Margaret Beckett, the British Foriegn Secretary, announced on thursday the 29th March the immenent release of Bisher Al-Rawi. His release is welcomed by all, specially the campaigners and family members of the British residents still held at Guantanamo.
The Brighton campaigner, Jackie Chase, from the campaign group Save Omar, said: "We really welcome the Foreign Secretary's announcement that Bisher al-Rawi can come home at last. His family must be immensely relieved.
Jackie Chase went on to say that the statement the Foriegn Secretary made in the House of Commons has very important implications for Omar's family and his supporters in Brighton.
If she can talk to the US about the release of Mr al-Rawi, if she can have all those extensive discussions she referred to then surely she could do the same for Omar and all the British residents. It is an important precedent.
Omar's brother, Abubaker Deghayes, added: "It is good to see someone getting out of there. It is proof the British government can ease the suffering of the detainees if it wanted. There is no reason for them to suffer anymore."
The release of Mr al-Rawi, which is likely to happen during the next 24 hours, will bring the number of British residents still inside the Guantanamo Bay jail to eight.
Since our protest outside Starbuck's in Ocober last year and several letters the campaign has received a reply of some sort from Starbuck's management.
Birmingham Guantanamo Campaign called for a protest outside Starbuck's in Birmingham city centre for saturday the 21st October 2006. Several other organisations and individuals in the city joined the protest and stood outside the Sturbuck's cafe for two hours distributing leaflets with information linking Starbuck's with Guantanamo by supplying coffee to the American army to the prison at Guantanamo.
Protesters also collected signatures for a petition asking Birmingham Council to demand that the British government does everything possible to secure the release of all the British residents still detained at Guantanamo and get the prison closed.
Quite a few of the shoppers, on hearing the case for boycotting Starbuck because of their policy of supplying coffee at Guantanamo, walked away from the cafe and signed our petition calling for the closure of Guantanamo. The management of the cafe called the Police, who on arrival tried to intimidate the protesters into abondoning their protest. Threats of arrest were made. However, the protesters stood firm. The police decided to allow the protest to continue and left leaving a couple of community police persons watching the protesters from a distance. The protest was successful in convincing quite a few of the consumers from going into Starbuck's cafe. The campaign will be following the protest with a letter to the executive of Starbuck's and if their response is not satisfactory we aim to continue our protest outside starbuck's establishments until they change their policy of supplying coffee to the American army at Guantanamo.
The campaign has since written a letter to Starbuck's management asking them to close their operation at Guantanamo. We await their response. Please download the copy of the letter(Click Here to download the letter) and send one yourself to the address provided. If you receive a reply email to
Campaigners, family members of Guantanamo detainees and ex-Guantanamo detainees all joined together across the country to protest at the continued inprisonment of around 400 detainees at Guantanamo.
In Birmingham, campaigners from the city and surrounding areas came together to protest outside Hiatts that supplies chains used at Guantanamo. Hiatts were suppliers of chains and collars to the Slave trade. Seize the day led the protesters in singing Shackle-Shuffle. They ended singing " Happy Birthday " expressing the hope that Guantanamo does not make the sixth birthday. Click here for more details on Seize The Day
David Nicholls expressed the hope that members of Parliament would follow in the footsteps of William Wilberforce who two hundred years ago led a successful campaign banning slavery in Britain and stop the trade supplying instruments of torture. He termed William Wilberforce his kind of MP.
Abubaker Deghayes spoke about the plight of his brother still held at Guantanamo. Abubaker asked the British administration to do everything possible to bring Omar, his brother, back home to England.
Sandy Mitchell spoke about his experience in the Saudi prison where he was shackled using the shackles manufactured at Hiatts. He also said how he felt betrayed by his own government that failed to back him when he sued the Saudi regime for illegal imprisonment and torture.
Raghib Ahsan, a Respect candidate for the Birmingham Council spoke on behalf of the local residents calling for the closure of Guantanamo and an end to trade in instruments of torture including the chains used at Guantanamo.
Protesters tried to deliver a birthday cake to the factory but the management refused to open the office doors. In the end Sandy Mitchell returned his shackles through the letter box and the protesters retreated to a meeting point at a local university where they heard in detail from Abubaker Deghayes the plight of Guantanamo detainees and his brother. They discussed what can be done to force the British government to ensure the safe and immediate return of all the British residents detained at Guantanamo.
In Edinburgh, campaigners met at the scottish parliament to mark the fifth anniversary of the arrival of the first prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The meeting issued a statement committing to urgently press for the closure of the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay and for other centers where people are detained without charge or trial as part of the "war on terror" Click here for the details of the meeting and the statement
In London, Amnesty international led over three hundred protesters in a mock demonstration of Guantanamo outside American embassy. The protesters demanded immediate closure of Guantanamo and the release of all its detainees. More Pictures with some very good accompanying music
In Cuba itself, protesters from across the world, including family members of some of the detainees marched to Guantanamo from the capital Havana and demanded the closure of the prison there and the release of all its detainees. Among the protesters were Cindy Sheehan, Tahir Deghayes, brother of Omar Deghayes and his mother. Also, among the protesters outside Guantanamo was Asif Iqbal, an ex-detainee at Guantanamo.
Campaigners fighting for the closure of Guantanamo and the release of its prisoners, including family members of British residents still held at Guantanamo are marking the fifth anniversary on the 11th of Januray 2007 with a protest outside the factory in Birmingham that supplied two hundred years ago to the slave trade and today supplies chains to notorious American prison at Guantanamo and other similar centres of torture and human rights abuse.
Speakers will include Clara Gutteridge (Reprieve), AbuBakr Deghayes (brother of Omar Deghayes), Sandy Mitchell (tortured in Saudi Arabia in Hiatt shackles), Dr David Nicholl (Birmingham physician and human rights activist who has spoken out regarding Guantanamo medical abuses) Alliya Stennet (Respect Candidate for Birmingham Council) & Councillor Tahir Ali
Assembly point for the protest
Junction of Rocky Lane and Baltimore Road 1.30pm 11th January 2007
The protest will be followed by a meeting at the University of Central England (Perry Barr Campus), Attwood building Room 040 starting after the protest around 3.00 pm.
Disappearances in the War on Terror have formed an integral part of the Bush administration’s programme of secret detention. This latest report by Cageprisoners: Beyond the Law: The War on Terror’s Secret Network of Global Detentions, highlights the wide-reaching extent of those countries that house these detainees, generally at the behest of the US government. The report shows that out of the 120 prisons identified worldwide, 72 have been, or are currently being used by the US to interrogate detainees.
By piecing together statements of released detainees, work of investigative journalists and human rights organisations, we provide the most definitive and up to date list of prisons used in the ‘War on Terror.’
Commenting on the findings of the report, Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, wrote,
“…Cageprisoners publishes a comprehensive report which reveals the systematic practice of enforced disappearances in a global network of secret places of detention.”
Further the Chair of the British Institute of Human Rights, Geoffrey Bindman, states that in the policies of the War on Terror,
“This report is directed at one glaringly disgraceful element in that strategy: the detention without charge or trial and the physical abuse of those suspected of involvement in terrorism.”
The release of the report aims to catalyse the process of bringing transparency to a situation deliberately shrouded in obscurity. Deliberately denying prisoners access to open courts or any semblance of justice, whilst being tortured and coerced into giving false confessions is not befitting of any civilised society. It is imperative that transparency swiftly be brought to this process, so that the innocent can pick up the remains of their shattered lives and be returned to their loved ones.
The report consists of a list of detention facilities, an accompanying document to explain the terms and provide analysis of the findings, and finally a map, pinpointing the network of ghost detention sites worldwide:
Human Rights campaigners in Birmingham came together on Sunday the 10th of December to mark the International Human Rights Day and protest against human rights violations both in Britain and internationally. Thousands of leaflets were distributed highlighting human rights violations internationally to shoppers who took time off their busy shopping schedule to discuss issues of human rights with the protesters.
The Birmingham Guantanamo Campaign highlighted human rights violations at Guantanamo, where over 450 prisoners are held without trial or access to any legal process. Atleast 8 of these detainees are British residents for whom the British government refuses to act to obtain their release. Birmingham Guantanamo Campaign pointed out that they delivered a petition to the Birmingham Council before their December meeting demanding that they ask the British Government to act on behalf of the British residents and secure their release to the safety of Britain where all have their families waiting for them. Statements were read out from family members of British residents still held at Guantanamo.
The statement from Guantanamo Campaign also pointed out that a large number of muslims are detained in this country under the various Anti-Terror measures and laws including control orders introduced by the Labour administration. Quite a few of them are released subsequently without any charge but their and their families lives are disturbed for ever. Anti Racist Campaign, as part of the protest, highlighted the abuses Asylum seekers face in this country. Some of the asylum seekers are detained and threatened of being repatriated to countries that violate human rights and practice torture. As a result of these threats and being detained indefinately some have taken their lives while in custody. A contingent of peoples from Congo under threat of being deported to the so-called 'peaceful democracy' the Democratic Republic of the Congo protested against the British government's policy of sending them back to Congo where their might still face persecution and threats to their safety and security.
The event was supported by the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, who are fighting against the daily violation of human rights the Palestinians face at the hands of the Israeli Defence Force that occupies Palestine. Several hundred Palestinian women and children are held in Israeli prisons Other groups supporting the protest included Iranian Refugee Association.
The various trade unions and political organisations, including Birmingham Trades Union Council, United against Fascism, Stop the War, Socialist Resistance, South Asian Alliance, Birmingham Campaign Against Arms Trade and many others in the city supported the protest against violations of human rights internationally and in Britain.
16th of November marked the fourth anniversary of the kidnapping of the three British residents and their subsequent illegal imprisonment at Guantanamo. Major cities in Britain, including Birmingham, Edinburgh and London held meetings to mark the day and to campaign for the release of British residents and the closure of Guantanamo and other prisons like it where individuals are imprisoned illegally.
BirminghamIn Birmingham, campaigners for the closure of Guantanamo invited councillors from all political groups to come and discuss the plight of the British residents still held at Guantanamo and the refusal of the British government to take responsibility for these residents and secure their release to the safety and security of Britain. Liberal, Labour and Respect councillors were represented and the candidate for The Green Party at the last council election spoke on behalf of the Greens. A petition with around 2000 signatures demanding that the Birmingham Council pass a resolution asking the British government to act on behalf of the British residents detained at Guantanamo was discussed and it was agreed that the petition will be presented to the leaders of the council at the start of the next council meeting scheduled for the 5th of December 2006.
We hope as many people as possible would come out to deliver the petition on Tuesday the 5th of December for 13:30 outside the Council House, Birmingham city centre. If you have not already signed the petiton please do so. Click here to Sign the Petition
London
The London Guantanamo Campaign held a public meeting in Willesden Green, northwest London, on 16 November 2006. The meeting was held to mark the fourth anniversary of the kidnap, rendition and imprisonment of Jamil El-Banna and Bisher El-Rawi in Gambia, Afghanistan and, for the past three and a half years, in Guantanamo Bay. Like most of the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, they are subject to arbitrary detention without charge or trial.
Jamil El-Banna's sons Anas (10) and Mohammed (9) started off the meeting by reading out a letter that Anas had written and a poem by Mohammed. Jamil El-Banna's MP Sarah Teather then spoke of her campaign to have her constituent released. She asserted that Jamil poses no threat to the United Kingdom and there is no security reason for the British government to block his return to this country in spite of the US's demanded security requirements.
Other speakers included Yvonne Ridley, Political Editor at the Islam Channel, Asim Qureshi from Cageprisoners and Zachary Katznelson from Reprieve, a legal charity representing 38 Guantanamo prisoners, including all the British residents. Zachary recently returned to the UK from Guantanamo where he met both Jamil and Bisher. Concerning their situation, he said that Bisher El-Rawi is currently being held in Camp 5 which is the maximum security wing as he is refusing to cooperate with the American military authorities anymore. Jamil El-Banna is currently being held in medium security conditions where he has greater freedom of movement and can speak to other prisoners at times. The fact that last month Jamil was able to speak to his wife in London during a one hour phone call, on humanitarian grounds following the death of his mother, is both unprecedented and proves that he is not considered a threat.
Representatives from Amnesty International and CAMPACC also spoke and answered questions. Statements were read out on behalf of Sabah El-Banna, Jamil's wife, Jahida Sayyadi, Bisher's mother and Amani Deghayes, the sister of Omar Deghayes, a British resident from Brighton. Approximately forty people attended the meeting which was rather upbeat and positive. The London Guantanamo Campaign is holding its next monthly meeting, on Wednesday 22 November, at 7-9pm at the same venue (Pakistani Community Centre, Marley Walk, Off Station Parade, NW2) to discuss events to mark the fifth anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo in January. Please come and join us.
Edinburgh Over 100 people attended a public meeting in Edinburgh's Augustine Church on Thursday 16 November to mark the fourth anniversary of the kidnap, rendition and imprisonment of Jamil El-Banna and Bisher El-Rawi.
Messages from Jahida Sayyadi, mother of Guantanamo detainee Bisher Al-Rawi, from Amani Deghayes, sister of Guantanamo detainee Omar Deghayes and from Sabah El-Banna, wife of Guantanamo detainee Jamil El-Banna were read out at the start of the meeting.
It was pointed out that the Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty had noted in his report on rendition that Jamil El-Banna's interogators had made "shameful threats against his [Jamil's] family living in London." Dick Marty - a hard-bitten former Swiss judge who made his name investigating organised crime - added in a footnote to his report "I prefer not to quote this extremely upsetting testimony." The meeting was told that Sabbah El-Banna had received an unprecedented phone call from her husband just before Eid - which she called "happy and surprising news, which was painful as well."
Due to technical difficulties our showing of the film "Outlawed" had to be halted after a few minutes, but our two speakers - Craig Murray and Aamer Anwar - held the audience spell-bound without any help from the big screen.
Jim Aitken read the poem "Prison Cell" by his friend Ghazi Hussein, a Palestinian refugee and survivor of prison and torture.
Glasgow lawyer Aamer Anwar called the refusal of Scottish police to act upon evidence that aircraft involved in rendition have been using Scottish airports a "cop-out." Craig Murray, the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, said that the authorities would act soon enough of there was comparable evidence of aircraft being involved in drug-dealing. He said out that aircraft involved in rendition might well be carrying shackles and other equipment that would be revealed in a police search even if no prisoners were aboard the aircraft. It was pointed out that the Scottish Trades Union had unanimously passed a resolution calling for action over rendition flights at this year's annual conference.
People attending the meeting were urged to press their MSPs to support a motion recently tabled in the Scottish Parliament by Frances Curran MSP (SSP) asking " the UK Government to act to uphold the human rights of all those detained in Guantanamo Bay and, in particular, those whose normal place of residence is the United Kingdom."
There will be a further (attempted) screening of the film "Outlawed" in Dundee on Wednesday 6 December. The meeting is being hosted by Dundee Trades Union Council with support from Scotland Against Criminalising Communities and will be held at 7.45pm in Committee Room 4, 14 City Square, Dundee.
Jamil El-Banna's sons Anas (10) and Mohammed (9) started off the meeting by reading out a letter that Anas had written and a poem by Mohammed. Jamil El-Banna's MP Sarah Teather then spoke of her campaign to have her constituent released. She asserted that Jamil poses no threat to the United Kingdom and there is no security reason for the British government to block his return to this country in spite of the US's demanded security requirements.
Other speakers included Yvonne Ridley, Political Editor at the Islam Channel, Asim Qureshi from Cageprisoners and Zachary Katznelson from Reprieve, a legal charity representing 38 Guantanamo prisoners, including all the British residents. Zachary recently returned to the UK from Guantanamo where he met both Jamil and Bisher. Concerning their situation, he said that Bisher El-Rawi is currently being held in Camp 5 which is the maximum security wing as he is refusing to cooperate with the American military authorities anymore. Jamil El-Banna is currently being held in medium security conditions where he has greater freedom of movement and can speak to other prisoners at times. The fact that last month Jamil was able to speak to his wife in London during a one hour phone call, on humanitarian grounds following the death of his mother, is both unprecedented and proves that he is not considered a threat.
Representatives from Amnesty International and CAMPACC also spoke and answered questions. Statements were read out on behalf of Sabah El-Banna, Jamil's wife, Jahida Sayyadi, Bisher's mother and Amani Deghayes, the sister of Omar Deghayes, a British resident from Brighton. Approximately forty people attended the meeting which was rather upbeat and positive. The London Guantanamo Campaign is holding its next monthly meeting, on Wednesday 22 November, at 7-9pm at the same venue (Pakistani Community Centre, Marley Walk, Off Station Parade, NW2) to discuss events to mark the fifth anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo in January. Please come and join us.
Members of BMA and various doctors are demanding that an independent scrutiny is urgently required by physicians outside the US military of the behaviour of some of the doctors at Guantanamo towards the detainees. In a letter signed by members of the British medical profession they claim the silence of the Foreign Office is shameful and reflects the collusion of this country in a war crime. They are demanding that the British administration does everything in its power to bring back the British residents. To read more Click Here
25th August 2006 - Murat Kurnaz, a Turk with German residency, held at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay has been released and was handed over to German authorities at Ramstein, U.S. Air Force Base in Germany on Thursday.
Mr Kurnaz's lawyer, Bernhard Docke said on his release. "Finally after 4-3/4 years of martyrdom, of torture, and deprivation of rights, the news has arrived -- Mr. (Murat) Kurnaz is free," Kurnaz,spent almost five years at Guantanamo, was born in Germany in 1982, and was in the process of becoming a German citizen when he was arrested in Pakistan in late 2001. Click here for details
At the Press conference given on friday Mr Bernard Docke, the lawyer for Mr Kurnaz, said "The Americans are incorrigible, they have not learned a thing. He was returned home in chains, humiliated and dishonoured to the very end by the Americans, It was a giant American transport aircraft and he was alone in it with 15 US soldiers. He was chained down, his feet were chained, and his eyes covered." Press Conference details as reported on Al-Jazeera website.
Now that the German administration has been able to get one of their residents released from Guantanamo, we should expect the British administration to be able to do the same and soon. In Birmingham, we are collecting signatures on a petition to get the Birmingham Council to pass a resolution pressurising the British government to get the British residents released and to bring them back to Britain. Click Here to support the Petition
Former Guantanamo Bay detainee, Moazzam Begg will be speaking at the meeting organised by Stop the War coalition for Wednesday the 30th August 7.00 p.m at the Naseby Centre, Naseby Road off Alum Rock Road. John Rees, member of Stop the War national committee, will be joining him to discuss the impact of Bush and Blair's war on terror on the communities in Birmingham and on the wider world. Click Here For Details
Home
Birmingham Guantanamo Campaign called for a protest outside Starbuck's in Birmingham city centre for saturday the 21st October 2006. Several other organisations and individuals in the city joined the protest and stood outside the Sturbuck's cafe for two hours distributing leaflets with information linking Starbuck's with Guantanamo by supplying coffee to the American army to the prison at Guantanamo. 
The management of the cafe called the Police, who on arrival tried to intimidate the protesters into abondoning their protest. Threats of arrest were made. However, the protesters stood firm. The police decided to allow the protest to continue and left leaving a couple of community police persons watching the protesters from a distance. The protest was successful in convincing quite a few of the consumers from going into Starbuck's cafe. The campaign will be following the protest with a letter to the executive of Starbuck's and if their response is not satisfactory we aim to continue our protest outside starbuck's establishments until they change their policy of supplying coffee to the American army at Guantanamo. 
Campaigners, family members of Guantanamo detainees and ex-Guantanamo detainees all joined together across the country to protest at the continued inprisonment of around 400 detainees at Guantanamo. 
chains used at Guantanamo. Hiatts were suppliers of chains and collars to the Slave trade. Seize the day led the protesters in singing Shackle-Shuffle. They ended singing " Happy Birthday " expressing the hope that Guantanamo does not make the sixth birthday. Click here for more details on 
In Cuba itself, protesters from across the world, including family members of some of the detainees marched to Guantanamo from the capital Havana and demanded the closure of the prison there and the release of all its detainees. Among the protesters were Cindy Sheehan, Tahir Deghayes, brother of Omar Deghayes and his mother. Also, among the protesters outside Guantanamo was Asif Iqbal, an ex-detainee at Guantanamo. 
Campaigners fighting for the closure of Guantanamo and the release of its prisoners, including family members of British residents still held at Guantanamo are marking the fifth anniversary on the 11th of Januray 2007 with a protest outside the factory in Birmingham that supplied two hundred years ago to the slave trade and today supplies chains to notorious American prison at Guantanamo and other similar centres of torture and human rights abuse. 
Human Rights campaigners in Birmingham came together on Sunday the 10th of December to mark the International Human Rights Day and protest against human rights violations both in Britain and internationally. Thousands of leaflets were distributed highlighting human rights violations internationally to shoppers who took time off their busy shopping schedule to discuss issues of human rights with the protesters.
The various trade unions and political organisations, including Birmingham Trades Union Council, United against Fascism, Stop the War, Socialist Resistance, South Asian Alliance, Birmingham Campaign Against Arms Trade and many others in the city supported the protest against violations of human rights internationally and in Britain. 
Members of BMA and various doctors are demanding that an independent scrutiny is urgently required by physicians outside the US military of the behaviour of some of the doctors at Guantanamo towards the detainees. In a letter signed by members of the British medical profession they claim the silence of the Foreign Office is shameful and reflects the collusion of this country in a war crime. They are demanding that the British administration does everything in its power to bring back the British residents. To read more 
Murat Kurnaz, a Turk with German residency, held at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay has been released and was handed over to German authorities at Ramstein, U.S. Air Force Base in Germany on Thursday.