whilst their patience has been tested to the extreme.

Writing a letter to them might not secure their release or replace their lost years, but it can give a person who feels abandoned by the world a little solace and hope. Testimony from released prisoners bears witness to that.

Former Guantánamo prisoner and Al-Jazeera journalist Sami Al-Hajj said:

There were very few moments in Guantánamo that would give us joy. One of those moments was when we received letters from our families; but we were even happier knowing that some — who we didn’t even know — had written to us for no other reason than to show their support and care for us.

Former Guantánamo prisoner and Cageprisoners’ researcher Feroz Abbasi said:

The odd letter from a person I didn’t know in the outside world gave me a lot of strength, particularly because I felt we had been abandoned by the world — especially the Muslim world.

Former Guantánamo prisoner and Cageprisoners director Moazzam Begg said:

Letters and messages of support and solidarity are just as important now as they were when we first received them, even when they were heavily redacted. In a place where all hope of justice seems so far removed letters from unseen faces and unknown names are a breath of fresh air and a ray of hope.

So, please remember the prisoners in your prayer and follow through with actions that might bring a little smile to those who have undergone unimaginable tribulations over the years.

The Cageprisoners campaign page also linked to an earlier page providing advice about writing letters. There are many different points of view regarding what is appropriate, and what may or may not get through to prisoners. Amnesty International, for example, point out that simple messages of good will are best, and that anything that can be construed as political should be avoided, as it will almost certainly not be delivered. Their “Greeting Cards Campaign” page, for example, provides the following advice: “Simple messages of solidarity and good will are enough, especially if you are not writing in the recipient’s first language. For example: ‘Wishing you peace and happiness for the future’ or ‘Thinking of you.’ Never advance your political opinions or discuss politics.”

This is certainly sound advice, but for Muslim readers — or, indeed, for non-Muslims who want to reach out to prisoners in a manner they will understand — Cageprisoners also provides the following suggestions:

• Encourage them to be patient, and to have faith in Allah.

• Remind them that this life is filled with trials, and that those whom Allah loves will be tested again and again.

• Remind them of their purpose in life, and the promise of Jannah.

• Quote Qur’anic verses and hadith that mention the above, which will help increase their faith and strengthen their relationship with Allah.

• Encourage them to read the Qur’an often and engage in a lot of Dhikr.

• Whether you write a few words, or a long letter, it is important to keep on writing on a regular basis. As it is told in a hadith of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi was sallam, “The most beloved deeds to Allah are those which are regularly done even if they were little.”

Cageprisoners also notes that writing to prisoners “lets prison staff know that people out there care, and are concerned about them,” and that this “may decrease the chances that the prisoners [are] mistreated.”

So please, go ahead and write. If you are an Arabic speaker, or speak any other languages spoken by the prisoners besides English, feel free to write in those languages, and if you want any more encouragement about the significance for prisoners of receiving letters, then please visit this Amnesty International page, which features a short film of former prisoner Omar Deghayes showing letters he received in Guantánamo and explaining how much they meant to him — and to his fellow prisoners, which was filmed as part of an interview with Omar that is featured in the documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (directed by Polly Nash and myself), and available on DVD here. Also, please feel free to let me know if you have written a letter, and also if you receive a reply.

Please write to the remaining 181 prisoners in Guantánamo!

When writing to the prisoners please ensure you include their full name and ISN (internment serial number) below (the numbers before their names, i.e. Shaker Aamer ISN 239) and address to:

Camp Delta
P.O. Box 160
Washington D.C. 20053
USA

Also please note that the list includes five prisoners who have been released, but who I have been unable to identify, because their names have not been publicly disclosed: three unidentified prisoners released in Slovakia in January 2010, and two unidentified prisoners released in Georgia in March 2010.

POSTSCRIPT July 29, 2010: The three prisoners released in Slovakia have now been identified, and since this list was compiled five other prisoners have been released (four of these have been identified).

1) 004 Wasiq, Abdul-Haq (Afghanistan)
2) 006 Noori, Mullah Norullah (Afghanistan)
3) 007 Fazil, Mullah Mohammed (Afghanistan)
4) 026 Ghazi, Fahed (Yemen)
5) 027 Uthman, Uthman Abdul Rahim Mohammed (Yemen)
6) 028 Al Alawi, Muaz (Yemen)
7) 029 Al Ansi, Mohammed (Yemen)
8) 030 Al Hakimi, Ahmed (Yemen)
9) 031 Al Mujahid, Mahmoud (Yemen)
10) 033 Al Adahi, Mohammed (Yemen)
11) 034 Al Yafi, Abdullah (Yemen)
12) 035 Qader Idris, Idris (Yemen)
13) 036 Idris, Ibrahim (Sudan)
14) 037 Al Rahabi, Abdul Malik (Yemen)
15) 038 Al Yazidi, Ridah (Tunisia)
16) 039 Al Bahlul, Ali Hamza (Yemen)
17) 040 Al Mudafari, Abdel Qadir (Yemen)
18) 041 Ahmad, Majid (Yemen)
19) 042 Shalabi, Abdul Rahman (Saudi Arabia)
20) 043 Moqbel, Samir (Yemen)
21) 044 Ghanim, Mohammed (Yemen)
22) 045 Al Rezehi, Ali Ahmad (Yemen)
23) 054 Al Qosi, Ibrahim (Sudan)
24) 063 Al Qahtani, Mohammed (Saudi Arabia)
25) 088 Awad, Adham Ali (Yemen)
26) 089 Tsiradzho, Poolad (Azerbaijan) RELEASED IN SLOVAKIA
27) 091 Al Saleh, Abdul (Yemen)
28) 115 Naser, Abdul Rahman (Yemen)
29) 117 Al Warafi, Muktar (Yemen)
30) 128 Al Bihani, Ghaleb (Yemen)
31) 131 Ben Kend, Salem (Yemen)
32) 152 Al Khalaqi, Asim (Yemen)
33) 153 Suleiman, Fayiz (Yemen)
34) 156 Latif, Adnan Farhan Abdul (Yemen)
35) 163 Al Qadasi, Khalid (Yemen)
36) 165 Al Busayss, Said (Yemen)
37) 167 Al Raimi, Ali Yahya (Yemen)
38) 168 Hakimi, Adel (Hakeemy) (Tunisia)
39) 170 Masud, Sharaf (Yemen)
40) 171 Alahdal, Abu Bakr (Yemen)
41) 174 Sliti, Hisham (Tunisia)
42) 178 Baada, Tareq (Yemen)
43) 189 Gherebi, Salem (Libya)
44) 195 Al Shumrani, Mohammed (Saudi Arabia)
45) 197 Chekhouri, Younis (Morocco)
46) 200 Al Qahtani, Said (Saudi Arabia)
47) 202 Bin Atef, Mahmoud (Yemen)
48) 219 Razak, Abdul (China)
49) 223 Sulayman, Abdul Rahman (Yemen)
50) 224 Muhammad, Abdul Rahman (Yemen)
51) 232 Al Odah, Fawzi (Al Awda) (Kuwait)
52) 233 Salih, Abdul (Yemen)
53) 235 Jarabh, Saeed (Yemen)
54) 238 Hadjarab, Nabil (Algeria-France)
55) 239 Aamer, Shaker (UK-Saudi Arabia)
56) 240 Al Shabli, Abdullah (Saudi Arabia)
57) 242 Qasim, Khaled (Yemen)
58) 244 Nassir, Abdul Latif (Morocco)
59) 249 Al Hamiri, Mohammed (Yemen)
60) 251  Bin Salem, Mohammed (Yemen)
61) 254 Khenaina, Mohammed (Yemen)
62) 255 Hatim, Said (Yemen)
63) 257 Abdulayev, Omar (Tajikistan)
64) 259  Hintif, Fadil (Yemen)
65) 263 Sultan, Ashraf (Libya)
66) 275 Abbas, Yusef (Abdusabar) (China)
67) 280 Khalik, Saidullah (Khalid) (China)
68) 282 Abdulghupur, Hajiakbar (China)
69) 288  Saib, Motai (Algeria)
70) 290  Belbacha, Ahmed (UK-Algeria)
71) 307 Al Tumani, Abdul Nasir (Syria) RELEASED IN CAPE VERDE
72) 309 Abdal Sattar, Muieen (UAE)
73) 310 Ameziane, Djamel (Algeria)
74) 311 Bin Mohammed, Farhi Said (Algeria)
75) 321 Kuman, Ahmed Yaslam Said (Yemen)
76) 324 Al Sabri, Mashur (Yemen)
77) 326 Ajam, Ahmed (Syria)
78) 327 Shaaban, Ali Hussein (Syria)
79) 328 Mohamed, Ahmed (China)
80) 329 Al Hamawe, Abu Omar (Syria)
81) 331 Al Shurafa, Ayman (Saudi Arabia-Palestine)
82) 369 El Gazzar, Adel Fattough Ali (Egypt) RELEASED IN SLOVAKIA
83) 434 Al Shamyri, Mustafa (Yemen)
84) 440 Bawazir, Mohammed (Yemen)
85) 441 Al Zahri, Abdul Rahman (Yemen)
86) 461 Al Qyati, Abdul Rahman (Yemen)
87) 498 Haidel, Mohammed (Yemen)
88) 502 Ourgy, Abdul (Tunisia)
89) 506 Al Dhuby, Khalid (Yemen)
90) 508 Al Rabie, Salman (Yemen)
91) 509 Khusruf, Mohammed (Yemen)
92) 511 Al Nahdi, Sulaiman (Yemen)
93) 522 Ismail, Yasin (Yemen)
94) 535 El Sawah, Tariq (Al Sawah) (Bosnia-Egypt)
95) 537 Al Ali, Mahmud (Syria)
96) 549 Al Dayi, Omar (Yemen)
97) 550 Zaid, Walid (Yemen)
98) 552 Al Kandari, Faiz (Kuwait)
99) 553 Al Baidhani, Abdul Khaliq (Saudi Arabia)
100) 554  Al Assani, Fehmi (Yemen)
101) 560 Mohammed, Haji Wali (Afghanistan)
102) 564 Bin Amer, Jalal (Yemen)
103) 566  Qattaa, Mansoor (Saudi Arabia)
104) 569 Al Shorabi, Zohair (Yemen)
105) 570 Al Qurashi, Sabri (Yemen)
106) 572  Al Zabe, Salah (Saudi Arabia)
107) 574 Al Wady, Hamoud (Yemen)
108) 575 Al Azani, Saad (Yemen)
109) 576 Bin Hamdoun, Zahir (Yemen)
110) 578 Al Suadi, Abdul Aziz (Yemen)
111) 579 Khairkhwa, Khairullah (Afghanistan)
112) 675  Kasimbekov, Kamalludin (Uzbekistan) PROBABLY RELEASED IN LATVIA
113) 680 Hassan, Emad (Yemen)
114) 681  Hassen, Mohammed (Mohammed Hassan Odaini) (Yemen) RELEASED
115) 682 Al Sharbi, Ghassan (Saudi Arabia)
116) 684 Tahamuttan, Mohammed (Palestine)
117) 685 Ali, Abdelrazak (Algeria)
118) 686 Hakim, Abdel (Yemen)
119) 688 Ahmed, Fahmi (Yemen)
120) 689 Salam, Mohamed (Yemen)
121) 690 Qader, Ahmed Abdul (Yemen)
122) 691 Al Zarnuki, Mohammed (Yemen)
123) 694 Barhoumi, Sufyian (Algeria)
124) 695 Abu Bakr, Omar (Omar Mohammed Khalifh) (Libya)
125) 696 Al Qahtani, Jabran (Saudi Arabia)
126) 702 Mingazov, Ravil (Russia)
127) 707 Muhammed, Noor Uthman (Sudan)
128) 708 Al Bakush, Ismael (Libya)
129) 713 Al Zahrani, Mohammed (Saudi Arabia)
130) 717 Bin Hadiddi, Abdulhadi (Hedi Hammamy) (Tunisia)
131) 722 Diyab, Jihad (Syria)
132) 728 Nassir, Jamil (Yemen)
133) 744  Naji, Aziz Abdul (Algeria) RELEASED
134) 753 Zahir, Abdul (Afghanistan)
135) 757 Abdul Aziz, Ahmed Ould (Mauritania)
136) 760 Slahi, Mohamedou Ould (Salahi) (Mauritania)
137) 762 Obaidullah (Afghanistan)
138) 766 Khadr, Omar (Canada)
139) 768 Al Darbi, Ahmed Mohammed (Saudi Arabia)
140) 782 Gul, Awal (Afghanistan)
141) 832 Omari, Mohammed Nabi (Afghanistan)
142) 836 Saleh, Ayoub Murshid Ali (Yemen)
143) 837 Al Marwalah, Bashir (Yemen)
144) 838 Balzuhair, Shawki Awad (Yemen)
145) 839 Al Mudwani, Musab (Musa’ab Al Madhwani) (Yemen)
146) 840 Al Maythali, Hail Aziz Ahmed (Yemen)
147) 841 Nashir, Said Salih Said (Yemen)
148) 892  Al Hami, Rafiq (Alhami) (Tunisia) RELEASED IN SLOVAKIA
149) 893 Al Bihani, Tawfiq (Saudi Arabia)
150) 894  Abdul Rahman, Mohammed (Tunisia)
151) 899 Khan, Shawali (Afghanistan)
152) 928 Gul, Khi Ali (Afghanistan)
153) 934 Ghani, Abdul (Afghanistan)
154) 975 Karim, Bostan (Afghanistan)
155) 1008 Sohail, Mohammed Mustafa (Afghanistan)
156) 1015  Almerfedi, Hussein (Yemen)
157) 1017 Al Rammah, Omar (Zakaria al-Baidany) (Yemen)
158) 1045 Kamin, Mohammed (Afghanistan)
159) 1094 Paracha, Saifullah (Pakistan)
160) 1103 Zahir, Mohammed (Afghanistan)
161) 1119 Hamidullah, Haji (Afghanistan)
162) 1453 Al Kazimi, Sanad (Yemen)
163) 1456 Bin Attash, Hassan (Saudi Arabia)
164) 1457 Sharqawi, Abdu Ali (Yemen)
165) 1460 Rabbani, Abdul Rahim Ghulam (Pakistan)
166) 1461 Rabbani, Mohammed Ghulam (Pakistan)
167) 1463 Al Hela, Abdulsalam (Yemen)
168) 10001 Bensayah, Belkacem (Bosnia-Algeria)
169) 10011 Al Hawsawi, Mustafa (Saudi Arabia)
170) 10013 Bin Al Shibh, Ramzi (Yemen)
171) 10014 Bin Attash, Waleed (Saudi Arabia)
172) 10015 Al Nashiri, Abdul Rahim (Saudi Arabia)
173) 10016 Zubaydah, Abu (Palestine-Saudi Arabia)
174) 10017 Al Libi, Abu Faraj (Libya)
175) 10018 Al Baluchi, Ammar (Ali Abdul Aziz Ali) (Pakistan-Kuwait)
176) 10019 Isamuddin, Riduan (Hamlili) (Indonesia)
177) 10020 Khan, Majid (Pakistan)
178) 10021 Bin Amin, Modh Farik (Zubair) (Malaysia)
179) 10022 Bin Lep, Mohammed (Lillie) (Malaysia)
180) 10023 Dourad, Gouled Hassan (Somalia)
181) 10024 Mohammed, Khalid Sheikh (Pakistan-Kuwait)
182) 10025 Malik, Mohammed Abdul (Kenya)
183) 10026 Al Iraqi, Abdul Hadi (Iraq)
184) 10028 Al Afghani, Haroon (Afghanistan)
185) 10029 Inayatullah (Afghanistan)
186) 10030 Rahim, Muhammad (Afghanistan)

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) and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. 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, currently on tour in the UK, and available on DVD here), and my definitive Guantánamo habeas list, and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.

I also mentioned my recent article, “Murders at Guantánamo: The Cover-Up Continues,” and explained how it “provides a distressing insight into what may be one of the reasons why Shaker Aamer has not yet been released” — despite being cleared for release over three years ago — “because he was tortured in Guantánamo on the same night in June 2006 that three other prisoners died, in circumstances that have never been adequately explained.”

I also mentioned how Shaker’s story is featured in the new documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (co-directed by Polly Nash and myself) — and available here on DVD — and urged readers to write letters to William Hague — and to their MPs — which are available here and here.

I’m delighted to say that I have now received a copy of the letter handed in the David Cameron, which is posted below. As well as stressing the injustice of his ongoing detention, the letter also draws the Prime Minister’s attention to the recent report published by President Obama’s Guantánamo Review Task Force, regarding the “disposition” of the remaining prisoners, including Shaker Aamer, and clearly seeks information about what the Task Force decided in his case, and it also refers to a recent appeal for Shaker’s release that was made by the former hostage Terry Waite.

An open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron

Dear Prime Minister,

We are writing again to request that you act immediately to secure Shaker Aamer’s release and return home to the UK. It is difficult for anyone to imagine the level of suffering undergone by Shaker Aamer — a father-of-four from Battersea — who has been the victim of mercenary kidnapping, unjust detention, and brutal torture. Shaker has been deprived of his freedom and human rights and incarcerated in Guantánamo for more than eight years without being charged with any offence.

In the past, Mr. Cameron, you have spoken highly of Britain’s “proud tradition of providing a safe haven for those fleeing persecution” and, it would seem, you have a genuine respect for due legal process. Shaker too has been persecuted and has been held in solitary confinement. He has been subject to abuse and torture, and to the constant agony of not knowing when his unjust imprisonment and torment will end.

I am sure you agree that someone wholly innocent, who has never been charged or brought to trial for any offence, has every right to family life. Shaker was failed by the previous government and left unprotected. You and the new British government now have the means to bring about a positive resolution of the situation.

The Save Shaker Aamer Campaign (SSAC) welcomes foreign secretary William Hague’s statements with respect to an inquiry into UK complicity in torture. It would be a travesty of justice if such an inquiry took place while, at the same time, Shaker Aamer continues to be subjected to torture in Guantánamo. His story of abusive interrogations and torture must be heard. Any inquiry must be full and open and have the widest possible remit.

An important and relevant document, the “Final Report of the Guantánamo Review Task Force,” published on 22nd Jan. 2010, decided on the “proper disposition” — transfer, prosecution, or continued detention — of all 240 detainees subject to review. As you will be aware, the purpose of the review was to collect and examine information from across the US government to determine which detainees the US should transfer or release from custody, prosecute, or detain.

The previous UK government was unable to clarify the situation for us in Shaker’s case — they simply reiterated the view that any decision rested with the US. In other words, the UK government’s approaches to the US have been weak and characterised by long periods of silence and inaction resulting in the unacceptable situation that we are still in the dark regarding what is happening to Shaker.

It is our view that Shaker poses no threat to the national security of the US administration. Nothing should stand in the way of Shaker being returned to the UK, especially as he has already been cleared for release back in 2007. All other British former detainees have been released and returned to Britain after having suffered lengthy and horrific traumatic experiences and have re-engaged with British society in a wholly positive way. We have no reason to think Shaker would be any different. He has the love of his family and friends as well as the significant support of his local community.

Former hostage, humanitarian and writer Terry Waite CBE, who, as you know, in 1987 travelled to Lebanon as an envoy for the Church of England, to try and secure the release of four hostages, was kidnapped himself and held captive until 1991. Pledging his support for Shaker’s release, Terry has said, “I am writing this brief note in support of the British resident Shaker Aamer who was cleared for release in 2007 by the former President of the USA, George W. Bush, but continues to remain in detention in Guantánamo Bay … The fact that individuals have been detained for years in Guantánamo Bay and elsewhere, on suspicion, is disgraceful and ought to have no place in the procedures of any country that prides itself on respect for the rule of law … I add my voice to the many thousands of people who are profoundly disturbed by the detention of Mr. Aamer and others and would urge that he be released forthwith.”

SSAC calls upon you, Prime Minister, along with foreign secretary William Hague and the British government, to take up Terry Waite’s advice, to make the strongest representations possible to the US administration to secure Shaker’s release and return to this country. It is time for Britain to be seen again as a country that cares about justice, protects the innocent and shows a respect for others. High-level diplomatic, legal and medical delegations must be sent to the US and Guantánamo to secure Shaker’s release and re-instate his human rights.

We would appreciate receiving your views on all that is stated above.

Sincerely,

Ray Silk, Save Shaker Aamer Campaign
Jean Lambert MEP
Victoria Brittain, author and playwright
Moazzam Begg, director, Cageprisoners
John Clossick, Wandsworth Stop the War Coalition
Bruce McKenzie, Wandsworth Green Party

Note: For my analysis of the “Final Report of the Guantánamo Review Task Force,” please see my article, “Does Obama Really Know or Care About Who Is at Guantánamo?”

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) and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. 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, currently on tour in the UK, and available on DVD here), and my definitive Guantánamo habeas list, and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.

Save Shaker Aamer Campaign press statement

The Save Shaker Aamer Campaign will be handing in an open letter today to 10 Downing Street, calling upon the Prime Minister David Cameron, along with foreign secretary William Hague and the British government to make the strongest representations possible to the US administration to secure Shaker Aamer’s release and return to this country. It is time for Britain to be seen again as a country that cares about justice, protects the innocent and shows a respect for others. High-level diplomatic, legal and medical delegations must be sent to the US and Guantánamo to secure Shaker’s release and re-instate his human rights.

The SSAC notes President Obama’s wish to close Guantánamo and his appeal to European countries to take in released detainees, and also the British foreign secretary William Hague’s recent statement that there is to be an inquiry into claims of British complicity in torture, which is most welcome. However, this inquiry will be incomplete and of limited value and validity, if British resident Shaker Aamer is still detained in Guantánamo.

Shaker has been detained in Guantánamo for over eight years without trial or charge; he is known to have been brutally tortured and has throughout that time been stripped of his human rights. The US cleared him for release in 2007 but he remains incarcerated in the hideous concentration camp. He was a UK resident before his detention and his wife and four children have always lived in this country. He must be released from Guantánamo and returned immediately to his home and family in the UK.

It would be a travesty of justice if an inquiry into UK complicity in torture takes place while, at the same time, Shaker Aamer continues to be subjected to torture in Guantánamo. His story of abusive interrogations and torture must be heard, together with the statements of so many others whose human rights were violated by torture techniques that breached all international laws. Those who authorised these torture policies and practices must be made accountable. Any inquiry must be full and open and have the widest possible remit.

The truth must be told about this shameful period. Those who were subjected to torture will be reliving very painful, traumatic memories in order to tell their stories. They must be treated with care and respect. They have suffered great wrongs. They must not suffer more injustice.

SSAC calls upon the British foreign secretary William Hague and the British government to make to make the strongest representations possible to the US administration to secure Shaker’s release and return to this country.

Note: For copies of letters to William Hague, and to MPs, which can be cut and pasted, please see here and here. Also see my recent article, “Murders at Guantánamo: The Cover-Up Continues,” which provides a distressing insight into what may be one of the reasons why Shaker Aamer has not yet been released — because he was tortured in Guantánamo on the same night in June 2006 that three other prisoners died, in circumstances that have never been adequately explained.

For further information, see the new documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (co-directed by Polly Nash and myself), which focuses on Shaker Aamer’s story, along with those of two other British residents formerly held in Guantánamo — Omar Deghayes and Binyam Mohamed — and watch this space for details of forthcoming campaigns.

Also, please consider writing to William Hague and/or your MP about Shaker Aamer, and don’t forget: any attempt by the new coalition government to claim that it represents an improvement on New Labour when it comes to human rights will be undermined while Shaker Aamer is still held.

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) and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. 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, currently on tour in the UK, and available on DVD here), and my definitive Guantánamo habeas list, and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.

With William Hague’s announcement on Thursday that there will be a judicial inquiry into British complicity in torture, there is no longer a need to ask MPs if they support an inquiry, although it is still worth asking them what they believe the scope of the inquiry should be, and also to point out that any inquiry will be worthless if Shaker Aamer remains imprisoned at Guantanamo while it takes place, because the Metropolitan Police are investigating claims, first aired in a UK court in December, that MI5 agents were present in Afghanistan while he was being tortured by US operatives.

As a result, I have amended the letter as presented below.

Please also note that, with the recent hysteria regarding a ruling that two Pakistani terror suspects cannot be repatriated because they face the risk of torture, which was made by a judge who heard their case in closed sessions involving the use of secret evidence, this particular topic — and the fundamental conflict it raises with regard to the principles of open justice on which the UK prides itself — is once more up for discussion. It is, therefore, enormously important that MPs are told about the work of JUSTICE, the all-party law reform and human rights organisation (PDF), and others who have been pressing for years for fair trials using intercept evidence, instead of the shambolic, cruel and unjust situation created by the Labour government.

As before, I urge readers to cut and paste and send the letter to their MPs, which they can do through very useful interactive lists on the party websites (Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative) or through TheyWorkForYou.

In addition, I still recommend sending it to as many Liberal Democrat MPs as possible, given that almost all their MPs (including Nick Clegg, Vince Cable, Chris Huhne and Danny Alexander) voted against the renewal of control orders on March 1, and that many of them also supported the return of Shaker Aamer and a ban on the use of secret evidence, and signed up to Early Day Motions on both subjects in the last 12 months. This — despite William Hague’s swift action to tackle British complicity in torture — was in marked contrast to their Tory allies in the new coalition government, who have a dismal record on these issues, with just two MPs prepared to support any of these causes, compared to 43 current Labour MPs and 44 Lib Dems, as I explained in a list of 98 MPs that I published on May 14.

As I also explained when I published my initial draft letter to MPs, please note that, although the majority of MPs (551 of them) have no track record on these issues, the 98 mentioned in my previous article do, to at least some extent, and if any of these are your local MPs it may be worth tailoring the letter to reflect their previous concerns. Please also feel free to let myself and the London Guantánamo Campaign know when you have sent a letter (and when/if you receive a reply), and we will monitor the responses (the LGC drafted a letter originally, which I then adapted).

Please also note that a letter to foreign secretary William Hague regarding Shaker Aamer, Guantánamo and the scope of the judicial inquiry is available here, and that copies of both letters will be available at future screenings of the new documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo,” which features the story of Shaker Aamer, and is currently on a UK tour.

A letter to MPs regarding secret evidence, control orders, and the return from Guantánamo of Shaker Aamer

Dear

I am writing to you to ask what measures you will take in this new parliamentary session with respect to four specific matters relating to terrorism: the closure of Guantánamo and the return to the UK of British resident Shaker Aamer; the use of secret evidence in UK courts; the continued existence of control orders for British and foreign terror suspects; and the scope of the judicial inquiry into British involvement in torture, which was announced by foreign secretary William Hague on 20 May.

With respect to Guantánamo, I would like to know if you support the release of Shaker Aamer, a British resident from Battersea, who has a British wife and four British children. Mr. Aamer was cleared for release from Guantánamo in 2007, and the Labour government sought his return to the UK for nearly three years, but with no success. According to his lawyers, the government did not advocate strongly enough for his return. Will you take steps to ensure Mr. Aamer’s safe return to the UK, and will you also ask the government to follow the example of other countries (including Belgium, France, Portugal and Spain) in offering new homes to cleared prisoners from Guantánamo who cannot be repatriated because of fears that they will face torture on their return?

On the use of secret evidence in UK courts, the Law Lords ruled last year that the current system of testing allegations in cases related to terrorism — involving special advocates who represent detainees in closed sessions, but are not allowed to discuss anything that takes place in these sessions with their clients — breaches Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to a fair trial. Nevertheless, secret evidence continues to be used. Do you believe that the use of secret evidence is incompatible with the fundamental principles of open justice that underpin British society, and that alternative methods of protecting sensitive information in open court can, and should be used instead, as proposed by JUSTICE, the all-party law reform and human rights organisation?

Related to this issue are control orders, under which terror suspects — both British and foreign nationals — are held under a form of house arrest, and often subjected to a form of “internal exile” on the basis of secret evidence. The legislation supporting control orders is renewed annually, and on March 1 this year was passed by 206 votes to 85 in the House of Commons, opposed by the Liberal Democrats, but overwhelmingly supported by Conservatives, even though the party recognizes that control orders are “inherently objectionable” and have stated that they want a review. Will you support calls for the control order system to be scrapped?

In addition, with regard to the judicial inquiry into British complicity in torture abroad (which involves dozens of allegations relating to the intelligence services’ involvement in torture from 2001 to the present day), I would like to know what measures — if any — you think should be taken against public servants, of all levels, who knowingly colluded in breaches of international and domestic law. I would also like to ask you to let Mr. Hague know that this inquiry will be hollow if Mr. Aamer remains in Guantánamo while it takes place, because his allegations that MI5 agents were present while he was tortured in Afghanistan (which were revealed in a UK court last December) are being investigated by the Metropolitan Police (as was announced in February), and it would be shocking if his case was investigated by an inquiry while he remains unjustly deprived of his liberty.

I look forward to your response.

Yours faithfully,

Note: I have not included links in the template letter above, but for further information please see this archive of articles about prisoners released from Guantánamo in other European countries, and this article on the Law Lords’ ruling on control orders last June.

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 currently on tour in the UK), my definitive Guantánamo habeas list, and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.

For other articles dealing with Belmarsh, control orders, deportation bail, deportations and extraditions, see Deals with dictators undermined by British request for return of five Guantánamo detainees (August 2007), Britain’s Guantánamo: the troubling tale of Tunisian Belmarsh detainee Hedi Boudhiba, extradited, cleared and abandoned in Spain (August 2007), Guantánamo as house arrest: Britain’s law lords capitulate on control orders (November 2007), The Guantánamo Britons and Spain’s dubious extradition request (December 2007), Britain’s Guantánamo: control orders renewed, as one suspect is freed (February 2008), Spanish drop “inhuman” extradition request for Guantánamo Britons (March 2008), UK government deports 60 Iraqi Kurds; no one notices (March 2008), Repatriation as Russian Roulette: Will the Two Algerians Freed from Guantánamo Be Treated Fairly? (July 2008), Abu Qatada: Law Lords and Government Endorse Torture (February 2009), Ex-Guantánamo prisoner refused entry into UK, held in deportation centre (February 2009), Home Secretary ignores Court decision, kidnaps bailed men and imprisons them in Belmarsh (February 2009), Britain’s insane secret terror evidence (March 2009), Torture taints all our lives (published in the Guardian’s Comment is free), Britain’s Guantánamo: Calling For An End To Secret Evidence, Five Stories From Britain’s Guantánamo: (1) Detainee Y, Five Stories From Britain’s Guantánamo: (2) Detainee BB, Five Stories From Britain’s Guantánamo: (3) Detainee U, Five Stories From Britain’s Guantánamo: (4) Hussain Al-Samamara, Five Stories From Britain’s Guantánamo: (5) Detainee Z, Britain’s Guantánamo: Fact or Fiction? and URGENT APPEAL on British terror laws: Get your MP to support Diane Abbott’s Early Day Motion on the use of secret evidence (all April 2009), and Taking liberties with our justice system and Death in Libya, betrayal in the West (both for the Guardian), Law Lords Condemn UK’s Use of Secret Evidence And Control Orders (June 2009), Miliband Shows Leadership, Reveals Nothing About Torture To Parliamentary Committee (June 2009), Britain’s Torture Troubles: What Tony Blair Knew (June 2009), Seven years of madness: the harrowing tale of Mahmoud Abu Rideh and Britain’s anti-terror laws, Would you be able to cope?: Letters by the children of control order detainee Mahmoud Abu Rideh, Control order detainee Mahmoud Abu Rideh to be allowed to leave the UK (all June 2009), Testing control orders and Dismantle the secret state (for the Guardian), UK government issues travel document to control order detainee Mahmoud Abu Rideh after horrific suicide attempt (July 2009), Secret evidence in the case of the North West 10 “terror suspects” (August 2009), Letting go of control orders (for the Guardian, September 2009), Another Blow To Britain’s Crumbling Control Order Regime (September 2009), UK Judge Approves Use of Secret Evidence in Guantánamo Case (November 2009), Calling Time On The Use Of Secret Evidence In The UK (December 2009), Compensation for control orders is a distraction (for the Guardian, January 2010), Control Orders Take Another Blow: Libyan Cartoonist Freed (Detainee DD) (January 2010), Control Orders: Solicitors’ Evidence before the Joint Committee on Human Rights, February 3, 2010 and Control Orders: Special Advocates’ Evidence before the Joint Committee on Human Rights, February 3, 2010 (both February 2010), Will Parliament Rid Us of the Cruel and Unjust Control Order Regime? (February 2010), Don’t renew control orders, CAMPACC, JUSTICE and the Joint Committee on Human Rights tell MPs (February 2010), Fahad Hashmi and Terrorist Hysteria in US Courts (April 2010).

I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be attending the protest, and will be making my own call for the new coalition government to bring to an end Shaker’s long and unjust imprisonment (as well as calling for the UK to accept other cleared prisoners who cannot be repatriated, including Ahmed Belbacha, who lived here for nearly three years). Although Shaker was cleared for release in 2007, it is obvious that, as the foremost advocate of the prisoners’ rights, and as someone who has received harsh punishment as a result, he knows too much about Guantánamo — and about British complicity in torture — for either the US or UK government to want him freed.

In light of William Hague’s recent announcement that he is launching a judicial inquiry into British complicity in torture, I’ll be pointing out that such an inquiry will be worthless if Shaker is not released, as the Metropolitan Police are currently investigating claims that British agents were complicit in his torture in Afghanistan (as revealed in a UK court in December). As a result, securing Shaker’s return is not only essential for Mr. Hague’s inquiry, but will also send out another clear message that the new coalition government has made a clean break with the policies of its predecessors.

I aim to be at Parliament Square at around noon, and hope to see a number of the other speakers invited by the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign, who include: the journalist, author and playwright Victoria Brittain; Yvonne Ridley, the patron of Cageprisoners; Jean Lambert MEP; Jeremy Corbyn MP; Kate Hudson, Chair, CND; George Galloway, former MP; Bruce McKenzie, Wandsworth Green Party; Joy Hurcombe, Brighton Against Guantánamo; John Clossick, Chair, Wandsworth Stop the War Coalition; and Chris Nineham, National Officer, Stop the War Coalition. Also invited are the new Battersea MP Jane Ellison (Conservative), former MP Martin Linton (Labour) and Layla Moran (Battersea Liberal Democrat candidate).

Please come along for this protest, if you can, and let other people know about it. As the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign notes, “It is likely that many more people will be in the area than usual for the State Opening, so there will be ample opportunity for publicising our campaign.”

Note: For further information, please contact Ray Silk of the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign on 07756 493877 or 020 7223 0234, and please see here for a letter to William Hague, calling for Shaker’s return. There is also a feedback form for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office here, should you wish to send your letter via the web.

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 currently on tour in the UK), my definitive Guantánamo habeas list, and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.

While the scope of this inquiry has yet to be established, it is clearly no longer appropriate to ask Mr. Hague to follow through on his promise to launch an inquiry, and as a result an amended letter below now focuses primarily on Shaker Aamer and other prisoners in Guantánamo, although I also thought it was important to include an amended paragraph asking Mr. Hague to ensure that the scope of the inquiry will be as wide as possible, and pointing out that no credible inquiry can take place while Shaker Aamer is still held, because, as was revealed in a UK court case in December, he has alleged that MI5 agents were present while he was being tortured in US custody in Afghanistan, and, in February, the Metropolitan Police announced that they were investigating these allegations.

As before, please cut and paste it and send it to Mr. Hague, and also feel free to cross-post it, and to circulate it widely. There is an FCO feedback form here, should you wish to send your letter via the web.

A letter to William Hague calling for action on Guantánamo, and the return of Shaker Aamer

William Hague MP
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London, SW1A 2AH

Dear Foreign Secretary,

I am writing to you regarding the closure of the US prison at Guantánamo Bay, and to ask you to do all in your power to secure the return to the UK of Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in the prison — and also to take other cleared prisoners who cannot be sent back to their home countries.

As you know, between 2004 and 2007, the Labour government secured the release of all the British nationals held in Guantánamo, and all but one of the British residents. That man is Shaker Aamer, who has a British wife and four British children, and was cleared for release from Guantánamo in 2007. However, although government officials pressed for his return for over three years, they were ultimately unsuccessful in their endeavours. Given our special relationship with the US, which, as you recently stated, should be “solid not slavish”, I urge you to do all in your power to secure his immediate release.

As well as securing the release of Shaker Aamer, I would also like to ask you to help President Obama close Guantánamo by offering homes in the UK to other prisoners cleared for release by the President’s Task Force, out of the many dozens of men who cannot be repatriated because of fears that they will be tortured or subjected to other ill-treatment, and who, as a result, are effectively stateless.

One suitable candidate is Ahmed Belbacha, an Algerian man who lived in Bournemouth and cannot return to Algeria for fear for his life. Mr. Belbacha was also cleared for release in 2007, and yet he remains in Guantánamo because no other country will take him, and because the Labour government, which could so easily have offered him a new home, turned its back on him.

By offering a home to Mr. Belbacha, the UK would join an illustrious list of other European countries — Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Ireland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland — who have accepted cleared prisoners on a purely humanitarian basis. There are no reasons for the British government not to accept a small number of prisoners on a humanitarian basis to help close Guantánamo Bay.

In addition, while congratulating you on your commitment to launch a judicial inquiry into allegations of British complicity in torture, I urge you to ensure that its scope will be as broad as possible, given the dozens of allegations relating to the intelligence services’ involvement in torture from 2001 to the present day.

I must also stress that this inquiry will be hollow if Mr. Aamer remains in Guantánamo while it takes place, because his allegations that MI5 agents were present while he was tortured in Afghanistan (which were revealed in a UK court last December) are being investigated by the Metropolitan Police (as was announced in February), and it would be shocking if his case was investigated by an inquiry while he remains unjustly deprived of his liberty.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Note: As before, this letter, and an updated version of a related letter to MPs (which also calls for action on the use of secret evidence and control orders in the UK) will be handed out at future screenings of the new documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (directed by Polly Nash and myself, and with a focus on Shaker’s story), to continue the campaign for Shaker’s release that I undertook, primarily with former prisoner Omar Deghayes, but also with other guests, including Polly and former prisoner Moazzam Begg, during screenings of the film between February and the day of the General Election.

Please also note that I have not included links in the template letter above, but see here for information about Ahmed Belbacha, and see here for articles dealing with the other European countries who have taken cleared prisoners from Guantánamo, even though they have no previous connection with that country.

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 currently on tour in the UK), my definitive Guantánamo habeas list, and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.

Few people in America have heard of Mingazov, but the residents of Amherst and Leverett know about him because, on November 4, 2009, and April 24, 2010, Town Meetings in both towns passed resolutions offering him a new home — and also offering a new home to Ahmed Belbacha, an Algerian who was cleared for release in 2007. The resolutions also urged Congress to repeal legislation passed last year, preventing any former Guantánamo prisoner from entering the United States except for prosecution.

The resolutions were proposed by Amherst resident Ruth Hooke and Leverett resident Elizabeth Adams. Both are members of No More Guantánamos, “a coalition of concerned US residents, communities, organizations, and attorneys who are working together to ensure justice for the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Bagram air base in Afghanistan, and other offshore prison sites maintained by the CIA and the Pentagon around the world.” The organization’s director, Nancy Talanian, explained that the organization’s chapters around the country “choose one or two detainees and share the men’s stories through events, literature, and media to show the public that all Guantánamo detainees are human beings who deserve basic human rights, rather than the monsters that some government officials have described.”

“Our Pioneer Valley chapter chose Ravil Mingazov and Ahmed Belbacha last spring,” she added. “Although Ravil had not yet been cleared, our members were confident that he had done nothing wrong and should be released. We are very happy that the judge agrees.”

What the people of Amherst and Leverett had recognized was that Mingazov was an innocent man, seized as the result of an unfortunate chain of events, whose release from Guantánamo is long overdue. Although his story is unique, it shares similarities with the stories of other refugees who ended up in Guantánamo, and also sheds light on the stories of nine other prisoners, still held in the prison. Like Ravil Mingazov, their presence in Pakistan in 2002, for reasons unconnected with any kind of militant activity, has doomed them to eight long years in Guantánamo, because the US authorities erroneously concluded that there was a meaningful connection between the house they were staying in when they were seized, and the supposed “high-value detainee” Abu Zubaydah, who was seized on the same night.

Ravil Mingazov, a refugee from injustice in Russia

Born in 1967, Mingazov was a ballet dancer, who performed with a number of dance troupes. When he was 19, he was conscripted into the Russian Army, serving for two years in the Army’s ballet troupe. He then served as a volunteer until 1996, when he took a job in the military’s food supply section, transforming an ailing program into one that was recognized as “the best in all the Army’s.”

Mingazov’s troubles only began when he converted to Islam during his service, and discovered that there was widespread intolerance towards Muslim soldiers. When his requests for halal food and prayer time were denied, he took his complaints to his mayor and to a political party, provoking retaliation from his superiors. After the KGB stepped in, ransacking his house, he decided to seek a new country where he could live freely with his wife and his young child.

With his request for a passport denied without explanation, he traveled south to Afghanistan, intending to send for his wife and child once he had located a suitable place for them to live. This could have been Afghanistan, which, before the 9/11 attacks, provided sanctuary to numerous Muslim refugees fleeing religious persecution, but Mingazov’s quest was derailed following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, and his story took a dramatic turn for the worse after he fled with other refugees to a center in Lahore, in Pakistan, run by the vast missionary organization Jama’at-al-Tablighi, where he stayed from January to March 2002.

Although Mingazov was safe in the Tablighi center, he was anxious to return to his wife and child, but was prey to the prevailing opportunism regarding foreigners in Pakistan, who were being sold to the US military for bounty payments. It was at this point that he and two other refugees, Labed Ahmed (an Algerian) and Jamil Nassir (a Yemeni) were offered safe passage to a house in Faisalabad, where, they were told, it would be easier for them to leave the country.

Ahmed, a former drug dealer in Europe, who had been imprisoned several times in Germany and Italy, had ended up in Lahore after being recruited to fight with the Taliban, and had reached Lahore via a safe house in Bannu, in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province. He was released from Guantánamo in November 2008, but during his detention he explained that, in Lahore, he had been told to go to Faisalabad, “where some people would come to give him his passport and send him back to Germany.” He added that he and two other people, a Russian (Mingazov) and a Yemeni (Nassir), decided to allow themselves to be taken to Faisalabad, but that, after they arrived, at a place called Shabaz Cottage, they were told that they had been brought there by mistake and would be moved to another house after the evening prayer.

The tenuous connection to “high-value detainee” Abu Zubaydah

What none of the men knew at the time was that Shabaz Cottage was being rented by Abu Zubaydah, the former gatekeeper of the Khaldan training camp in Afghanistan, and that the house was under surveillance. As Ahmed explained, however, his only concern was that the house was “big and nice” and “everybody had their own room,” whereas the previous houses he had stayed in had been crowded. As a result, when a vehicle arrived to move the three men elsewhere, Ahmed insisted on staying. He added that, several days later, “The guy from al-Qaeda, Daoud [identified in the hearing as Abu Zubaydah] questioned me as to who I was, what I was doing here and who brought me. I said I’m from Germany waiting on my passport. When I get it, I will leave. He said, no problem, you can stay here for a week. I stayed there for about 12 days and the Pakistani police came. They took us to prison. Daoud was arrested with us, you can ask him about us.”

For Ravil Mingazov and Jamil Nassir, their relocation was no more successful, because the house they were taken to — the Crescent Mill guest house (also referred to as the “Issa” guest house, after its owner, and “the Yemeni house,” after most of its guests) — was raided on the same night that Abu Zubayadah, Labed Ahmed and others were seized in a bloody raid on Shabaz Cottage, and Mingazov and Nassir were seized along with 13 others, who all ended up in Guantánamo, where one of them — Ali Abdullah Ahmed al-Salami — died in mysterious circumstances in June 2006, allegedly as part of a triple suicide.

Judge Kennedy’s unclassified opinion has not yet been made available, so it is unclear why he approved Mingazov’s release, but it is almost certain that he concluded that Mingazov had no connection to Abu Zubaydah. This should have been clear to the US government for some time, for two particular reasons. The first is that, during a military review board at Guantánamo, Labed Ahmed stated that, because he, Mingazov and Nassir “did not have a connection or relationship with Abu Zubaydah,” they “should have been placed in the Yemeni house.”

This indicates that, although Abu Zubaydah had some sort of contact with the house, it was not a place that had any connection with terrorism, and was, at best, a place where a few foreigners fleeing from Afghanistan could be concealed alongside a group of students. Moreover, this analysis was reinforced last May, when Judge Gladys Kessler granted the habeas corpus petition of Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed, a Yemeni who was also seized in the house. Accepting that Ali Ahmed was a student, and that the government’s supposed evidence relied, to an intolerable degree, on statements made by unreliable witnesses in Guantánamo, Judge Kessler made a point of noting, “It is likely, based on evidence in the record, that at least a majority of the [redacted] guests were indeed students, living at a guest house that was located close to a university.”

Abu Zubaydah and a global web of tortured confessions

For the rest of the men seized in the Crescent Mill guest house, Judge Kessler’s ruling should have provided encouragement to the government to secure their release, but this has not been the case. In fact, the government hesitated about even releasing Ali Ahmed, explaining, as the New York Times described it last October, that officials had stated, “Even if Mr. Ahmed was not dangerous in 2002 … Guantánamo itself might have radicalized him, exposing him to militants and embittering him against the United States.” With this kind of mentality, no one would ever be released from Guantánamo under any circumstances, and it no doubt helps to explain why only three other survivors of the Crescent Mill raid have been released in the last year: Abdul Aziz al-Noofayee, a Saudi, who was released last June, and two other Yemenis, Mohammed Tahir and Fayad Yahya Ahmed, who were released in December.

Beyond highlighting the ongoing plight of the nine remaining men — all Yemenis, apart from one Palestinian — Judge Kennedy’s ruling is also noteworthy because it once more sheds light on the case of Abu Zubaydah. Despite the existence of evidence demonstrating that Zubaydah was nothing more than a mentally damaged training camp facilitator, and that the Khaldan camp had nothing more than a tenuous connection to al-Qaeda, the Bush administration decided that he was, in fact, a high-ranking member of al-Qaeda, and set about interrogating him using an experimental torture program. This was formalized on August 1, 2002, when John Yoo and Jay S. Bybee, lawyers in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which is charged with objectively interpreting the law as it applies to the executive branch, cynically attempted to redefine torture so that it could be used by the CIA with some sort of legal cover.

Attempts to hold Yoo and Bybee to account for their actions have so far been unsuccessful, but what is even more shocking than the attempt to give legal cover to a torture program supported at the highest levels of the Bush administration is the fact that intelligence assessments of Abu Zubaydah’s significance were so mistaken. As the Washington Post explained last March, after talking to “former senior government officials who closely followed [his] interrogations,” the torture of Zubaydah — which included waterboarding (a form of controlled drowning), confinement in tiny, coffin-like boxes, extreme violence, prolonged isolation, and the use of sustained nudity and loud music and noise — was so worthless that “not a single significant plot was foiled” as a result of it. Instead, his false confessions, extracted through the use of torture, led only to a global web of false allegations — implicating men as far afield as Canada and Europe — that has not yet been unraveled, and whose scale is, as yet, unknown.

Ravil Mingazov and the remaining occupants of the Crescent Mill guest house were not directly implicated in Zubaydah’s torture, as they were seized on the same night as him, but they are victims of the hysteria that greeted and followed his capture. While Zubaydah himself remains in Guantánamo’s secretive Camp 7 for “high-value detainees,” even though there appears to be no way that he can ever be prosecuted, Ravil Mingazov may now be more fortunate. Eight years after he made false statements in Bagram about attending an al-Qaeda training camp and listening to a lecture on jihad by Osama bin Laden, which he did because he was fearful of being forcibly returned to Russia, the State Department must now find a new country that is prepared to accept him instead of his home country — and the government will, hopefully, also consider the cases of the men seized with him in Pakistan on that fear-charged night back in March 2002.

Given Congress’s ban on bringing any cleared prisoners to the US mainland, it is doubtful that officials will pay any heed to the offer made by the people of Amherst and Leverett, but this is a great shame. As Nancy Talanian explained on Thursday, “Congress’s blanket ban on allowing any of the men to live here is standing in the way of the prison’s closure, which we believe will make Americans safer. Guantánamo detainees who cannot safely return home are really no different than other refugees whom western Mass. communities have welcomed in the past. And if the US government, which has held the men for more than eight years, claims [they] would not pose any danger if they are sent to live in allied countries, that should be sufficient assurance that we can be safe with some of them living here.”

Logic and compassion, however, are in short supply in a country still bewitched by the Bush administration’s groundless but enduring rhetoric about Guantánamo containing “the worst of the worst.” Amherst and Leverett may not succeed in welcoming Ravil Mingazov or Ahmed Belbacha to live in Pioneer Valley, but their example should inspire other US citizens to join the movement to make America accountable for its own mistakes, and to call on Congress to allow other wrongly imprisoned men to settle in the United States.

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 currently on tour in the UK), my definitive Guantánamo habeas list, and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.

As published exclusively on Truthout. Digg the original here.

For an overview of all the habeas rulings, including links to all my articles, and to the judges’ unclassified opinions, see: Guantánamo Habeas Results: The Definitive List. For a sequence of articles dealing with the Guantánamo habeas cases, see: Guantánamo and the Supreme Court: the most important habeas corpus case in modern history and Guantánamo and the Supreme Court: What Happened? (both December 2007), The Supreme Court’s Guantánamo ruling: what does it mean? (June 2008), Guantánamo as Alice in Wonderland (Uighurs’ first court victory, June 2008), What’s Happening with the Guantánamo cases? (July 2008), Government Says Six Years Is Not Long Enough To Prepare Evidence (September 2008), From Guantánamo to the United States: The Story of the Wrongly Imprisoned Uighurs (October 2008), Guantánamo Uyghurs’ resettlement prospects skewered by Justice Department lies (October 2008), Guilt By Torture: Binyam Mohamed’s Transatlantic Quest for Justice (November 2008), After 7 Years, Judge Orders Release of Guantánamo Kidnap Victims (November 2008), Is Robert Gates Guilty of Perjury in Guantánamo Torture Case? (December 2008), A New Year Message to Barack Obama: Free the Guantánamo Uighurs (January 2009), The Top Ten Judges of 2008 (January 2009), No End in Sight for the “Enemy Combatants” of Guantánamo (January 2009), Judge Orders Release of Guantánamo’s Forgotten Child (January 2009), How Cooking For The Taliban Gets You Life In Guantánamo (January 2009), Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics (February 2009), Bad News And Good News For The Guantánamo Uighurs (February 2009), The Nobodies Formerly Known As Enemy Combatants (March 2009), Farce at Guantánamo, as cleared prisoner’s habeas petition is denied (April 2009), Obama’s First 100 Days: A Start On Guantánamo, But Not Enough (May 2009), Judge Condemns “Mosaic” Of Guantánamo Intelligence, And Unreliable Witnesses (May 2009), Pain At Guantánamo And Paralysis In Government (May 2009), Guantánamo: A Prison Built On Lies (May 2009), Free The Guantánamo Uighurs! (May 2009), Guantánamo And The Courts (Part One): Exposing The Bush Administration’s Lies (July 2009), Obama’s Failure To Deliver Justice To The Last Tajik In Guantánamo (July 2009), Obama And The Deadline For Closing Guantánamo: It’s Worse Than You Think (July 2009), How Judge Huvelle Humiliated The Government In Guantánamo Case (Mohamed Jawad, July 2009), As Judge Orders Release Of Tortured Guantánamo Prisoner, Government Refuses To Concede Defeat (Mohamed Jawad, July 2009), Guantánamo As Hotel California: You Can Check Out Any Time You Like, But You Can Never Leave (August 2009), Judge Orders Release From Guantánamo Of Kuwaiti Charity Worker (August 2009), Guantánamo And The Courts (Part Two): Obama’s Shame (August 2009), Guantánamo And The Courts (Part Three): Obama’s Continuing Shame (August 2009), No Escape From Guantánamo: The Latest Habeas Rulings (September 2009), First Guantánamo Prisoner To Lose Habeas Hearing Appeals Ruling (September 2009), A Truly Shocking Guantánamo Story: Judge Confirms That An Innocent Man Was Tortured To Make False Confessions (September 2009), 75 Guantánamo Prisoners Cleared For Release; 31 Could Leave Today (September 2009), Resisting Injustice In Guantánamo: The Story Of Fayiz Al-Kandari (October 2009), Justice Department Pointlessly Gags Guantánamo Lawyer (November 2009), Judge Orders Release Of Algerian From Guantánamo (But He’s Not Going Anywhere) (November 2009), Innocent Guantánamo Torture Victim Fouad al-Rabiah Is Released In Kuwait (December 2009), What Does It Take To Get Out Of Obama’s Guantánamo? (December 2009), “Model Prisoner” at Guantánamo, Tortured in the “Dark Prison,” Loses Habeas Corpus Petition (December 2009), Judge Orders Release From Guantánamo Of Unwilling Yemeni Recruit (December 2009), Serious Problems With Obama’s Plan To Move Guantánamo To Illinois (December 2009), Appeals Court Extends President’s Wartime Powers, Limits Guantánamo Prisoners’ Rights (January 2010), Fear and Paranoia as Guantánamo Marks its Eighth Anniversary (January 2010), Rubbing Salt in Guantánamo’s Wounds: Task Force Announces Indefinite Detention (January 2010), The Black Hole of Guantánamo (March 2010), Guantánamo Uighurs Back in Legal Limbo (March 2010), Guantánamo and Habeas Corpus: The Torture Victim and the Taliban Recruit (April 2010), An Insignificant Yemeni at Guantánamo Loses His Habeas Petition (April 2010), With Regrets, Judge Allows Indefinite Detention at Guantánamo of a Medic (April 2010), Mohamedou Ould Salahi: How a Judge Demolished the US Government’s Al-Qaeda Claims (April 2010), Judge Rules Yemeni’s Detention at Guantánamo Based Solely on Torture (April 2010), Why Judges Can’t Free Torture Victims from Guantánamo (April 2010), How Binyam Mohamed’s Torture Was Revealed in a US Court (May 2010), Guantánamo and Habeas Corpus: Consigning Soldiers to Oblivion (May 2010), Judge Denies Habeas Petition of an Ill and Abused Libyan in Guantánamo (May 2010).

Also see: Justice extends to Bagram, Guantánamo’s Dark Mirror (April 2009), Judge Rules That Afghan “Rendered” To Bagram In 2002 Has No Rights (July 2009), Bagram Isn’t The New Guantánamo, It’s The Old Guantánamo (August 2009), Obama Brings Guantánamo And Rendition To Bagram (And Not The Geneva Conventions) and Is Bagram Obama’s New Secret Prison? (both September 2009), Dark Revelations in the Bagram Prisoner List (January 2010), Bagram: Graveyard of the Geneva Conventions (February 2010).

With a change of government, the responsibility for securing Shaker’s return now rests with William Hague, and I have therefore drafted a letter to the new foreign secretary, which I encourage readers to cut and paste and send to him, and also to forward to any other interested parties. Given Mr. Hague’s impressive track record of calling for an investigation into allegations of British complicity in torture abroad, I have also included a request for him to launch a public inquiry, a move that was advocated by David Cameron just two months ago.

This letter, and a previous letter to MPs (which also calls for action on the use of secret evidence and control orders in the UK) will be handed out at future screenings of “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo,” and to complete the picture, I will soon be drafting a letter to the new home secretary, Theresa May, dealing with secret evidence and control orders. I encourage readers not only to send the letter below to William Hague, but also to send the other letter to their local MP.

As I have noted previously, despite the occasional encouraging noise on these issues (especially on complicity in torture abroad), the Conservatives have a generally poor record when it comes to tackling the Labour government’s draconian anti-terror policies in the UK, but this is something that the Lib Dems must be encouraged to bring to the coalition negotiating table, and, in addition, is something that Labour MPs should be more willing to support now that they are not tied to the paranoid yoke of power.

A letter to William Hague

William Hague MP
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London, SW1A 2AH

Dear Foreign Secretary,

I am writing to you in connection with two particular topics: the closure of the US prison at Guantánamo Bay, and British complicity in torture.

As you know, between 2004 and 2007, the Labour government secured the release of all the British nationals held in Guantánamo, and all but one of the British residents. The government pressed for the return of the remaining resident, Shaker Aamer, who has a British wife and four British children, and was cleared for release from Guantánamo in 2007, but was unsuccessful in its endeavours. Given our special relationship with the US, which, as you recently stated, should be “solid not slavish”, I urge you to do all in your power to secure his immediate release.

As well as securing the release of Shaker Aamer, I would also like to ask you to help President Obama close Guantánamo by offering homes in the UK to other prisoners cleared for release by the President’s Task Force, out of the many dozens of men who cannot be repatriated because of fears that they will be tortured or subjected to other ill-treatment, and who, as a result, are effectively stateless.

One suitable candidate is Ahmed Belbacha, an Algerian man who lived in Bournemouth and cannot return to Algeria for fear for his life. Mr. Belbacha was also cleared for release in 2007, and yet he remains in Guantánamo because no other country will take him, and because the Labour government, which could so easily have offered him a new home, turned its back on him.

By offering a home to Mr. Belbacha, the UK would join an illustrious list of other European countries — Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Ireland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland — who have accepted cleared prisoners on a purely humanitarian basis. There are no reasons for the British government not to accept a small number of prisoners on a humanitarian basis to help close Guantánamo Bay.

On a related topic, I also ask you to maintain the position regarding British complicity in torture abroad, which you held so tenaciously in opposition. I have not forgotten that, in 2006, you told a meeting in the House of Commons organized by Human Rights Watch, “Reports of prisoner abuse by British and American troops — however isolated — and accounts, accurate or not, of the mistreatment of detainees at Guantánamo and extraordinary rendition flights leading to the torture of suspects, have led to a critical erosion in our moral authority. In standing up for the rule of law, we must be careful not to employ methods that undermine it.”

I have also not forgotten that, in February this year, after the Court of Appeal ordered David Miliband to release a summary of documents relating to the torture of Binyam Mohamed in Pakistan in 2002, which the foreign secretary had been attempting to suppress for 18 months, you told the House of Commons that the Conservative Party has “consistently argued for full investigation of all credible allegations of UK complicity in torture, and for the Government to find a way in this particular case to balance the needs of national security with the need for justice and accountability in our democratic society.”

As a result, I hope to hear that you will be ordering a public inquiry into the intelligence services’ involvement in torture, as called for by David Cameron on 11 March.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Note: I have not included links in the template letter above, but see here for information about Ahmed Belbacha, and see here for articles dealing with the other European countries who have taken cleared prisoners from Guantánamo, even though they have no previous connection with that country.

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 currently on tour in the UK), and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.

Now that we have a new government — involving an unprecedented coalition between the Tories and the Liberal Democrats — the ongoing UK tour of the new documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (directed by filmmaker Polly Nash and myself), continues with renewed purpose. Throughout the election period, the screenings that took place were dogged with a sense of indecision that has now been swept away — and I’m relieved that former prisoner Omar Deghayes and myself, who are taking part in Q&A sessions following the majority of the screenings, will now be able to focus once more on asking the audiences to take action for Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in Guantánamo (whose story features in the film).

Audiences — and readers of this article — can do this by writing to the new foreign secretary, William Hague (and also to David Cameron and Nick Clegg) to ask the government to do all in its power to secure his return from Guantánamo, to be reunited with his British wife and children as swiftly as possible.

I’ll shortly be drafting a letter to William Hague, which I’ll post here, and this — and a letter to MPs (which I made available on Friday, and which also includes questions about the use of secret evidence in UK courts, about control orders, and about British complicity in torture) — will be handed out at screenings, to encourage audiences to get involved, and, crucially, to demonstrate that there is action that can be taken. Omar is a living example of the success of political campaigning, as the high-profile campaign mounted in Brighton to secure his release undoubtedly played a part in securing his freedom.

Shaker Aamer was cleared for release from Guantánamo over three years ago, but remains held despite the Labour government’s claims that it persistently pushed for his release. His lawyers, however, have long wondered if this is strictly true, given that Shaker knows so much about the workings of Guantánamo (having been the foremost advocate of the prisoners’ rights within the prison) that, when he is finally released, his revelations may well be deeply embarrassing for both the British and the American governments.

With a change in leadership in the UK, now is a vital time for those who support Shaker’s return to renew pressure on the government, and to point out, if necessary, that his revelations — not only about Guantánamo, but also about conditions in the US prisons in Afghanistan, where prisoners were held before Guantánamo, and the involvement of British agents in interrogations in Afghanistan — concern the Labour government at the time, and do not reflect directly on the Conservative Party.

As I explained in a recent article, the Conservative Party has a poor record when it comes to supporting human rights while countering terrorism in the UK, and also has a poor record on calling for the closure of Guantánamo (I Googled in vain for a clear message). However, William Hague has made encouraging noises over the years. Back in 2006, he told a meeting in the House of Commons organized by Human Rights Watch, “Reports of prisoner abuse by British and American troops — however isolated — and accounts, accurate or not, of the mistreatment of detainees at Guantánamo and extraordinary rendition flights leading to the torture of suspects, have led to a critical erosion in our moral authority. In standing up for the rule of law, we must be careful not to employ methods that undermine it.”

Moreover, Hague has, on at least one occasion, addressed the return of Shaker Aamer from Guantánamo. In March 2009, he submitted a written request in the House of Commons in February 2009, “To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether US officials have acceded to the request to return Mr Shaker Aamer to the UK; and if he will make a statement.”

In addition, he has maintained his opposition to British complicity in torture — and calls for accountability for those involved — telling the House of Commons in February, after the Court of Appeal ordered David Miliband to release information regarding the torture of British resident Binyam Mohamed, that “we [the Conservative Party] have consistently argued for full investigation of all credible allegations of UK complicity in torture, and for the Government to find a way in this particular case to balance the needs of national security with the need for justice and accountability in our democratic society.”

Hague may well find his principled stance evaporating now he is in office, but his record in opposition means that campaigners for Shaker Aamer’s return — and for accountability for British complicity in torture — at least have some leverage. Listed below are five new screenings of “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo,” at which these topics and others will be discussed. I’ve also added this information to the dedicated page for the UK tour, to be updated as further screenings are added, and please also note that all screenings are free. Please feel free to publicize them, and I hope to see some of you at one or other event.

Friday May 21, 7.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Christ Church College, Blue Boar Lecture Theatre, the University of Oxford, St. Aldates, Oxford, OX1 1DP.
With Omar Deghayes, Andy Worthington and Polly Nash.
This screening is organized by the Oxford University Amnesty International group, and a Facebook page is here. For further information, please contact Amnesty Oxford.

Thursday May 27, 7 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
The Broca, 4 Coulgate Street, Brockley, London, SE4 2RW.
With Andy Worthington.
This screening is organized by The Broca as a prelude to the annual Brockley Max arts festival. On Tuesday June 1, at 7 pm, Andy will also present a screening of “Operation Solstice,” a documentary about The Battle of the Beanfield, on the 25th anniversary of this often-overlooked confrontation between travellers/political activists and the State (under Margaret Thatcher). For further information, please contact Andy, or, for the Broca, by email here.

Friday May 28, 6.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Arts A1 Lecture Theatre, The University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9RF.
With Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington.
This screening is organized by the University of Sussex Amnesty International group. For a map of the campus, showing the Arts A1 Lecture Theatre (No. 22 on map), see here. For other maps, see here, and for further information, please contact Michael Fisher.

Saturday May 29, 2 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Under the Bridge music studio, 7 Trafalgar Arches, Brighton, BN1 4FQ.
With Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington.
This screening is organized by Under the Bridge (see the website here, and also see here for “Radio Free Brighton,” housed in the studios). For a map, see here (the studios are underneath the main railway station), and for further information, please contact Jackie Chase on 07799 564620.

Wednesday June 2, 6 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HX.
With Omar Deghayes, Andy Worthington and Polly Nash.
This screening is organized by the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. Please contact Barbara Zollner for further information. Also see MeetUp pages here and here.

About the film

“Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” is a new documentary film, directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington, telling the story of Guantánamo (and including 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 (as missionaries or humanitarian aid workers, for example).

The film is based around interviews with former prisoners (Moazzam Begg and, in his first major interview, Omar Deghayes, who was released in December 2007), lawyers for the prisoners (Clive Stafford Smith in the UK and Tom Wilner in the US), and journalist and author Andy Worthington, and also includes appearances from Guantánamo’s former Muslim chaplain James Yee, Shakeel Begg, a London-based Imam, and the British human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce.

Focusing on the stories of Shaker Aamer, Binyam Mohamed and Omar Deghayes, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” 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.

Recent feedback

““Outside the Law” is essential viewing for anyone interested in Guantánamo and other prisons. The film explores what happens when a nation with a reputation for morality and justice acts out of impulse and fear. To my mind, Andy Worthington is a quintessential force for all things related to the journalism of GTMO and its inhabitants. As a military lawyer for Fayiz al-Kandari, I am constantly reminded that GTMO is ongoing and that people still have an opportunity to make history today by becoming involved. “Outside the Law” is a fantastic entry point into the arena that is GTMO.”
Lt. Col. Barry Wingard, attorney for Guantánamo prisoner Fayiz al-Kandari

“I thought the film was absolutely brilliant and the most powerful, moving and hard-hitting piece I have seen at the cinema. I admire and congratulate you for your vital work, pioneering the truth and demanding that people sit up and take notice of the outrageous human rights injustices perpetrated against detainees at Guantánamo and other prisons.”
Harriet Wong, Medical Foundation for Care of Victims of Torture

“[T]hought-provoking, harrowing, emotional to watch, touching and politically powerful.”
Harpymarx, blogger

“Last Saturday I went to see Polly Nash and Andy Worthington’s harrowing documentary, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” at London’s BFI. The film knits together narratives so heart-wrenching I half wish I had not heard them. Yet the camaraderie between the detainees and occasional humorous anecdotes … provide a glimpse into the wit, courage and normalcy of the men we are encouraged to perceive as monsters.”
Sarah Gillespie, singer/songwriter

“The film was great — not because I was in it, but because it told the legal and human story of Guantánamo more clearly than anything I have seen.”
Tom Wilner, US attorney who represented the Guantánamo prisoners before the US Supreme Court

“The film was fantastic! It has the unique ability of humanizing those who were detained at Guantánamo like no other I have seen.”
Sari Gelzer, Truthout

“Engaging and moving, and personal. The first [film] to really take you through the lives of the men from their own eyes.”
Debra Sweet, The World Can’t Wait

“I am part of a community of folks from the US who attempted to visit the Guantánamo prison in December 2005, and ended up fasting for a number of days outside the gates. We went then, and we continue our work now, because we heard the cries for justice from within the prison walls. As we gathered tonight as a community, we watched “Outside the Law,” and by the end, we all sat silent, many with tears in our eyes and on our faces. I have so much I’d like to say, but for now I wanted to write a quick note to say how grateful we are that you are out, and that you are speaking out with such profound humanity. I am only sorry what we can do is so little, and that so many remain in the prison.”
Matt Daloisio, Witness Against Torture

For further information, interviews, or to inquire about broadcasting, distributing or showing “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo,” please contact Polly Nash or Andy Worthington.

“Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” is a Spectacle Production (74 minutes, 2009), and copies of the DVD are now available. As featured on Democracy Now!, ABC News and Truthout. See here for videos of the Q&A session (with Moazzam Begg, Omar Deghayes, Andy Worthington and Polly Nash) that followed the launch of the film in London on October 21, 2009, and see here for a short trailer.

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 currently on tour in the UK), and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.