Guantanamo media

Promoting a new infographic I’ve created showing how long the 20 men approved for release from Guantánamo have been held since they were approved for release. In contrast to the 377 days that recently released prisoner Majid Khan had to wait to be freed after the end of his terrorism-related sentence last year, most of these 20 men have been waiting for far longer, and still have no idea when, if ever they will be freed, because their approval for release came through purely administrative processes, which have no legal weight.

Linking to the video of my recent interview on Al Jazeera about the release from Guantánamo of Majid Khan, who has been resettled in Belize, almost eleven months after his terrorism-related sentence came to an end. I was also pleased to have had the opportunity to highlight how 20 other men, also approved for release, are still held, and to explain how unacceptable this is, and that it is because their approval for release came about through purely administrative review processes that, shamefully, have no legal weight.

My reflections on how, 21 years after Guantánamo opened, the men still held, and those who have been released, are still deprived of fundamental rights as human beings, just as they were when they were first sent to Guantánamo in the first place, to be held as “enemy combatants.”

Promoting, and linking to ‘Guantánamo Voices’, a one-hour show by Alex Fitch, broadcast on Resonance FM, featuring comics creator Sarah Mirk discussing her 2020 graphic novel anthology ‘Guantánamo Voices’, me discussing Guantánamo’s history, and a recording of former prisoner and author Mohamedou Ould Slahi and I discussing Guantánamo at an event in Brighton last March, during Mohamedou’s first UK speaking tour. Alex also opened and closed the show with songs by my band The Four Fathers.

The video – with my introduction – of ‘Guantánamo: 21 Years On’, the very first episode of a new English language show, ‘The London Circle’, broadcast by the Arabic news channel Al Hiwar TV, featuring Moazzam Begg and I in discussion with Anas Altikriti.

My photos of, and report about an inspiring march and rally for the closure of Guantánamo in central London on January 14, 2023, organised by the UK Guantánamo Network, a coalition of groups including a number of Amnesty International groups and the Close Guantánamo campaign. Also included is a statement by former prisoner Omar Deghayes, which was read out at the rally.

Video of the New America panel discussion, “Guantánamo at Twenty-One: What is the Future of the Prison Camp?”, an online panel discussion held by New America on Jan. 11, 2023, the 21st anniversary of the opening of the prison, featuring Tom Wilner, Karen Greenberg and myself.

A letter from over 150 rights groups, including Close Guantánamo, which was sent to President Biden on the 21st anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, on Jan. 11, 2023, identifying it as “the iconic example of the abandonment of the rule of law”, and urging him to close it without any further delay.

Linking to and discussing my two recent interviews about Guantánamo and Julian Assange, with Jason Olbourne on TNT Radio in Australia, and with J. G. Michael for his ‘Parallax Views’ podcast, in which we also discussed recent claims by former prisoner Mansoor Adayfi that Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis was present when he and other hunger strikers were being force-fed, and that he revelled in their suffering.

My photos of, and my report about a UK Guantánamo Network vigil for the closure of Guantánamo that was held outside the US Embassy in London on November 2, 2022. At the vigil, we held up laminated posters of “the Guantánamo 20”, the 20 men (out of the 35 men still held) who have been approved for release but are still held.