Two New UK Screenings of “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” with WikiLeaks Partner Andy Worthington – in Leicester and Hull

“‘Outside the Law’ is a powerful film that has helped ensure that Guantánamo and the men unlawfully held there have not been forgotten.”
Kate Allen, Director, Amnesty International UK

“[T]his is a strong movie examining the imprisonment and subsequent torture of those falsely accused of anti-American conspiracy.”
Joe Burnham, Time Out

As featured on Democracy Now!, ABC News and Truthout. Buy the DVD here (£10 + £2 postage in the UK, and worldwide) or here if in the US ($10 post free).

In February and March, after a promising start to this year’s UK student tour of the documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo,” which is supported by Amnesty International UK (and which followed a successful 35-date UK tour last year), Andy Worthington, the film’s co-director (with Polly Nash), became seriously ill, and spent two weeks in hospital, and another month recovering.

Now back on his feet, Andy is hoping to reschedule some of the dates that he was obliged to miss through illness, and is also arranging new dates, the first two of which are listed below. Others, in June, will follow soon, and will be added to the dedicated page for the tour, which is updated whenever new dates are arranged.

The intention of the tour, as with every screening of the film, is to raise awareness of the truth about Guantánamo, extraordinary rendition, secret prisons and torture, explaining how the Bush administration turned its back on domestic and international laws, rounding up men and boys in Afghanistan and Pakistan without adequate screening (and often for bounty payments), and also explaining 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 focuses on the stories of three prisoners — Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in Guantánamo, who is still held, and Binyam Mohamed and Omar Deghayes (both released) — and features interviews with former prisoners Moazzam Begg and Omar Deghayes, lawyers Clive Stafford Smith and Tom Wilner, and journalist Andy Worthington, plus appearances from Guantánamo’s former Muslim chaplain James Yee, Imam Shakeel Begg, and the British human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce.

With the recent release, by WikiLeaks, of classified US military documents relating to the prisoners — plus the death of Osama bin Laden — Guantánamo is more newsworthy than it has been for a while. As a media partner for WikiLeaks, Andy is perfectly placed to explain these developments, and also to keep the focus on Shaker Aamer, whose release from Guantánamo remains as pressing as ever. For further information, see this article in the Guardian about Shaker Aamer following WikiLeaks’ release of the US military’s Detainee Assessment Briefs from Guantánamo, this article in the Wandsworth Guardian (in Shaker’s home borough), and this BBC News feature on Shaker Aamer’s case. Also see these letters to the Guardian.

Please also note that both screenings are free.

Thursday May 12, 7 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.”
Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington.
De Montfort University, Room 3.03, Clephan Building, City Campus, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH.
This event is organized by De Montfort University Amnesty Society and Leicester University Amnesty Society. For directions, see the map here (the Clephan Building is number 7).
For further information, please contact Jonathan Ure, Hannah Slater or Emma Knight. Also see the Facebook page.

Monday May 16, 7 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.”
Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington.
Hull University, Lecture Theatre 15, Wilberforce Building, Cottingham Road, Hull, HU6 7RX.
This event is organized by Hull University Amnesty International Society.
For further information, please email. Also see the Facebook page.

For further information about the film, for interviews, or to inquire about broadcasting, distributing or showing “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo,” please contact Polly Nash or Andy Worthington, and see a trailer for the film below, via Journeyman Pictures, where, for a small fee, you can watch the film online:

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, Twitter, Digg and YouTube). 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, on tour in the UK throughout 2011, and available on DVD here — or here for the US), my definitive Guantánamo habeas list and the chronological list of all my articles, and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.