9.1.10
On January 11, 2010, the 8th anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo, the following events will be taking place in London:
12.30 to 2 pm: The London Guantánamo Campaign will hold a demonstration outside the US embassy in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, London, W1
The demonstration will call on the US administration to close down the Guantánamo Bay detention camp as soon as possible and ensure justice for all the prisoners held there. At 12.30 pm, bound demonstrators in orange jumpsuits and black hoods will hold a vigil outside the embassy calling for liberty and justice, and between 1 pm and 2 pm the following speakers will address the issues: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat MP), Jean Lambert (Green MEP), Yvonne Ridley (journalist), Andy Worthington (journalist), Chloe Davies (Reprieve), Joy Hurcombe (Brighton Against Guantánamo), John Clossick (Save Shaker Aamer Campaign).
For more information, please e-mail the London Guantánamo Campaign or call Aisha on 07809 757 176.
2 pm: A letter will be delivered to Prime Minister Gordon Brown at 10 Downing Street calling for the release of Shaker Aamer
Those delivering the letter are: Johina Aamer, Shaker’s daughter, the journalist Victoria Brittain, Kate Allen (Director, Amnesty International UK), Kate Hudson (Chair, CND), Baroness Helena Kennedy, Gareth Peirce (lawyer for the family), the actress and activist Vanessa Redgrave, and Caroline Lucas MEP (the head of the Green Party in England and Wales).
Shaker Aamer has been held illegally without charge or trial at Guantánamo Bay for eight years. He is a British resident and his wife and four children are citizens of the UK and reside here. He is the most influential prisoner in Guantánamo Bay amongst the prisoners and also the US authorities and has championed prisoners’ rights. He has faced horrendous and humiliating treatment and is in very ill health. Despite being cleared for release since 2007, efforts to repatriate him have inexplicably stalled.
4 pm to 6 pm: Parliamentary Meeting to establish an Early Day Motion calling for the release of Shaker Aamer
The meeting, at the Jubilee Room in the House of Commons, is open to the public, and speakers are: former prisoners Moazzam Begg (Director, Cageprisoners) and Binyam Mohamed, Brent Mickum (Shaker’s US lawyer), Martin Linton (Shaker’s MP), Kate Allen, Gareth Peirce, Vanessa Redgrave and Saeed Siddique (Shaker’s father-in-law).
For further information, or to request interviews, please contact the Cageprisoners Press Office on 020 7953 4074 or Humza Qureshi on 07728 627 911. Please note that Johina will not be available for interview.
For further information about Shaker Aamer, please see my articles “Forgotten in Guantánamo: British resident Shaker Aamer,” “UK Court Orders Release Of Torture Evidence In The Case Of Shaker Aamer, The Last British Resident In Guantánamo,” and “Shaker Aamer: UK Government Drops Opposition To Release Of Torture Evidence.” Also feel free to check out the new documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington), which focuses on the stories of Shaker, Binyam Mohamed and Omar Deghayes.
Andy Worthington is the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison (published by Pluto Press, distributed by Macmillan in the US, and available from Amazon — click on the following for the US and the UK). To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to my RSS feed (and I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter). Also see my definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, updated in January 2010, details about the new documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (co-directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington, and launched in October 2009), and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.
Investigative journalist, author, campaigner, commentator and public speaker. Recognized as an authority on Guantánamo and the “war on terror.” Co-founder, Close Guantánamo and We Stand With Shaker, singer/songwriter (The Four Fathers).
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One Response
mudasiru bello says...
May allah reward all the muslim umah around the world both men and woman, and realease all from our ibadah as muslim in our right to practise our religion and made most of us like musad in the history of our holy prophet(saw) so that we can continue to show the world that islam is a moral and religion of peace.
Whakum delikum whali yedin to every citizen of the world. jazakallah.
...on January 11th, 2010 at 5:52 am