Guantanamo

Linking to my recent interview — about the future of Guantánamo under Joe Biden, the proposed extradition of Julian Assange, and more — with Andy Bungay and Colin Crilly for Andy’s show on Riverside Radio, a community radio station in Battersea. Andy also played two songs by my band The Four Fathers.

Reprieve has just launched a website counting, in real time, how long their client Ahmed Rabbani has been on a hunger strike — 2,846 days, as of Nov. 17, 2020. This is a shocking amount of time, as is Ahmed’s skeletal state — he weighs just 39 kilos, or 6 stone 2 pounds. I argue that it is time for Ahmed, like other “forever prisoners,” who genuinely don’t pose a threat to the US, to be released.

After congratulating Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for persuading enough people to vote Democrat to end the dangerous presidency of Donald Trump, I urge Biden to resume releasing prisoners from Guantánamo, and to work towards the long-overdue closure of the prison in its entirety.

A link to, and discussion of my half-hour interview on the topic of “Will Joe Biden Close Guantánamo?” with Ebrahim Moosa on South Africa’s Radio Islam International, after the Biden-Harris team’s victory over Donald Trump in the US Presidential Election.

A link to the video of a two-hour Action4Assange show I took part in on Saturday, discussing the proposed extradition of Julian Assange, my statements during the recent hearings at the Old Bailey, and the significance of the classified military files from Guantánamo, released by Wikileaks in 2011, on which I worked as a media partner. Also interviewed was filmmaker Juan Passarelli.

Sad news via the United Nations and the Associated Press, updating the story of 18 Yemenis sent to the United Arab Emirates between 2015 and 2017, after being unanimously approved for release from Guantánamo by high-level US government review processes. Promised new lives, they — and a handful of other ex-prisoners, including some Afghans and Guantánamo’s last Russian prisoner — found themselves imprisoned in abusive conditions instead, and, adding insult to injury, the Yemenis are now being threatened with repatriation to Yemen, where their lives are at risk.

An update in the story of Asadullah Haroon Gul, a genuinely insignificant prisoner, and one of the last two Afghans at Guantánamo, who has been on a hunger strike for five months, and weighs just 110 pounds. AFP recently visited his family in the refugee camp where they live, in north western Pakistan.

Promoting “The War on Journalism: The Case of Julian Assange”, a 38-minute film directed by Juan Passarelli, which provides a powerful summary of what the extradition case against Julian Assange is all about, and why it is such a chilling effort to both silence one man and to restrict press freedoms. I was interviewed for the film along with many other people including John Pilger and UN torture rapporteur Nils Melzer.

Promoting “Guantánamo Voices: True Accounts from the World’s Most Infamous Prison,” a powerful new book, written by multi-media journalist Sarah Mirk, and illustrated by a number of talented graphic artists, drawing on interviews with nine people who know the prison well, including former prisoners and lawyers. A perfect gift for enlightened friends, friends who need enlightening, birthdays and Christmas!

A link to, and discussion of my interview with the indefatigable US radio host Scott Horton about my statements in support of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange that were read into the court’s evidence during his extradition hearings in London. My statements were based on my work with WikiLeaks as a media partner on the release of classified military files from Guantánamo in 2011, and I was pleased to have the opportunity to explain why the release of these files was so important.