An article in The Independent newspaper on 6 May stated that MI5 tried to hire British nationals and residents at Guantánamo Bay and other American-run jails by offering to have them released and secure their return home if they agreed to work for them: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/exposed-mi5s-secret-deals-in-camp--xray-1679884.html Money and freedom were offered to detainees and former British nationals and residents who reported being visited by MI5 agents in Guantánamo Bay, Pakistan and Afghanistan. An article published later in The Daily Mail stated that MI5 sent a Muslim agent into the Moroccan jail Binyam Mohamed was held at to persuade him to become an informant for the security services: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1183183/MI5-used-Muslim-007-turn-British-torture-victim-Moroccan-prison.html He was told that his torture would stop if he gave information to the British security services. A British national of Moroccan origin, the agent was known to Binyam before he travelled to Pakistan and had allegedly agreed to become an informant while being held at Bagram, for which reason he was not sent to Guantánamo Bay.
On 8 May, the High Court in London decided to reopen its judgment of February 2009 in the Binyam Mohamed torture case, stating that documents the government has about its involvement in the torture and rendition of Binyam Mohamed should remain secret in the interest of national security. However, following an admission by the Foreign Secretary in this case shortly after the February judgment of having misled parliament and lied about the threat to national security, the case has been reopened and Mr. Miliband will be given one more chance to disclose the evidence he has. The court may otherwise choose to force the government to make these documents public. The hearing of the case started on Friday 22 May. Judgment is expected to be made in June.
Guantánamo Bay:
On 15 May, President Obama announced, following a four month suspension, that he would be resuming military trials at Guantánamo Bay. The suspension was to allow a review of the system. The re-introduction of the commissions comes shortly after relevations about the torture techniques used during interrogations at Guantánamo Bay. After seven years of abuse, arbitrary detention and evidence obtained through torture, it is highly unlikely that any detainee will receive a fair trial and few are likely to be fit to stand trial in any case; detainees have consistently been denied independent medical care. The alternative was to use the civil court system. President Obama has, however, introduced some small changes which he insists will make them acceptable and “more” in line with the US justice system. Some of these changes include a ban on evidence obtained through torture (“harsh interrogation techniques”), restrictions on the use of hearsay evidence and greater choice for defendants in picking their military lawyer. All of these are standard requirements of a fair trial. As few detainees have ever been charged, these tribunals will only affect a minority of them.
On the same day, the second detainee to be released from Guantánamo Bay since Obama became president arrived in France. Algerian-born Bosnian Lakhdar Boumediene whose release was ordered along with that of five other Bosnians last year by a federal judge was not allowed to return to Bosnia by the government there and cannot return to Algeria. France accepted him as part of a token gesture it had made by offering to take one detainee. Mr. Boumediene will be joined in France by his wife and children. Treated in hospital upon his arrival in France, Mr. Boumediene is expected to be subject to restrictions to his freedom of movement.
A Tanzanian detainee, Ahmed Ghailani, accused of involvement in the bombing of a US Embassy in East Africa in 1998, will be the first Guantánamo detainee to stand trial in a US civilian court. Mr. Ghailani is alleged to have confessed at a closed hearing in Guantánamo Bay in 2007 to having admitted to delivering the explosives used in the bombing. However, he claims that he did not know about the attack beforehand. His case is likely to be seen as a test case for trying Guantánamo detainees in the US court system.
On 21 May, the US Senate voted overwhelmingly to reject President Obama’s plans to close Guantánamo Bay and to approve funds to close the prison camp. Requests have been made, particularly by Republicans, for a detailed plan for closure before approving and releasing any funds. In a landmark speech on the same day, in which he admitted that the torture (“enhanced interrogation techniques”) used by the Bush administration “undermined the rule of law” and described Guantánamo Bay as a “misguided experiment”, Obama sparred with former Vice President Dick Cheney who strongly defended the policies of the Bush adminstration and argued for the continuation of detention at Guantánamo Bay. Although Obama, a trained lawyer, pointed out the illegality of Guantánamo Bay and the treatment of detainees there, even under US domestic law, and with Dick Cheney providing a perfect foil, he failed to mention the failings of the system under his own adminstration. President Obama condemned torture but did not mention the ongoing use of the extraordinary rendition programme. More particularly, he proposed that detainees who could not be returned to their countries of origin may be held at “supermax” prisons indefinitely on the US mainland, in many cases after prosecution in a civil trial. This was met with huge disapproval by Republicans fearing the transfer of detainees to the US. Obama perpetuated the myth of the Bush administration that the detainees at Guantánamo Bay are “terrorists” even though they have not faced prosecution in a terrorism trial to ascertain the truth of that claim. According to the Pentagon, one in seven detainees released from Guantánamo Bay have “returned to terrorism”. This is unsubstantiated and proves that in spite of steps away from the practices of the previous adminstration, in key aspects, Barack Obama is following keenly in the footsteps of his predecessor; the US courts have not changed their position and have continued to uphold the constitutional rights of detainees to know the reasons for their detention and to not allow “national security” to provide an excuse to protect companies involved in extraordinary rendition. On the other hand, the adminstration of President Obama has sought to protect companies like Boeing and to continue to deny prisoners at Guantánamo and Bagram the right to know why they are being detained.
Hailed as a positive speech by many commentators, Obama’s speech sets another obstacle to seeking freedom and justice for the Guantánamo detainees. In essence, he proposed shutting Guantánamo Bay only to open up another front in the arbitrary detention of these prisoners. While he stated that the existence of Guantánamo Bay has compromised the safety of the American public, it has also greatly compromised the safety of the men held there, whose involvement in the crimes imputed to them have not been proved. Many of those who cannot return home are now at risk simply for having been spuriously associated with terrorist organisations by the American authorities. The Uighur detainees, for example, were alleged to have links to anti-government groups in China. While this has now been disclaimed, having been tainted by these claims, they cannot return to their homes and families. Ahmed Belbacha, an Algerian resident from Bournemouth, was cleared for released in February 2007 but has spent over two years in Guantánamo Bay as he cannot return to Algeria; he had come to Britain in the first place as an asylum seeker fleeing Islamists who wanted to kill him for working for a State-run agency during the civil unrest there and would now be at risk from the government too, due to his alleged links to terrorist organisations abroad. Most of the detainees currently held at Guantánamo are “refugees”: men who cannot return home due to the existence of Guantánamo Bay and their association with it. With just under seven months to close down Guantánamo Bay, however, the burden is not on the Obama adminstration alone and with the alternative appearing to be transfer to a “supermax” facility in the US or Bagram, it is now up to the whole international community, which has been complicit by turning a blind eye to this international abuse of the rule of law among others, to act to prevent this chapter in world history from not being closed but merely swept below the radar. Countries, like the UK, which has used the existence of Guantánamo Bay to legitimise its own practice of detention without trial, again mainly for non-British people, must take action to help their American allies uphold the rule of law by accepting some of these homeless and stateless prisoners. After seven years of inaction, it is the very least they can now do.
LGC Activities:
The LGC monthly “Shut Down Guantánamo!” demonstration outside the US Embassy was held on Friday 1 May. Five people attended. This month’s demonstration is at 6-7pm on Friday 5 June. Join us and call on President Obama to close down Guantánamo Bay and release ALL of the current prisoners to safety. After seven years of confirmed torture and abuse but unsubstantiated allegations against them, there is little, if any, chance of a fair trial for any detainee.
Forthcoming actions for the last two remaining British residents in Guantánamo Bay – Shaker Aamer from Battersea and Ahmed Belbacha from Bournemouth – will be announced shortly. Watch this space!
With increasing allegations of British involvement in torture and extraordinary rendition, the LGC also urges everyone to write to their MP and the Foreign Office to seek an inquiry into the UK’s role in these international crimes. Please find attached more information and a model letter.
London Campaign 
