Tag Archives: Save Shaker Aamer Campaign

Save Shaker Aamer Campaign Demonstration

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This Monday, 10th September, a large scale protest will be held opposite the Houses of Parliament, rallying for the release of Shaker Aamer.

As London 2012 draws to a close this Sunday, demonstrators aim to bring what they call the Guantanamo Torture Olympics into the public conscioussness, and to bring Shaker Aamer back to London.

The organisers have outlined their aims, in a press release saying, ‘We are calling for Shaker Aamer’s immediate release, an end to torture and abuse in Guantanamo and for the Torture Team of Guantanamo Bay to be made accountable for crimes against humanity.’

All other UK prisoners have been released from Guantanamo, so why is it that Aamer remains detained?

Watch A Decade of Injustice for more information.

The demonstration is set to take place from 1pm to 3pm at Parliament Square, London on Monday.

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The truth about torture, terrorism and secrecy – as told by Britain’s former spy chief

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A year ago, the former head of MI5, Eliza Manningham-Buller, raised eyebrows in the darker recesses of Whitehall by telling some home truths in her BBC Reith lectures about the security and intelligence agencies.

She returns to her three key themes – torture, terrorism and secrecy – on Thursday with the publication of a short book, Securing Freedom, based on those lectures. It is a refreshing antidote to the rhetoric deployed by ministers and their acolytes who appear too frightened to come clean on any issue relating to that elusive but overarching concept of “national security”. Here are some points that MI5, MI6, the CIA and the new justice secretary Chris Grayling should note:

1. “Torture is illegal in our national law and in international law. It is wrong and never justified … Torture should be utterly rejected even when it may offer the prospect of saving lives … I am confident that I know the answer to the question of whether torture has made the world a safer place. It hasn’t.”

MI5 and MI6 remain embroiled in the unresolved dispute about their role in the abuse and torture of terror suspects. The government tried to push allegations under the carpet by compensating UK residents and citizens taken by the CIA to Guantánamo Bay – and no sooner had it done so than evidence emerged in Libya showing how MI6 helped arrange the abduction of Libyan dissidents to Tripoli, where they say they were tortured by Muammar Gaddafi’s secret police. “There are clearly questions to be answered about … whether the UK supped with a sufficiently long spoon,” says Manningham-Buller, who was head of MI5 at the time. MI6, which was ultimately accountable to then foreign secretary, Jack Straw, says the rendering of the dissidents to Libya in 2004 was authorised by ministers.

2. “Rushing to legislate in the wake of a terrorist atrocity is often a mistake,” says Manningham-Buller in a clear reference to the Blair government’s practice of drawing up more and more “counter-terrorism” laws, a practice sharply criticised by Ken Clarke, now sacked as justice secretary. “We compound the problem of terrorism if we use it to erode the freedom of us all,” she adds. To the surprise of her former colleagues in MI5, she used her maiden speech in the Lords to attack the Labour government’s proposal to detain suspected terrorists without charge for up to 42 days.

Will the reshuffled government succumb to pressure from the security and intelligence agencies and introduce more laws they hope will frighten terrorists, ignoring the root causes? Governments, including the British, talk to terrorists, and, Manningham-Buller reminds us, they have “too often preferred the stability of the devil we know to the uncertainties of democracy” – a reference to the Arab spring and Britain’s close relations with Middle Eastern autocracies.

3. “The scrutiny of the security and intelligence agencies will evolve, and it is right that it should. But, given that intelligence to counter these threats will still be needed, that scrutiny will never be able to be transparent. For to secure freedom, within a democracy and within the law, some secrets have to remain.” And there’s the rub. “Overt information may be more important than secret intelligence. There are those, the sceptical observers I wish the readers of intelligence to be, who believe that governments hype threats for their own purposes to ensure legislation proceeds through parliament.”

The coalition government is determined to push through into law its “justice and security” bill designed to prevent any information from the security and intelligence agencies, domestic or foreign, from ever being disclosed in court. The very existence of such secret hearings would be secret, if the government has its way. Ironically, its fate may well end up in the hands of Manningham-Buller and others in the (unreformed) House of Lords.

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Shaker Aamer: A Decade of Injustice Screening in House of Commons

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Shaker Aamer: A Decade of Injustice will be screened at the House of Commons, Committee Room 15 on Monday 29th October, 2012 at 19:00 pm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shaker Aamer is one of the 171 men still held in detention in Guantanamo Bay on the camp’s 10th anniversary. Despite never having had a trial, having been approved for release twice, and a growing number of people from all walks of life campaigning for him, Shaker remains in detention. His physical and mental health deterioration is a prevalent concern.

During the 10 years that Shaker Aamer has been incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay, he’s has never been charged, and he has never denied his innocence. He has continuously lobbied for the welfare of other Guantanamo inmates from within the system. Many believe that this, and his potential as a witness to U.S. human rights abuses, are the reasons he still remains captive.

Spectacle has followed the case of Shaker Aamer in detail since the completion of Outside The Law: Stories from Guantanamo in 2009.

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HSBC guilty but walk free, Shaker Aamer innocent but still in Guantanamo.

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You get the justice you can afford…

According to the media, the City of London’s reputation has been severely damaged by HSBC’s money laundering scandal. What rubbish. It’s favourable services offered to the drug dealing and terrorist communities is precisely what gives the City its “competitive edge.” However, the City of London’s competitors may be a little more squeamish (or tightly regulated) to profit from such rich pickings.

So what happens to those caught red handed abetting Al Qaeda and drug dealing organisations?  They resign, say sorry and promise not to do it again.

HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA)’s head of group compliance, David Bagley, was faced with charges that HSBC gave terrorists, drug cartels and criminals access to the U.S. financial system by failing to guard against money laundering. The result; Bagley stated at a Senate hearing that he will step down. He has also been told to release a formal apology.

 

Compare this to how people like Shaker Aamer are treated. Shaker, a completely innocent man cleared for release but, even today, still stuck in  Guantanamo in a nightmare limbo. He had been  extraordinarily rendered from Afganistan, tortured and imprisoned for more than 10 years without trial or access to his family.

You can watch Spectacles new film on Shaker Aamer’s story here and sign the petition here.

You could also compare it to how ‘rioters’ were treated following the London riots in August 2011. Mother-of-two Ursula Nevin,  was jailed for five months for receiving a pair of shorts that had been looted from a city centre store, and Nicholas Robinson was jailed for six months for stealing a case of water worth £3.50.

So when the media talk about restoring the “City’s reputation” what they mean is restoring the cosy myth of decent trustworthy pinstripped chaps simply being better at “invisible exports” than their counterparts in Paris, Amsterdam, New York or Frankfurt. The big mistake, as was the case for Ursula Nevin and Nicolas Robinson, was being caught. The real loss of reputation is among the drug cartels and terrorists. Can they really trust the City of London to keep their operational secrets?

One wonders what the reaction might be if the bank and bankers in question were Islamic, or from say Iran or Gaddaffi’s Libya. Would it be a completely different story…?

Spectacle has made a short film about Shaker Aamer to mark the 10th anniversary of his incarceration. Watch Spectacle’s new video on Shaker Aamer and please sign the petition @ www.freeshaker.com. Get him out of Guantanamo!

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

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Songs of War: Musical Torture

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The concept of having a song in your head, completely changes the moment you are forced to listen to it over and over again. Could you imagine what a damage a sweet, innocent, childish, television show can bring in times of war? And how music can drive you crazy? Al-Jazeera produced a shocking documentary about the use of music to torture prisoners. In the documentary, the composer of Sesame Street songs, Christopher Cerf, is investigating the use of his songs in for example Guantanamo Bay. He is confused that his creations are being used to torture people for hours and hours.

Torture through music is used to make prisoners speak during interrogations and to make them alienated and unable to think. The documentary is also touching upon the fact that Sesame Street music was used before as a torture technique in 2003 to prisoners from Iraq. The film includes an in-depth interview with Moazzam Begg, also interviewed in Shaker: A Decade of Injustice, about his time in Guantanamo and the use of torture and music.
Worth watching.

Watch the whole documentary here.

Interested in more about Guantanamo Bay?

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Shaker: A Decade of Injustice Trailer

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Spectacle is pleased to announce that the official Shaker: A Decade of Injustice Trailer is online. Spread the word and get Shaker Aamer out of Guantanamo!

Watch the full film here:Shaker: A Decade of Injustice Film

February 2012 marked the tenth anniversary of the last British resident, Shaker Aamer’s capture, extraordinary rendition and incarceration in the notorious prison Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  The controversial detention camp is universally known for its systematic use of torture and indefinite detention.  Having never been charged with a single crime Shaker Aamer has been cleared for release twice by both the Bush and Obama administrations in 2004 and 2009, and yet the reason why he is still imprisoned remains unclear. After years in solitary confinement, Shaker Aamer’s physical and mental state is rapidly deteriorating.

Saudi-born Shaker Aamer lived in Battersea, South West London with his wife and four children. He was captured shortly after 9/11in Afghanistan while he was voluntarily helping to build a school. During this time the United States were offering $5000 per suspect given to them. The alleged original reasons for his capture, his supposed ties with Al-Quaeda, have been dismissed due to lack of evidence.

Shaker Aamer: A Decade of Injustice recounts the story of his unlawful imprisonment, of the torture he has endured and the campaign that is being fought for his freedom. It outlines the possible reason why he hasn’t been released, these include his status in Guantanamo Bay as a leader and spokesperson for the other prisoners, his allegations of the UK governments complicity in his torture, and what he may have witnessed the night of the multiple “Guantanamo suicides”.

This short film (17 minutes) includes interviews with former Guantanamo Bay detainees (Moazzam Begg, Omar Deghayes, Martin Mubanga), his American lawyer Clive Stafford Smith (director of Reprieve), his local MP Jane Ellison, amongst other campaigners, journalists and human rights lawyers. It also features exclusive footage of the ongoing fight for his return taking place in London.

Shaker Aamer: A Decade of Injustice was filmed over the past three years documenting the story of the campaign to free him, their struggle, and the wider political implications of his incarceration. As years went on and nothing changed, the necessity to make the film became more urgent.

Spectacle is engaged in making investigative, community-led documentary films touching on issues such as urbanism, racism and radical philosophy. Outside the Law: Stories from Guantanamo,  The Truth Lies In Rostock and The Battle of Trafalgar are some of the titles Spectacle has released since it started in the ’90s.

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

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Peaceful Protest: a letter from Shaker Aamer – 15th July 2011

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From Guantanamo detainee to his lawyer (Ramzi Kassem law Professor at City University of New York) addressed to the Guantanamo Governor, President Obama and the US Government.

” I, the signatory below, in Camp 5E (Five Echo) 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 9th 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 importantly of which, are the family calls since they are the most crucial 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 email.

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 for 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 Guantanamo 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 manage 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 ISN 329″

Following this letter, Shaker Aamer was instrumental in organising a peaceful hunger strike and protest in Guantanamo on the tenth anniversary of the opening of the prison on January 11th 2012

Spectacle has made a short film about Shaker Aamer to mark the 10th anniversary of his incarceration. Watch Spectacle’s new video on Shaker Aamer and please sign the petition @ www.freeshaker.com. Get him out of Guantanamo!

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

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Shocking: New report from Shaker Aamer’s lawyers “They want me harmed”

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Spectacle has made this short film about Shaker Aamer to mark the 10th anniversary of his incarceration. Watch Spectacle’s new video on Shaker Aamer and please sign the petition @ www.freeshaker.com. Get him out of Guantanamo!

Ramzi Kassem, Professor of Law at City University of New York and lawyer, is one of Shaker Aamer’s US attorneys. These notes, recently unclassified, were made during his visit to Shaker on Shaker on January 27th 2012.

They record Shaker’s words.

“I am being mistreated because I refuse to comply in the face of injustice. Prison authorities keep telling me that I have to become ‘compliant.’ I reply that it is they who have to become compliant.  It is a constant 24 hour struggle. They force me to fight every step of the way. I’m a free man. Don’t try to humiliate me.”

CONDITIONS IN CAMP FIVE ECHO
From July 15th to December 3rd 2011, Shaker was held in total solitary confinement in Camp 5 Echo, – a punishment block for prisoners who are regarded as not compliant or who have too much influence over their fellow prisoners. The cells are half the size of the cells elsewhere, allowing for very little room to kneel for prayers. The cells contain only a steel bed, a squat toilet and two taps. Shaker was confined to his cell for 22 hours day and night with only 2 hours in the recreation yard from 6am to 8am.

“… the squat toilet is difficult to use, there are foul odors, bright lights shine on detainees and air conditioners keep it extremely cold. It is decrepit, filthy and disgusting.”

SLEEP DEPRIVATION
Shaker described the sleep deprivation methods used by the guards, including regularly shining a flashlight in his face and liberally spreading detergent around which filled his cell with a strong smell “so that he couldn’t breathe…so many ways Lucifer can think of… speaking loudly though the night with all kinds of noises- cleaning ,moving things, shaking the locks of the cells, turning the lights on and off…..sleeping in the light..no darkness to sleep..”

DENIAL OF BASIC NEEDS
Another method of punishment was to remove basic comfort items such as combs, toothbrush, and nail clippers. On January 27th, Shaker said, “Today is the first day I take a shower since 3/12/2011 and shave because I am coming to see you.”

Previously he has had to “shower from the toilet, I take water and shower from the same place I take shit”.

Even the Styrofoam plastic cups were banned.

“I have to drink my hot coffee and tea from water bottles.”

FURTHER ABUSE IN CAMP FIVE
On December 3rd, Shaker was moved out of Camp 5 Echo back to Camp 5. However, the punishment continued. Shaker states that he was prohibited from having toothpaste and toilet paper in case he used them to cover the camera in his cell, which monitored his every move.

DAILY FORCED CELL EXTRACTIONS
Every day, from Dec 3rd to his lawyer’s visit on January 27th, Shaker states that he was subjected to “Forced Cell Extractions.” This is a form of cruel treatment used to confuse and disorientate prisoners, often called “frequent flying” and carried out with violence.

“I got beaten up on my knee and my finger is almost broken. Swelled for a few days… they refused to give me any treatment not even a knee brace. Bruises and swelling all over my body. Squeezing my neck so bad I could not breathe. Try to break my hand and fingers. Pressure on my back, stomach and chest, so much pressure. Tight, the plastic cuffs, so tight the blood circulation stop.”

SHAKER IS DENIED MEDICAL CARE
Clive Stafford Smith, Director of the legal charity Reprieve, listed Shaker’s many serious medical problems in his letter to Foreign Secretary William Hague following his visit to Shaker on November 17th 2011. He stated that Shaker was “gradually dying in Guantanamo.” Shaker states that he had received, “No privacy, no medical care whatsoever” in Camp Five Echo.
Shaker’s account to Ramzi Kassem in January 27th ended with this shocking account of his fears for his life.

“THEY WANT ME HARMED”
“Since 3/12/2011, when they moved me out of 5 Echo, I am going to rec. alone and I haven’t seen my doctor for long time and I refuse to take any meds. from the medical staff. I am very worried about my health and my life in this place. I feel so vulnerable and any time they can do anything to me no one knows.”

I have been on hunger strike since 15/7/2011 and my weight went from 208 pounds to 148 pounds but they did not give me the tube to feed me so I start to eat fruit and salad sometimes so I don’t harm my body. I have no doubt they want me to be harmed.

One thing I know for sure if something bad happen to me it happens with the hand of the American. I will never harm myself. I have a wife and kids I want to go back to. Anything happen to me, they done it.   There is so much to say about the evil they do in this place, specially the small things that no one pay attention to it, but one thing you just need to know:

” They control the air we breathe. Control the light, control the noise, control the food, control the water. The control everything and they use it against me any time they want. All that you need to know about this place you just need to read 1984 by George Orwell. I swear to my only Lord there is no human being in this place. Guards with no feeling, they do what they are told, regardless of anything.”

URGENT APPEAL FOR SHAKER AAMER’S RETURN
It is unlikely that conditions have improved for Shaker Aamer since this report of January 27th. Every day he continues to be abused and tortured. Shaker is in fear for his life. His only wish is to be allowed to return to his wife and family in the UK before “anything happens to him.”
Shaker Aamer has been imprisoned in Guantanamo in the harshest of conditions for over ten years, despite having been cleared for release since 2007.

Please do all you can to save Shaker Aamer, his life is in danger.
Time is running out for Shaker. Please join our campaign to demand his return to end his appalling abuse and torture.

Joy Hurcombe
Chair the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign
29.4.2012

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Shaker Aamer: A Decade of Injustice Film Release

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February 2012 marked the tenth anniversary of the last British resident, Shaker Aamer’s capture, extraordinary rendition and incarceration in the notorious prison Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  The controversial detention camp is universally known for its systematic use of torture and indefinite detention.  Having never been charged with a single crime Shaker Aamer has been cleared for release twice by both the Bush and Obama administrations in 2004 and 2009, and yet the reason why he is still imprisoned remains unclear. After years in solitary confinement, Shaker Aamer’s physical and mental state is rapidly deteriorating.

Saudi-born Shaker Aamer lived in Battersea, South West London with his wife and four children. He was captured shortly after 9/11in Afghanistan while he was voluntarily helping to build a school. During this time the United States were offering $5000 per suspect given to them. The alleged original reasons for his capture, his supposed ties with Al-Quaeda, have been dismissed due to lack of evidence.

Shaker Aamer: A Decade of Injustice recounts the story of his unlawful imprisonment, of the torture he has endured and the campaign that is being fought for his freedom. It outlines the possible reason why he hasn’t been released, these include his status in Guantanamo Bay as a leader and spokesperson for the other prisoners, his allegations of the UK governments complicity in his torture, and what he may have witnessed the night of the multiple “Guantanamo suicides”.

This short film (17 minutes) includes interviews with former Guantanamo Bay detainees (Moazzam Begg, Omar Deghayes, Martin Mubanga), his American lawyer Clive Stafford Smith (director of Reprieve), his local MP Jane Ellison, amongst other campaigners, journalists and human rights lawyers. It also features exclusive footage of the ongoing fight for his return taking place in London.

Shaker Aamer: A Decade of Injustice was filmed over the past three years, when Spectacle Productions director Mark Saunders realised that Shaker Aamer’s family were local residents to his office. Saunders felt compelled to document the story of their struggle, and the wider political implications of his incarceration. As years went on and nothing changed, the necessity to make the film became more urgent.

Spectacle is engaged in making investigative, community-led documentary films touching on issues such as urbanism, racism and radical philosophy. Outside the Law: Stories from Guantanamo,  The Truth Lies In Rostock and The Battle of Trafalgar are some of the titles Spectacle has released since it started in the ’90s,

Watch the full film here: Shaker Aamer: A Decade of Injustice Film

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.