On 24 July 2008, Binyam Mohamed will be 30 years old. Unlike most other people aged 30, on that day, Binyam will have spent one out of every five years of his life in illegal American detention. Arrested in Pakistan in 2002, he was transferred to CIA custody. A victim of the “extraordinary rendition” programme, he was tortured in Morocco for 18 months, where a torture technique used involved making multiple incisions all over his body with a scalpel, including his penis. Binyam has been held in Guantánamo Bay since September 2004. The US recently brought terrorism-related charges against him; he is to face a military tribunal and could face the death penalty if convicted. In August 2007, the British government asked for his return to the UK which the US refused. Lawyers for Binyam have recently started a lawsuit against the British government to make them release evidence to the US which could see Binyam freed. The British government must do more and act more visibly to secure Binyam’s release from Guantánamo Bay and return to the UK, where he lived for more than 7 years.
Join us on 24 July 2008 at a special birthday demonstration Opposite Downing Street (nearest tube: Westminster) At 6-8pm To call on Gordon Brown and the British government to act to bring Binyam home. Join us and make some noise in this unique birthday bash to remind our government of their moral and humane obligations. Let’s make some noise for Binyam!
Organised by the London Guantánamo Campaign For more details, email
/ call Jalil on 07985 382 188 Supported by Reprieve, CAMPACC and Cageprisoners www.guantanamo.org.uk This is an authorised demonstration Happy Birthday Binyam!
Celebrate Binyam Mohamed’s 30th birthday – send a postcard or a birthday card to Gordon Brown and tell him to take action to make sure that this is Binyam’s last birthday in Guantánamo Bay. The British government must: ¨ Take action at the highest level to secure the release of Binyam and his return to his country (which has already been requested) ¨ Release documentary evidence to the American authorities that proves that Binyam was a victim of “extraordinary rendition” – documents that could see him released ¨ Understand that 6 years is more than enough – it’s time to honour our moral obligations
Send your birthday card/postcard on or around 24 July 2008 to: Gordon Brown MP House of Commons London SW1A 1AA Or send a virtual card to
You can also send Binyam a birthday card/greeting card (preferably earlier than 24 July) to: Binyam Mohamed (1458) Camp Delta, US Naval Base Guantánamo Bay, Washington DC 20355, USA
SPEAKERS INCLUDE: Sarah Teather MP Zachary Katznelson (from Reprieve, Binyam’s legal counsel) Camilla Jelbart (Amnesty International) Bruce Kent (prisoner rights activist) Bisher El-Rawi (former detainee)
At: THE BEETHOVEN CENTRE, THIRD AVENUE, LONDON, W10 4JL (nearest tube: Queen’s Park/bus: 6, 187, 316, 18, 36)
Binyam Mohamed is a 29 year old Ethiopian national who lived in west London for over 7 years. He was kidnapped in Pakistan in 2002 while travelling through the region, and handed over to the CIA who illegally “rendered” him to Morocco. After 18 months of interrogation under torture, he was “rendered” again, to an underground prison in Kabul, before finally being taken to Guantánamo Bay in September 2004, where he has been held without trial ever since. In November 2005, on the basis of evidence extracted under torture in Morocco, he was charged with conspiring to plot attacks against the USA. In the autumn of 2007, the British Government requested Binyam’s return to Britain. The US refused his release, stating that they plan to try him by military commission. As a result of almost six years of torture and abuse, Binyam is in an extremely poor mental and physical state; a medial report has concluded that he is suffering from severe depression and post traumatic stress disorder.
Organised by the London Guantánamo Campaign
/ www.guantanamo.org.uk for more details, please call Christine on 07737 783 159
Organised by the London Guantánamo Campaign
/ for more details, please call Christine on 07737 783 159
In the early hours of this morning Reprieve client and Al Jazeera journalist, Sami Al Haj, was finally released from Guantánamo Bay and reunited with his wife and young son in Sudan. Noticeably weak after over six years in US custody – and his 16-month hunger strike – Sami nevertheless spoke up for his fellow prisoners from his hospital bed in Khartoum. He later spoke to Zachary Katznelson, Reprieve’s Senior Counsel, to thank Reprieve and our supporters for their work on his behalf. For more details Click here
A series of events took place in London this week calling for justice for Guantánamo detainees past and present, and for the detention camp to be closed down, taking in protests outside the Spanish Embassy and Westminster Magistrates’ Court, London Fashion Week and a packed meeting with Moazzam Begg in East London.
On Tuesday 12 February, seven activists from the London Guantánamo Campaign and the Muslim Prisoner Support Group held a lunchtime demonstration outside the Spanish Embassy in Knightsbridge. Peaceful yet vociferous, the message got through to the Embassy staff inside where a meeting was taking place.
Urgent Action: Binyam Mohamed, 29 year old British resident in Guantánamo Bay Background:
Binyam Mohamed is a 29 year old Ethiopian who came to the UK in 1994 as an asylum seeker. He lived in Notting Hill, West London, for seven years.
In June 2001, he travelled to Afghanistan to see whether it was a “good Islamic country or not”. After 9/11, he left for Pakistan. In April 2002, he tried to return to the UK but was arrested at the airport. For the next three months, he was imprisoned by the Pakistani authorities.
In July 2002, he was transferred to American custody. The CIA flew him to Morocco where he was held for 18 months, during which time he was subject to torture and gross human rights violations. He eventually confessed to being involved in the “dirty bomb” plot targeted at the US with Jose Padilla.
In January 2004, he was rendered to Afghanistan where he was held in Kabul’s notorious “Dark Prison” for five months where he endured further torture. The Americans then took him to Bagram and then Guantánamo Bay in September 2004 where he has been held ever since.
In November 2005, he was charged with conspiring to plot terror attacks against the US; the evidence for this was procured through torture in Morocco. He had a preliminary hearing in June 2006 but his trial was halted when, later in 2006, the US Supreme Court ruled that the trials were illegal.
In August 2007, the British government made representations with the American government to have five British residents, including Binyam Mohamed, returned to the UK. The British government does not believe he poses a threat.
In December 2007, three of the residents returned to the UK, with a fourth man likely to return to Saudi Arabia. Binyam was not allowed to return as the Americans consider him to still be highly dangerous and intend to prosecute him.
In recent months, Binyam Mohamed’s physical and mental health has deteriorated considerably, to the extent that he has taken to smearing the walls of his cell with his own faeces. He is suffering from severe depression.
Take action!! Binyam Mohamed has been held in Guantánamo Bay for three and a half years and has been subjected to nearly six years of abuse. No evidence of wrongdoing has been substantiated against him. Write to the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and the Foreign Secretary David Miliband: ¨ Tell them that Binyam Mohamed’s case is of the utmost urgency. He is close to a complete breakdown and his behaviour, including smearing his excrement on the walls of his cell, demonstrates severe depression. The British government must act on humanitarian grounds to get Binyam released immediately. ¨ Ask what they are doing for Binyam Mohamed to secure his return to the UK. At what stage are negotiations for his release and return? ¨ The British government must act on its verbal pledges to have Guantánamo Bay shut down by acting to bring men such as Binyam, who have close links to the UK, back to this country and pressuring the US government to close down this and other illegal prisons in the “war on terror”.
Sample letter: Dear Mr/Ms.
I am writing to you concerning the urgent case of a British resident held in Guantánamo Bay. Binyam Mohamed, a 29 year old British resident of Ethiopian nationality, has been held in Guantánamo Bay since September 2004 and had spent two years before that being “rendered” between illegal American jails in Morocco, Pakistan and Afghanistan where he was tortured into making false confessions. Due to the severe torture and abuse he has faced, Mr. Mohamed is in an extremely poor mental and physical state. A medical report commissioned by his legal representative, Clive Stafford-Smith, has shown that he is suffering from severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The American psychiatrist who prepared the report has stated that he is “reaching the end of his psychological tether”. While your government has acted successfully to return other British residents from Guantánamo Bay and has sought the return of Mr. Mohamed, I am urging you to take immediate and urgent action to intervene in Mr. Mohamed’s case to have him released from Guantánamo Bay and returned to the UK now. I am calling on you to take urgent humanitarian action to prevent Mr. Mohamed’s fragile state deteriorating further. I would like to know at stage negotiations are between the British and American governments to release Mr. Mohamed and exactly what actions the British government is currently taking on his behalf. The UK has a moral and ethical obligation to do whatever it can to have Mr. Mohamed released. Your government has called for the closure of Guantánamo Bay, which is laudable, however it must also act to help close down Guantánamo Bay by allowing men like Binyam Mohamed to be returned to the UK and seek the total closure of this extralegal detention camp by the US government. I look forward to your response. Yours sincerely, Gordon Brown (Prime Minister)
Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown, MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 1AA
David Miliband (Foreign Secretary)
Rt. Hon. David Miliband MP
Foreign Secretary,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, King Charles St , London SW1A 2AH
Jacqui Smith (Home Secretary)
Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith MP
Home Secretary Home Office, 3rd Floor, Peel Building 2 Marsham Street London, SW1P 4DF
Also write to your MP (contact details at www.theyworkforyou.com) and ask them to contact and bring pressure to bear on the Foreign Secretary concerning Binyam Mohamed on your behalf.
The speaker on behalf of security affairs at Ministry of Interior in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has announced today the 29th of December 2007 the return of 10 Saudi prisoners from Guantanamo. Their families have been informed of their arrivals, and arrangements have been made to meet them.
It is worth mentioning that there were not even one evidence to support USA‘s decision to imprison those people, and others at Guantanamo for almost 5 years.
The men were extremely exhausted after years of unfair imprisonment, and bad treatment. Their release was an outcome of the joint effort of human rights organisations and groups, lawyers, and a large number of individuals who respected the dignity of humans, and their rights.
The names of returned prisoners from Guantanamo to KSA are as follows:
The National Coalition welcomes the arrival of three of the British residents from Guantanamo to Britain last night. However, we are concerned and disappointed about their arrests on landing in Britain and specially the subsequent extradition request for Jamil el Banna by the Spanish law enforecment agencies. These same agencies had several years to consider any evidence they may have had against Jamil but refused to request his extradition from Guantanamo stating that they had no case against him. His extradition would be challenged and we also demand that all the other returnees be released immediately to their families. It is an ocassion of celebration in both the christian and muslim calanders and for the authorities to hold these men to fulfil some political agendas does not speak well for our society and its administrators. The families of the detainees and the detainees have suffered enough to have to go through such callous treatment at the end of their ordeal at Guantanamo.
Jamil el Banna will be presented to the Westminister Magistrates Court this morning thursday the 20th December 2007around 10.00 pm, the National Coalition would urge all those can to attend the court to show their support for Jamil and other returnees and impress on the court the unjust nature of the extradition request by the Spanish law enforcement authorities after the long ordeal these detainees have been through over the last several years.
Cageprisoners is hosting a series of events around the UK, and inviting people to attend a truly unique opportunity to hear former US army Chaplain James Yee speak and discuss his experiences with former Guantánamo detainee and Cageprisoners’ spokesman, Moazzam Begg.
There are few people in the world who have never heard of the notorious US military prison facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. However, very few people have heard eye-witness accounts from US military personnel who served there - and even more rarely from Muslims within the US military.
Chaplain (Yusuf) James J. Yee, a former US Army Chaplain and graduate of West Point served as the Muslim Chaplain for the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2003. While ministering to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Captain Yee advised camp commanders on detainee religious practices and objected to the cruel and degrading abuses to which the prisoners were subjected.
What sets Yee’s already unique story apart from others is how his fortune changed from being recognized twice as an outstanding officer serving the US military to being regarded as an enemy of the state. Captain Yee was arrested and imprisoned in a Naval brig for 76 days in September 2003 while being falsely accused of spying, espionage, and aiding the alleged Taliban and Al-Qaeda prisoners.
He was held in solitary confinement and subjected to the same sensory deprivation techniques that were being used against the prisoners in Cuba that he had been ministering to.
After months of government investigation, all criminal charges were dropped. He tendered his resignation from the U.S. Army and received an Honorable Discharge on January 7, 2005. Upon separation he was awarded with a second Army Commendation medal for “exceptionally meritorious service.”
James Yee will be speaking with Moazzam Begg at the London Muslim Centre on Wednesday 5th December, (in conjunction with Q News and Hidden Detainees), in Birmingham on Thursday 6th December (co-organised by the BirminghamGuantanamo Coalition), where they will also be joined by the ‘Tipton Three’, and in Luton on Sunday 9th December.
Yee will also be touring the UK, in conjunction with FOSIS, Scotland Against Criminalising Communities, Save Omar Deghayes Campaign, and speaking in a host of cities, amongst them Glasgow, Dundee, Brighton, Manchester, and Lampeter. For full details of his UK itinery see below.
Copies of Yee’s gripping account of his Guantanamo experience and struggle for justice For God And Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire will also be available at most events
Dates and Venues: Wednesday 28th November - Lancaster University Thursday 29th Nov - Kings College, London, 5 pm Friday 30th Nov - FOSIS, University of Sussex & University of Portsmouth Saturday 1st December - FOSIS, University of Kent Sunday 2nd Dec - FOSIS, University of Bristol & University of Exeter Monday 3rd Dec - FOSIS, Midlands Tuesday 4th Dec - FOSIS, Manchester Metropolitan & University of Leeds Wednesday 5th Dec - Cageprisoners, Hidden Detainees and Q News, London Muslim Centre, Whitechapel E1, 6:30pm. With Moazzam Begg http://www.cagepris oners.com/ campaigns. php?id=597 Thursday 6th Dec - Cageprisoners and BirminghamGuantanamo Campaign, Birmingham, 7pm, With Moazzam Begg and Tipton Three Friday 7th Dec - SACC, Glasgow Saturday 8th Dec - FOSIS, Dundee University Sunday 9th Dec - Cageprisoners, Dallow Community Centre, 234 Dallow Road, Luton, LU1 1TF, 5:30pm http://www.cagepris oners.com/ campaigns. php?id=598 Monday 10th Dec - Save Omar, Brighton
In August 2007, Gordon Brown’s government decided to allow FIVE men being held at the US-run Guantánamo Bay detention camp to return to the UK . All of these men have close links to the UK – having lived here for extended periods or as they have British families. While this is a welcome move by the British government, one man was significantly missed off the list: Ahmed Belbacha, a 36 year old Algerian national.
Ahmed was cleared for release by the Pentagon in February 2007 and is deemed to pose no threat by the US authorities but has since been left languishing in Guantánamo Bay for the best part of this year for want of a country to claim him.
Ahmed cannot return to his native Algeria as he fled the country after threats were made to his life by Islamists and is likely to face further persecution by the government if he is returned having been tarnished by unfounded claims of being an “enemy combatant”.
Ahmed’s claim for asylum in the UK was being appealed in 2001 when he was kidnapped and turned over to the US military in Pakistan . He should be allowed to return to the UK , where he had lived, in Bournemouth , for over two and a half years.
The US authorities are currently trying to return him to Algeria where his life will be in danger. His lawyers are currently appealing to the US courts to block his return there.
Take action – write to the Foreign Secretary David Miliband to ask him to write to Condoleezza Rice to request Ahmed Belbacha’s return to the UK (cut and paste the following letter, print it and post it or email it to milibandd@parliamen t.uk. This letter may also be sent to Jacqui Smith (smithjj@parliament. uk), the Home Secretary. Feel free to edit the content.
Rt. Hon. David Miliband MP
Foreign Secretary,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, King Charles St , London SW1A 2AH
Dear Mr. Miliband,
I am writing to you concerning the plight of Ahmed Belbacha, who is currently being held at Guantánamo Bay .
Ahmed Belbacha is a 36 year old Algerian who fled to the UK in July 2000 and claimed asylum. Before fleeing Algeria he had been targeted by the GIA because he was an employee of the state-run Sonatrach Petroleum Company. His application for asylum was refused by the Home Office on the routine Home Office grounds for refusal that the GIA was not a force in the whole country so it was said that Ahmed could safely live elsewhere within Algeria. Unfortunately by the time of the hearing of his appeal in December 2001, Ahmed had already been kidnapped in Pakistan and was on his way to Guantánamo Bay , where he has been ever since. Consequently his appeal was heard in his absence and was denied on 2 January 2002.
Despite being deemed by the Military Annual Review Board in Guantánamo Bay in February 2007 not to pose a threat to the US and her allies and hence cleared for release, he remains detained at GTMO as he was not included in the list of former British residents whose return to this country you requested in August of this year.
As the US has publicly stated that its policy is to return cleared detainees to their country of nationality, Ahmed faces the real prospect of being returned to Algeria where his life will be in grave danger; particularly following the suspicion that must now attract to him as a person who at one point was deemed by the US military to be an ‘enemy combatant’.
The only humane course open is for you to allow Ahmed to return to the UK and give him an opportunity to pursue his application for asylum. This is a matter of natural justice.
I look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely,
Also write to your MP (contact details at www.theyworkforyou. com) and ask them to contact and bring pressure to bear on the Foreign Secretary concerning Ahmed Belbacha on your behalf.
House of Commons
London, SW1A 0AA
Dear
I am writing to you as my Constituency MP, to express my concerns about the plight of Ahmed Belbacha, who is being held at Guantánamo Bay . I would appreciate a reply to my letter.
Ahmed Belbacha is a 36 year old Algerian who fled to the UK in July 2000 and claimed asylum. Before fleeing Algeria he had been targeted by the GIA because he was an employee of the state-run Sonatrach Petroleum Company. His application for asylum was refused by the Home Office on the routine Home Office grounds for refusal that the GIA was not a force in the whole country so it was said that Ahmed could safely live elsewhere within Algeria. Unfortunately by the time of the hearing of his appeal in December 2001, Ahmed had already been kidnapped in Pakistan and was on his way to Guantánamo Bay , where he has been ever since. Consequently his appeal was heard in his absence and was denied on 2 January 2002.
Despite being deemed by the Military Annual Review Board in Guantánamo Bay in February 2007 not to pose a threat to the US and her allies and hence cleared for release, he remains detained at GTMO as Ahmed was not included in the list of former British residents whose return to this country was requested by the Foreign Secretary in August of this year.
As the US has publicly stated that its policy is to return cleared detainees to their country of nationality, Ahmed faces the real prospect of being returned to Algeria where his life will be in grave danger; particularly following the suspicion that must now attract to him as a person who at one point was deemed by the US military to be an ‘enemy combatant’.
The only humane course open to the British Government is to allow Ahmed to return to the UK and give him an opportunity to pursue his application for asylum. This is a matter of natural justice.
I am writing to ask you to bring pressure to bear upon the Government to take a moral stance, by extending their efforts on behalf of Ahmed Belbacha to allow him to return to this country and pursue his claim for asylum.
I ask you to pass my concerns about this to the Foreign Secretary, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today issued a new call for the immediate release of Al-Jazeera cameraman, Sami al-Haj, the only journalist being held by the United Sates in Guantanamo Bay, after his lawyers described him in “a serious physical and mental decline,” following a 250-day hunger strike.
Sudan-born Sami Muhyideen al-Haj has been held at Guantanamo since he was picked up at the Pakistan/Afghanistan border in December 2001. He has been tortured and accused of terrorism offences, although he has never been charged or brought to trial.
“Our colleague’s health is rapidly deteriorating and his relatives now fear for his life. The time has come for journalists all over the world to take up his case and join the campaign to get him freed” said IFJ President Jim Boumelha.
Al-Haj began his hunger strike on 7 January 2007, the fifth anniversary of his incarceration without trial. His lawyer, Stafford Smith, who last visited his client in July, said al-Haj, has lost 18kg (40lb), is losing his memory and is “fixated on his death.”
Al-Haj has been accused without proof of having interviewed Osama bin Laden and to have been involved in arms trafficking for Islamic terrorists.
The US alleges that he worked as a financial courier for Chechen rebels, and that he assisted al-Qaeda and extremist figures He has been held on the basis of secret evidence; he has not been convicted or even charged with a crime. And until last year the military would not even acknowledge he was in custody.
Boumelha made a special call to British journalists asking them to highlight al-Haj’s plight in the same way they supported BBC correspondent Alan Johnston during his captivity in Gaza adding, “Al-Haj had no history in terrorism and the US authorities have not been able to produce any credible evidence. They should either put him on trial or release him.”
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A series of events took place in London this week calling for justice for Guantánamo detainees