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The Four Fathers Release ‘Warriors (Freedom Version)’, Marking Julian Assange’s 50 Days as a Free Man

18.8.24

Promoting the release of ‘Warriors (Freedom Version)’ by The Four Fathers, an amended version of the song ‘Warriors’, which I wrote about Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning, and which we released in February, while Julian was still held in HMP Belmarsh, fighting his proposed extradition to the US in the UK courts. We released the updated song to mark 50 days since Julian unexpectedly regained his freedom as the result of a plea deal at the end of June, and I hope that you have time to listen to it, and that you’ll share it if you like it. Julian hasn’t made any public statements since his release, although last month his wife Stella posted the wonderful photo of the whole family together on a beach in Australia, which we used as the cover image, and I’m sure I’m joined by many other supporters in wishing him the opportunity to enjoy his freedom in peace, as I’m sure it will take him a considerable amount of time to recover from his long ordeal – of nearly seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and then five years in Belmarsh.

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.

Radio: I Discuss the Aborted Guantánamo Plea Deals and the UK’s Far-Right Riots with Chris Cook on Gorilla Radio

13.8.24

My recent interview with Chris Cook, on his long-running Gorilla Radio show in western Canada, in which we discussed the recently announced, but swiftly aborted plea deals at Guantánamo for three men accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks, the latest monthly coordinated global vigils for the closure of Guantánamo, which had just taken place at ten locations across the US, and in London, Brussels and Mexico City, the far-right riots in the UK, and much more.

Photos and Report: The Ten Coordinated Global Monthly Vigils for the Closure of Guantánamo on August 7, 2024

10.8.24

Photos from, and my report about the ten vigils for the closure of Guantánamo that took place across the US and around the world on August 7, 2024, marking 18 months of coordinated monthly global vigils that I initiated in February last year. The vigils take place on the first Wednesday of every month, and the next date is September 4.

Britain’s Racist Far-Right Riots, Brexit and the Shameful Responsibility of Politicians and the Mainstream Media

8.8.24

My analysis of the far-right riots that erupted in the UK last week, after three girls were stabbed to death at a children’s event in Stockport, and online provocateurs spread deliberate misinformation about the attacker being a Muslim, and an asylum seeker who had recently arrived in the UK after a small boat crossing, all of which was untrue. I examine the particular role played by politicians and the mainstream media in fanning the flames of racism, xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment, with a particular focus on Brexit, and on the shameful Tory politicians, particularly in the last five years, who waged a far-right war on immigration, proposing to send refugees on a one-way trip to Rwanda, and passing legislation that, shamefully, criminalised being a refugee or an asylum seeker. I also criticise the Labour Party for its role in fomenting Islamophobia, particularly through its unquestioning support for Israel’s actions in Gaza, and I also focus on the irresponsibility and unaccountability of social media companies, who provide platforms for dangerous provocateurs like Andrew Tate and ‘Tommy Robinson’ (Stephen Yaxley-Lennon), and whose free rein to promote and amplify the far-right and their lies should have no place in any kind of responsible media landscape.

Lloyd Austin Cynically Revokes 9/11 Plea Deals, Which Correctly Concluded That the Use of Torture Is Incompatible With the Pursuit of Justice

4.8.24

My analysis of the shameful news that, just two days after plea deals were announced in the cases of three of the men charged in connection with the 9/11 attacks — whereby the death penalty would be dropped in exchange for guilty pleas and the promise of life sentences instead — defense secretary Lloyd Austin has revoked those plea deals. The three men include Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind of 9/11, and the plea deals provided what appears to be the only viable conclusion to the legal impossibility of successful prosecuting them after their torture for three and a half years in various CIA “black sites.” Efforts to prosecute them have been ongoing since 2008, but are primarily stuck in a kind of “Groundhog Day,” because the men’s lawyers correctly seek to expose the torture to which they were subjected, while prosecutors seek to hide it, although over the last two years prosecutors have been working towards the plea deals, having apparently accepted that successful prosecutions are impossible. Austin’s capitulation — to Republican criticism, and to what appears to be the Democrats’ own commitment to a type of endless vengeance when it comes to the “black site” prisoners — is therefore a deplorable failure to accept the compromises needed to bring this sordid chapter in US history to an end, as well as to provide the remaining prisoners with adequate physical and mental health treatment, as required under international humanitarian law, and it is to be hoped that his “undue command influence” will be successfully challenged in court.

Photos and Review: This Year’s Glorious Sunny WOMAD Festival Once More Confirms Music As One of Humanity’s Greatest Gifts

1.8.24

Photos from, and my review of the wonderful WOMAD world music festival that took place from July 25 to 28 in the grounds of Charlton Park in Wiltshire. I’ve been attending WOMAD every year since 2002 as part of my wife’s community arts group, Dot to Dot, in which we entertain the children in the festival’s World of Children area, where, this year, we charmed the kids with a giant bee figure, Queenie. Amongst the extraordinary musicians who lifted my soul this year were DAM, the Palestinian hip-hop group featuring the rapper Tamer Nafar, Nana Benz du Togo, a brilliant five-piece voodoo feminist group, the Senegalese legend Baaba Maal, and a multi-generational highlife band from Ghana.

Podcast: I Discuss the UK’s General Election, Warmongering, Protest and Julian Assange’s Release with Andy Bungay

25.7.24

Linking to and discussing an interview with Andy Bungay of Riverside Radio, which I’ve published as a podcast on my YouTube channel. In the 50-minute interview, recorded on July 13, and featured on Andy’s weekly show, we spoke about the UK General Election, and my relief at being rid of the cruel, corrupt and incompetent post-Brexit Tories. However, I also expressed my doubts about the incoming Labour government led by Keir Starmer, with worries about his authoritarianism, his approach to protest (and here I discussed the recent draconian sentencing of five climate activists for a Zoom call), and his support for war in Ukraine and Israel’s genocide in Gaza. We also spoke about the new political landscape in the UK — or England in particular — where there are now five main parties, but they are not adequately represented in Parliament because of the antiquated and unjust ‘First Past the Post’ voting system, and how we desperately need a proportional representation system to properly reflect voters’ choices. We also spoke about the release of WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange, after five years fighting extradition in Belmarsh, and how his release was a ray of light in an otherwise darkening world, and we also spoke about the ongoing injustices of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, where 30 men are still held, 16 of whom have long been approved for release.

What Now, After the World Court Condemns As Unlawful Israel’s Entire 57-Year Occupation of the Palestinian Territories?

23.7.24

My report on a devastating advisory opinion on July 19 by the International Court of Justice regarding Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip) over the last 57 years, and concluding that it is, and always has been in contravention of international humanitarian law. Despite the unprecedented breadth and depth of the opinion, Israel has been ignoring rulings, opinions and resolutions regarding the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 1967, and yet nothing has led to it ever being restrained. This opinion needs to be followed by sanctions — hopefully via the UN General Assembly — or international humanitarian law and the United Nations itself will end up throughly discredited.

After Punitive Sentences of Climate Activists, Labour Must Repeal the Tories’ Draconian Anti-Protest Laws

19.7.24

My response to the draconian and vindictive sentences — the longest ever handed down in the UK for non-violent protest — delivered by a British judge, Christopher Hehir, to five climate activists yesterday. Their crime? Taking part in a Zoom call to plan disruption to the M25 to highlight the climate crisis and to get the British government to commit to a ban on new oil and gas extraction in the UK. The sentences — of four and five years — are, as Michel Forst, the UN rapporteur for environmental defenders, explained, “purely punitive and repressive.” The reason Judge Hehir was empowered to deliver such punitive sentences was because of two horrendous Acts of Parliament, passed by the recently departed Conservative government, via two malignant home secretaries, Priti Patel and Suella Braverman, which specifically targeted the right to protest, and essentially criminalised non-violent, mildly disruptive protest. This legislation needs to be overturned by the new Labour government, but as I explain in my article, I fear that “Keir Starmer — and Yvette Cooper, the new home secretary — fundamentally share the contempt Patel and Braverman had for any kind of protest that causes any kind of inconvenience whatsoever.” The right to engage in non-violent, mildly disruptive protest is at the heart of what separates supposed liberal democracies from autocratic regimes, and it is crucial that it is upheld in the UK, because, otherwise, those engaged in its suppression, to preserve a cosy capitalist status quo, are failing to accept that it is precisely this status quo that is killing us all, because, as I also explain, “man-made climate collapse is the greatest threat humanity has ever known, as is demonstrably true, and as is becoming ever more apparent with every passing day.”

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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

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The Guantánamo Files book cover

The Guantánamo Files

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The Battle of the Beanfield

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Stonehenge: Celebration & Subversion

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Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo

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