In Memoriam: Faraj Hassan Alsaadi (1980-2010)

As I sit here trying to come to terms with the death of Faraj Hassan Alsaadi, who died in a motorbike accident on August 16, it seems to me that nothing can throw us as much as an unexpected death. In Faraj’s case, it is deeply distressing that he leaves behind a wife and three young children (aged nine, two and four months), and also that he had savoured freedom for such a short time before he passed away.

From May 2002, Faraj was imprisoned, initially pending extradition to Italy, and then, when that process failed, pending deportation back to Libya, for the invented crime of opposing the dictatorship of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, on the basis of secret evidence that he was unable to challenge in an adequate manner. He was held in a variety of prisons: Leicester, Wormwood Scrubs, Belmarsh, Brixton and Long Lartin, but when Britain’s secretive terror court (the Special Immigration Appeals Commission) ruled in April 2007 that he and another Libyan could not be deported because a “memorandum of understanding,” signed between the British and Libyan governments, which purported to guarantee the humane treatment of prisoners returned from the UK, was untrustworthy, he was placed under a control order — a form of house arrest, severely restricting his movement, his communications, and his social life — which was only finally revoked on December 21 last year. As a result, he had been a free man for less than eight months before his untimely death.

I never met Faraj, although I had the opportunity to do so. Back in spring, when former Guantánamo prisoner Omar Deghayes and I were touring the UK showing the film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo,” Omar proposed arranging for us to meet. I intended to follow up on this suggestion, but always seemed to be too busy working, although I presumed that an opportunity would arise at some point. What I failed to consider was that, on rare occasions, fate intervenes to rob us of the chance to meet people we would like to meet, at some unspecified point in the future, and as a result it occurs to me that we should never take these things for granted.

In an article to follow, I’ll cross-post an interview with Cageprisoners that Faraj undertook with in August 2007, shortly after his control order was imposed, which explains in detail the absurd circumstances of his detention, and reveals his spirit, passion and intelligence. Below are a number of videos featuring Faraj, including his last ever public appearance, at a rally for the former “ghost prisoner” Aafia Siddiqui, outside the US embassy in London on August 15. A website for Faraj has been established here, and I also recommend this post by Cageprisoners caseworker Feroz Ali Abbasi, who met Faraj for the first and only time just a week before his death.

Videos of Faraj Hassan Alsaadi

In the video below, made in 2007, after Faraj had been released from Long Lartin prison and placed on a control order, he explained the restrictions on his liberty, and sent a message to the British government appealing for fair trials for those imprisoned or held under control orders without charge or trial, on the basis of secret evidence:

In this interview on Press TV in February 2009, Faraj explained the impact of the control order on himself, and on his family:

On December 21, 2009, Faraj conducted his first interview following the British government’s decision to drop the control order against him, which was broadcast by Press TV:

The video below is of Faraj speaking at the Justice for Aafia Coalition’s “7 Days for 7 Years” vigil outside the US embassy in London on May 5 this year:

The video below is of Faraj speaking at the Justice For Aafia Coalition’s rally, “Aafia — the Last Stand”, on August 15 this year, just 12 hours before his death:

Note: Please see this page for information about how to donate to Faraj’s wife and his three children.

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 July 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.