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Urgent Action: Write to the Foreign Secretary in support of Ahmed Belbacha draft letter included |
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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 case of Ahmed Belbacha, who has been held at Guantánamo Bay for almost the last six years.
Mr Belbacha is a 37 year old Algerian national who came to the UK in 2000 as an asylum seeker. He lived and worked in Bournemouth for over one and a half years. He then travelled to Pakistan where he was kidnapped in late 2001 and handed over to the US military. He was then taken to Guantánamo Bay where he has been held ever since. Your government has refused to make representations for him as he was a failed asylum seeker, even though he was unable to attend his asylum appeal hearing as he was in American military hands at the time.
In February 2007, Mr Belbacha was cleared for released and deemed to pose no threat by the Military Annual Review Board in Guantánamo Bay. Given that we are now in February 2008, Mr Belbacha has spent a whole year in Guantánamo for no other reason than that he has nowhere to go to. He cannot return to Algeria as his life would be at threat from the government and militias. Indeed, in an extremely unusual step, the US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC has stayed Ahmed’s return to Algeria.
A viable option for Mr Belbacha would be to return to the UK. While your government alleges that it cannot help Mr Belbacha because he did not enjoy legal status in this country, I believe that the UK has a moral obligation to take the steps that are within your power to avoid him being subject to torture which would be the effect of his repatriation to Algeria. This was also a similar reason given in the past by the former government to refuse to make representations for the British residents, who have now returned to the UK following you informing the US authorities that you would allow them to re-enter the UK were they to be released. We ask you to make the same position clear to the US authorities with respect to Mr Belbacha. On his return to the UK you could reconsider Mr Belbacha’s asylum application.
The British government has voiced its concerns about the existence of Guantánamo Bay and that it should close down. You have also recently taken laudable and positive steps to bring three British residents back to the UK. You must continue with this good work and work to seek the release of detainees with links to the UK.
I look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely
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London Campaign