Tag Archives: Iraq

The Hostages of Guantanamo: A Letter From Shaker Aamer

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 A letter from Shaker Aamer, the last UK resident in Guantanamo Bay, to is lawyer has been recently unclassified by the Pentagon. The letter, dated July 15 2011, describes the inhumane treatment the detainee of ten years has been experiencing and the continuing injustice that led him to begin a peaceful protest involving a hunger strike.

I the signatory below, in Camp 5E announce the start of a peaceful protest/hunger strike for the reasons enumerated below:

1. The opening and continuing operation of this unjust detention facility for the ninth year of my continuing and indefinite detention in the absence of any real accusation or crimes committed. Therefore I am hostage.

2. The inhumane treatment and deprivation of some of the items we are truly in need of, most important of which are the family calls since they are most critical to our families, especially to those experiencing special circumstances. Therefore, I want these calls to take place on a continuing basis and recur once every 15 days. These family calls ought to last no less than 2 hours with further consideration given to those experiencing special circumstances. I also speak for the regular mail to be made more efficient and provide us with e-mail.

3. The inhumane treatment is taking place at the hospital among other areas especially affecting the sick and those who are on strike and our deprivation of real treatment, health diet and appropriate clothing which are not provided to us nor are we allowed to provide them for ourselves.

4. Not upholding the promise that both your president and government gave on 01/21/2009 concerning the closing of Guantánamo detention facility. Very few people have left ever since although many here have been deemed to not represent any danger for the United States. Therefore, I ask you to establish justice and remove the injustice that has befallen us and our brothers in all detention centers.

By submitting these demands, I affirm our right to life. We want our freedom and the right to return to our homes since I am innocent of the charges (if there were any) you have levied against us. I ask that you establish justice that you claim to be a foundation of your country.

After these years of hardship we have spent here — and which I managed to do only through the grace of God, otherwise I would have lost my sanity — I want you to consider my case as soon as possible and give me the right to a just and public trial or set me free without conditions.

Shaker Aamer (00239)

 

See our Shaker Aamer pages for more information.

Sign the Government petition to return Shaker Aamer to the UK.

Shaker Aamer – Ten Years On

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Shaker Aamer is one of the 171 men still held in Guantanamo Bay and its last remaining British resident. Despite never having had a trial, having been approved for release twice and been the focus of a high-profile campaign for his immediate release, Shaker has remained in detention for more than ten years. His physical and mental health deterioration is also a prevalent concern.

Spectacle is making a short film about Shaker Aamer to mark the tenth anniversary of his incarceration. The film includes interviews with activists and former detainees and paints a picture of who Shaker Aamer is and the injustices he has endured for the last decade.

The project area of the Spectacle website also contains full information about Shaker Aamer, the progress of the campaign and links to more content such as Scott Horton’s 2010 article, ‘The Guantánamo “Suicides”: A Camp Delta sergeant blows the whistle’, published in Harper’s Magazine.

Order Spectacle’s DVD Outside The Law: Stories from Guantánamo

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Or visit our Guantánamo project pages for more information and videos.

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A screening of “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantanamo” at the European Parliament in Brussels- January 24

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On Tuesday January 24, at 7 pm, there will be a special screening of the acclaimed documentary film “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” at the European Parliament in Brussels. The screening will take place in the main European Parliament building, the Altiero Spinelli Building, Rue Wiertz, in Room ASP – 3G2, on the 3rd floor, and Moazzam Begg, former Guantánamo prisoner, and the director of the NGO Cageprisoners, will be joining Andy Worthington and Polly Nash for the screening, and for the Q&A session afterwards.

 

The screening has been arranged by Jean Lambert (UK Green MEP), with the support of Sarah Ludford (UK Liberal Democrat MEP) and Ana Gomes (Portuguese Socialist MEP), and the purpose of the screening is to raise awareness of the continued existence of Guantánamo, and its mockery of universal notions of fairness and justice, ten years after the prison opened, on January 11, 2002. Given President Obama’s very public failure to close the prison as promised, it is essential that other countries step forward to take cleared prisoners who cannot be safely repatriated, and one of the main purposes of the screening is to encourage EU countries to re-engage with the process of resettling prisoners that was so successful in 2009 and 2010.

The screening is free, but anyone who wishes to attend needs to contact Rachel Sheppard, the Parliamentary Assistant to Jean Lambert MEP:  jean.lambert@europarl.europa.eu

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

If those wishing to attend do not already have an access badge for the European Parliament, they need to provide their full name, date of birth, nationality, passport number or ID card and number and also specify the type of document (passport, ID card) so that access badges can be arranged. Without an access badge, those wishing to attend the screening will not be allowed.

Moazzam Begg and Andy Worthington will be available to talk to the press along with Jean Lambert MP, Sarah Ludford MEP and Ana Gomes MEP they are hoping to have the opportunity to discuss the need for European countries to revisit the generosity shown in 2009 and 2010, when many offered new homes to cleared Guantánamo prisoners who could not be safely repatriated.

171 prisoners are still held in Guantánamo, and 89 of these have been cleared for release by President Obama’s interagency Guantánamo Review Task Force. 58 of these men are Yemenis, whose release is being prevented by President Obama, and by Congress, but others remain in need of new homes, and it is only the absence of offers from, for example, countries in Europe, that is preventing them from finally being freed.

As Guantánamo recently marked the 10th anniversary of its opening, with no sign of when, if ever it will close, given Congressional opposition, and the President’s refusal, or inability to assert his authority, it would be a powerful humanitarian gesture if European countries once more agreed to take cleared prisoners, to help to close this shameful icon of the Bush administration’s misguided “war on terror.”

 

Order Spectacle’s DVD Outside The Law: Stories from Guantánamo

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Julian Assange to speak at Anti-war Mass Assembly in London – Saturday 8 October

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The Anti-war Mass Assembly, marking 10 years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq will start at 12 noon in Trafalgar Square, London tomorrow 8th October.

It will be officially opened by Joe Glenton, the ex-soldier who was jailed for refusing to fight in Afghanistan alongside Grace McCann, who in 2010 attempted a citizen’s arrest on Tony Blair.

Supporting Glenton and the assembly will be high profile figures such as Noam Chomsky, Julian Assange, Jemima Khan and Tony Benn.

For more information including a list of who will be attending, a complete timetable and for the chance to sign the pledge to attend please click on the Stop the War Coalition’s website and/or the Anti War Mass Assembly’s dedicated site.

Order Spectacle’s DVD Outside The Law: Stories from Guantánamo

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USA Congress to vote for “outside the law” detainees to remain in Guantanamo forever

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USA Amnesty International  calls for action to stop Guantanamo detention centers being open permanently. This is a response to the US Congress having to decide soon whether the rights of those kept in custody in Guantanamo would be yet again weakened significantly. Now congress will vote for “outside the law” detainees to be forever denied freedom and kept in indefinite detention.

This Human Rights organization asks American citizens to either sign their online petition or directly call congress representatives, and to help in doing so Amnesty International provides detailed instructions.  Among them there are such steps to follow as:

* I am calling to urge the Senator to oppose provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (H.R. 1540) that would keep Guantanamo open.
* The Guantanamo detention facility must be closed. Indefinite detention and military commissions must end.
* Detainees must either be charged and fairly tried in US federal courts, or be released to countries where their human rights will be respected.
* I don’t want our government to sacrifice human rights in the name of security.

In its online petition Amnesty International says: “Indefinite detention, denial of due process and the unfair military commissions are violations of human rights and contravene international law. There is a better way to ensure justice and security for all of us.”

Amnesty International puts forward a solution for US Congress, which could release the detainees to countries which respect human rights or charge and try those individuals in US federal court.

The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is far and wide known for abusing human rights of “prisoners” from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Human rights organizations claim that those centers resemble concentration camps. This is because of the interrogation techniques used on prisoners, such as “stress positions”, “sleep deprivation” and other.

Spectacle is running a series of projects on Guantanamo detention centers, and you can find them in Guantanamo section on Spectacle’s blog. Also, you can order “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantanamo” documentary also produced by Spectacle, by visiting Projects section on Spectacle’s website.

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