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Eight Years of Guantanamo PDF Print E-mail
 
 
The illegal prison camp at Guantánamo Bay opened 8 years ago on 11 January 2002
Over 200 prisoners remain, locked up indefinitely…
 
President Obama has conceded that his pledge to close Guantánamo Bay by January 2010 is unlikely, perpetuating its lawless existence
 
Join us as we demonstrate to mark the eighth anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo Bay and call on the American administration to keep its promise to shut it down
Time: Monday 11 January 2010, 12.30-2pm
Where: Outside the US Embassy, Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, W1A 1AE (nearest tube: Bond Street)
Speakers include: Ed Davey MP, Andy Worthington, Yvonne Ridley, Bruce Kent, Reprieve and others 

For more details, please call 07809 757 176 or email:
Organised by the London Guantánamo Campaign
www.guantanamo.org.uk
Use of Secret Evidence in the UK Courts PDF Print E-mail
Human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce likened the present situation where a person can be held without trial on the basis of secret evidence as “a national emergency.”


Addressing a House of Commons meeting on the use of secret evidence to detain individuals without trial, Mrs Peirce said “Here today we have something extremely ugly and dangerous: two evils coming together in torture and secrecy.”
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WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT? SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY OF GUANTÁNAMO BAY PDF Print E-mail
The LGC is currently putting together its actions for January 2009 to mark the seventh anniversary of Guantánamo Bay opening up. It’s a real shame that it has come to this: that seven years later, Guantánamo Bay and other secret, illegal jails where people are held arbitrarily (imagine being locked up in a dark, narrow box for years on end with no end in sight…) and subjected to horrific psychological and physical torture are still up and running. What does it say about the state of the world and humanity in our day and our age? As the world moves towards celebrating sixty years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December this year, will they be celebrating at Guantánamo Bay, Bagram, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere?
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Bin Laden driver to boycott Gitmo trial PDF Print E-mail

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba – A military judge struggled to begin Guantanamo's second war crimes trial on Monday after a former aide to Osama bin Laden refused to participate, and his Pentagon-appointed lawyer said he would remain silent in solidarity.
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US drops charges against 5 Guantanamo prisoners PDF Print E-mail
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The Pentagon said Tuesday it has dropped war-crimes charges against five Guantanamo Bay detainees after the former prosecutor in their cases complained that the military was withholding evidence helpful to the defence
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Taxi to the Dark Side PDF Print E-mail
Birmingham Guantanamo Campaign in association with Repreive is showing the film Taxi to Dark side in Birmingham on thursday the 30th October 7.30 pm at the Birmingham Central Library.

Director Alex Gibney USA Duration 1 Hour 50 minutes

Winner of the Oscar for the documentary feature, Taxi to the Dark Side is a gripping investigation into the reckless abuse of power by the Bush administration

The film show will be followed by a discussion with Andy Worthington of Reprieve and released Guantanamo prisoner Moazzam Begg.

TIckets £ 3.50/£ 2.50 concession available from the library. 

for further info follow the link  www.birminghamboxoffice.com  or ring 0121 303 2323 

 
US drops charges against 5 Guantanamo prisoners PDF Print E-mail
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The Pentagon said Tuesday it has dropped war-crimes charges against five Guantanamo Bay detainees after the former prosecutor in their cases complained that the military was withholding evidence helpful to the defence
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Iftar in Solidarity with Binyam - Last Londoner at Guantanamo PDF Print E-mail
The London Guantánamo Campaign and MCHC

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Evening with Moazzam Begg PDF Print E-mail

Venue & Time
Friday the 8th August 8.00 pm
Lightwaves Leisure Centre, Lower York Street, Marsh Way, Wakefield WF1 3LJ

Moazzam Begg is one of nine British citizens who were held in Guantanamo Bay by the government of the United States of America. Begg was labelled an "enemy combatant" by the US government and imprisoned without charge or trial for a crime he did not commit. In the three years he spent in custody, much of it in solitary confienement, he was subjected to over 300 interrogations, as well as beatings, death threats and torture, witnessing the killings of two detainees. Since his reelase he has been working with the human rights organisation, cage prisoners, campaigning for those who remain in Guantanamo.


Venue & Time
Friday the 8th August 8.00 pm
Lightwaves Leisure Centre, Lower York Street, Marsh Way, Wakefield WF1 3LJ

Contact details : 07807 153025 & 07985 382188

www.cageprisoners.com

Urgent Action: Binyam Mohamed, 29 year old British resident in Guantánamo Bay PDF Print E-mail

 

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 May 2008, charges were brought against Binyam and he currently faces the prospect of a military tribunal and, if convicted, the death penalty. He is unlikely to receive a fair trial at Guantánamo Bay.
  • 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. He is currently facing a military tribunal at Guantánamo Bay and the death penalty if convicted. He has no hope of receiving a fair trial at Guantánamo according to his lawyers.

Write to the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the Foreign Secretary David Miliband and your own MP:

¨      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 have Binyam released immediately.

¨      The UK government must release information that it has in its possession that show that Binyam was a victim of extraordinary rendition and could lead to his release.

¨      The British government must act at the highest level to ensure that Binyam is released and does not face a military tribunal. Allowing Binyam to face a military trial would be an effective endorsement of the death penalty and would undermine the rule of law.






Sample letter:

Dear Mr Brown/Miliband/ Your own MP


I am writing to you concerning Binyam Mohamed, the London man who is being held at Guantánamo Bay and faces terrorism charges. The suffering this man has endured in six years of illegal detention in Morocco, Afghanistan and Guantánamo is shocking. Anyone with knowledge of even the sketchiest details of his treatment, and having any concern for justice and the rule of law, could feel nothing but revulsion.


News of his being charged after six years, with conspiring to commit terrorism offences in the US, to be tried by military tribunal, and using evidence obtained under extreme, prolonged torture, is of grave concern. In these circumstances, he cannot receive a fair trial.


Furthermore, I am concerned that if convicted Binyam faces the death penalty. By failing to challenge the use of military tribunals, which undermine the rule of law and by standing by while Binyam faces such a trial, the UK would be condoning the death penalty, which we do not allow here.


It is also of deep concern that the UK Government is not willing to defend itself against allegations that it appears to have been complicit in Binyam's rendition and ill treatment, or to comply with his lawyers' request for the release of documents which could aid his case.


I call on the Government to do everything in its power to assist this man in obtaining his full human rights, and ultimately his freedom.


Yours sincerely



Gordon Brown (Prime Minister)

Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown, MP

House of Commons

London

SW1A 1AA

browng@parliament. uk


David Miliband (Foreign Secretary)

Rt. Hon. David Miliband MP

Foreign Secretary,

Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
King Charles St ,
London SW1A 2AH

msu.correspondence@ fco.gov.uk


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.


London Guantánamo Campaign

3 June 2008
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