Asylum in Europe

Guantánamo Resettlements in Turmoil as Oman Forcibly Repatriates Yemenis Given New Homes Between 2015 and 2017

15.8.24

My detailed report about the disturbing news that the majority of the 28 former Guantánamo prisoners from Yemen, who were resettled in Oman between 2015 and 2017 because it was unsafe for them to be sent home, have been forcibly repatriated in recent weeks. To provide some necessary context, my article also includes an overview of the Obama administration’s resettlement program, in which, from 2009 to 2017, 125 former prisoners were resettled in 28 countries around the world, and I also discuss some glaring examples of countries that have failed to treat these men fairly or humanely, as supposedly required in the “diplomatic assurances” agreed with the US. The news from Oman is particularly dispiriting because the resettlement program there had been successful, with many of the men securing work, and marrying and having children. Oman has provided no explanation, and comments by US officials have been particularly troubling, with one State Department official stating that the US government had “never had an expectation that former Guantánamo detainees would indefinitely remain in receiving countries.” Another US official suggested that the Omanis were “making room” for a new arrival of former prisoners from Guantánamo, eleven men whose resettlement was supposed to take place last October, but was cancelled after the Hamas attacks on October 7. Both are alarming positions for the US government to take, as they blithely ignore the fact that, for the last 15 years, Congress has included provisions in the annual National Defense Authorization Act specifically preventing the repatriation of any Yemenis from Guantánamo because of security concerns. The Omanis’ actions, with US support, also violate the fundamental principle, under international human rights law, of non-refoulement, which prohibits the return of anyone to a country where they may face torture or other forms of abuse, which is a distinct possibility in divided and war-torn Yemen. Of particular concern, however, are the ramifications of the suggestion that resettlements were never meant to be permanent, which needs to be robustly challenged, because otherwise it will indicate to some of the other countries who resettled former prisoners between 2009 and 2017 that they too can get rid of these men if they find their continued presence inconvenient.

Video: My Impassioned Speech at the EU Parliament’s “Close Guantánamo!” Event on Sep. 28, 2023

26.10.23

The video of my speech at the inspiring “Close Guantánamo!” event at the European Parliament on September 28, 2023, hosted by the Irish MEPs Clare Daly and Mick Wallace, at which I stressed how the men still held at Guantánamo are as fundamentally without rights as they were when the prison first opened nearly 22 years ago, and called on EU countries to help resettle the men approved for release but who cannot be repatriated.

Video and Report: The Incredibly Powerful “Close Guantánamo!” Event in the EU Parliament, September 28, 2023

1.10.23

My detailed report about, and the video of ‘Close Guantánamo!’, an extraordinary and hugely powerful three-hour event held at the EU Parliament on September 28, 2023, featuring nine speakers, including Mansoor Adayfi (on what was only his second trip to freedom since he finally got a passport earlier this year) and two other former prisoners, two lawyers, a UN Rapporteur, myself and others, hosted by the inspiring independent Irish MEPs Clare Daly and Mick Wallace. As the event highlighted, the priorities for anyone concerned with justice, and with bringing to an end Guantánamo’s vile existence, are to resettle 16 men still held who have been approved for release (for which the countries of EU can help), providing adequate medical care for everyone still held at the prison, reminding the US government that it continues to have an obligation to ensure the welfare of former prisoners, even after their release, and, eventually, seeking accountability for the crimes that the US government has committed, and still continues to commit at Guantánamo.

The Long Struggle To Save Former Prisoner Ravil Mingazov From A Fate Worse Than Guantánamo — Seven Years’ Arbitrary Imprisonment in the UAE

20.9.23

The shameful story of Ravil Mingazov, a Russian Tatar held at Guantánamo for 14 years, then sent to the UAE, where he has been imprisoned for nearly seven years, in harsh conditions, despite having been promised that he would be helped to rebuild his life as a free man. His son and wife were granted asylum in the UK in 2014, and campaigners here in the UK are currently involved in efforts to persuade the British government to bring him to the UK to rejoin his family.

Sep. 28: EU Parliament Holds “Most Significant Gathering Ever Assembled on Guantánamo”, With Former Prisoners, Lawyers, Myself and Others

10.9.23

Announcing “the most significant gathering ever assembled on Guantánamo in the European Parliament,” on September 28, which I helped to initiate and organize, at which MEPs and members of the public will hear from ten speakers, including three former prisoners (Mansoor Adayfi, Moazzam Begg and Lakhdar Boumediene), Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism, three lawyers (Beth Jacob, Alka Pradhan and Mark Denbeaux), Valerie Lucznikowska of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, former Muslim Chaplain James Yee, and myself. The main thrust of the event will be to encourage EU governments to help with the resettlement of men still held at Guantánamo who have long been approved for release but who cannot be repatriated.

The Evil Heart of Brexit Britain Under Boris Johnson’s Bigoted Government and the UK’s Rabid Right-Wing Media

27.11.21

My response to the shameful deaths of 27 refugees crossing the Channel to the UK, how it reflects appallingly on the Brexit-soaked racism and xenophobia of the Tory government, the right-wing media and far too many of the British people, and how counter-productive it is to be turning away immigrants when, post-Brexit, all manner of British businesses are critically short of workers.

Uighurs Freed from Guantánamo Are Still Deprived of Fundamental Rights As They Seek to Be Reunited With Wives and Children in Canada

15.8.20

An update on a long-running story of obstruction by the Canadian government, which is refusing to allow three Uighur men and former Guantánamo prisoners, who were resettled in Albania and Bermuda, and who are married to Canadian citizens and with children who are also Canadian citizens, to be reunited with their families in Canada, citing long-discredited security concerns.

How the US Fell for Chinese Lies Regarding the Uighurs at Guantánamo, and Why the Uighurs Need Our Support

7.4.19

A cross-post, with my own detailed introduction, of an article for the Atlantic by Richard Bernstein about the Uighurs, an oppressed minority in China, and how the Bush administration sided with the Chinese government to falsely assess 22 Uighurs who ended up at Guantánamo as terrorists.

As the Stansted 15 Avoid Jail, The “Hostile Environment” Continues with Disgraceful New Windrush Flight to Jamaica

8.2.19

Please support my work as a reader-funded journalist! I’m currently trying to raise $2500 (£2000) to support my writing and campaigning on Guantánamo and related issues over the next three months of the Trump administration. If you can help, please click on the button below to donate via PayPal.   So there was good news […]

Why the Conviction of the Stansted 15, on Terrorism-Related Charges, Must Be Overturned

21.12.18

Please support my work as a reader-funded investigative journalist, commentator and activist. If you can help, please click on the button below to donate via PayPal.   As someone who has spent the last 13 years working to end imprisonment without charge or trial at Guantánamo, it has always been chilling to see these institutional […]

Back to the top

Back to home page

Andy Worthington

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. Also, photo-journalist (The State of London), and singer and songwriter (The Four Fathers).
Email Andy Worthington

CD: Love and War

The Four Fathers on Bandcamp

The Guantánamo Files book cover

The Guantánamo Files

The Battle of the Beanfield book cover

The Battle of the Beanfield

Stonehenge: Celebration & Subversion book cover

Stonehenge: Celebration & Subversion

Outside The Law DVD cover

Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo

RSS

Posts & Comments

World Wide Web Consortium

XHTML & CSS

WordPress

Powered by WordPress

Designed by Josh King-Farlow

Please support Andy Worthington, independent journalist:

Archives

In Touch

Follow me on Facebook

Become a fan on Facebook

Subscribe to me on YouTubeSubscribe to me on YouTube

The State of London

The State of London. 16 photos of London

Andy's Flickr photos

Campaigns

Categories

Tag Cloud

Abu Zubaydah Al-Qaeda Andy Worthington British prisoners Center for Constitutional Rights CIA torture prisons Close Guantanamo Donald Trump Four Fathers Guantanamo Housing crisis Hunger strikes London Military Commission NHS NHS privatisation Periodic Review Boards Photos President Obama Reprieve Shaker Aamer The Four Fathers Torture UK austerity UK protest US courts Video We Stand With Shaker WikiLeaks Yemenis in Guantanamo