Debating Human Rights & Counterterrorism In Britain

It is not just in the United States that aggressive counterterrorism measures have raised serious human rights concerns. This month, the U.K. House of Lords began debating a draft counterterrorism law that would institute a number of harmful proposals, including granting police the power to detain terrorism suspects for up to six weeks without charge. While the bill garnered a narrow government majority of only nine votes, the government managed to get it passed last month in the House of Commons (the lower house of Parliament).

Much of the debate around the bill so far has focused on the British government’s effort to extend pre-charge detention beyond the already-excessive 28-day period allowed under existing law. But the bill contains other worrying provisions as well.

In a briefing paper issued earlier this month, Human Rights Watch analyzed the draft law, focusing on those provisions that it believes are incompatible with Britain's human rights obligations. As Human Rights Watch emphasizes, counterterrorism measures that violate human rights undermine a government’s moral legitimacy and damage its ability to win the battle for “hearts and minds” – a battle that U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has acknowledged to be central to long-term success in countering terrorism.

Pre-Charge Detention

Human rights groups believe that the 28-day pre-charge detention period allowed under existing law should be rolled back rather than extended. Surprisingly, perhaps, their opposition to the proposed extension is echoed by a number of conservative political figures, including the former head of MI5, the U.K. intelligence agency. In her maiden speech to the House of Lords, former MI5 director Baroness Manningham-Buller argued strongly against the proposal. She emphasized that she disagreed with the government's plan on a “practical basis as well as a principled one.”

Others authorities who have criticized the planned extension include current Director of Public Prosecution Sir Ken MacDonald, former Justice Minister Lord Falconer, and former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith. Faced with such criticisms, the government had offered a few concessions meant to improve pre-charge detention safeguards.

But the most important safeguard – robust judicial scrutiny to prevent arbitrary detention – remains wholly inadequate. The senior judge reviewing extended detention under the bill does not assess whether there are reasonable grounds to believe the person who is detained committed a terrorist offense, the ultimate issue at stake in considering whether detention is lawful or not.

In addition, the 42-day detention power, when authorized by the home secretary, is valid for 30 days, down from the two months originally envisioned. But after 30 days, the home secretary can immediately reauthorize a new extension (subject to subsequent approval by Parliament), raising the possibility of rolling 42-day periods of pre-charge detention.

This power only exists when the home secretary invokes an “exceptionally grave terrorist threat.” But the formulation is open to wide interpretation, not least because it covers attacks that are planned or executed anywhere in the world. And although Parliament needs to approve the power within seven days of the home secretary initially authorizing it, the legislature is ill-equipped to scrutinize individual detention decisions, a function that is best performed by the courts.

How To Remedy The Bill's Problems

The Human Rights Watch briefing paper outlines several other key problems with the proposed legislation:

The bill allows post-charge questioning without effective safeguards against self-incrimination and oppressive police interviews. It allows the courts to draw negative inferences during terrorism trials when the defendant exercises the right to remain silent after being charged, and it fails to require explicitly the presence of a lawyer at all times when a defendant is questioned once charged.

The bill gives the government the power to order, on the grounds of national security, that an inquest into a person’s death be held in secret and without a jury.

The bill expands the U.K.’s already overbroad definition of terrorism.
The briefing paper also contains concrete recommendations to the House of Lords for how to remedy the bill's problems. It urges the Lords to:

Reject the power to extend pre-charge detention to 42 days;

Improve safeguards for current 28-day pre-charge detention, until it is repealed, including the requirement that any judge authorizing extensions to detention be satisfied that reasonable grounds exist to believe the detainee has committed a terrorist offense;

Reject the proposal to allow adverse inferences to be drawn in post-charge questioning, and an explicit requirement that a lawyer be present all times;

and Narrow the definition of terrorism.

As Human Rights Watch emphasizes, the third anniversary of the 2005 London bombings is a reminder that Britain faces a real terror threat. But passing dangerous and unnecessary proposals like those contained in the draft law will not improve the country's security. The Lords should take a principled stand against the proposed legislation.

Source: http://writ.news.findlaw.com/mariner/20080728.html

Extraordinary Rendition on Trial

Date: Wednesday 30 July 2008
Time: 7-9pm
Venue: At Garden Court Chambers, 57-60 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LS (nearest tube: Holborn)

A Panel Discussion and Q&A on the CIA’s Extrajudicial Programme of Extraordinary Rendition with:

Zachary Katznelson, Legal Director, Reprieve
Phil Shiner, Public Interest Lawyers
Gareth Peirce, Birnberg Peirce Solicitors

Introduced in 1995 by Bill Clinton’s administration, the use of the CIA’s extralegal system of extraordinary rendition has accelerated since 2001 and has resulted in the kidnap, transfer to third countries and torture of tens of thousands of individuals. Covering a global network of secret prisons and places such as Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, detainees are held incommunicado and without access to legal or medical professionals.

A system of detention and cruel and inhuman forms of punishment has grown up outside of the known confines of international law, leaving detainees vulnerable and exposed to the caprices of their captors and without access to due process, even after their release. With international complicity, including that of the British government, a whole new system of lawlessness has come into being and has been sanctioned by international silence. Come and learn more from lawyers who have represented individuals caught up in what the Council of Europe has described as the “spider’s web” of “detentions and transfers” with the “collusion” of its members.

Organised by the London Guantánamo Campaign and Peace and Justice in East London

Supported by Reprieve, Public Interest Lawyers, the Association of Muslim Lawyers and the Students Human Rights Programme (UCL)

This is a free event, however as spaces are limited, please contact Aisha on 07809 757 176 or email london.gtmo@googlemail.com to book your place.

The London Guantánamo Campaign
www.guantanamo.org.uk

Bosnian Serbs Jailed For Genocide

Seven Bosnian Serbs have been convicted of genocide and jailed over the massacre of Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) in Srebrenica in 1995.

After a two-year trial, the Bosnian war crimes court in Sarajevo ruled that the men helped in the systematic murder of more than 1,000 Bosniaks in one day. In all, as many as 8,000 men and boys were killed in a week in Srebrenica.

The ruling comes a week after the capture of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, also accused of genocide. Mr Karadzic is expected to be sent soon to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague to face charges over his involvement in the Srebrenica massacre.

The trial in Sarajevo was the first to be held in Bosnia over crimes committed at Srebrenica, and the first for genocide. Previous such trials have been held at The Hague.

'Permanent Extermination'

Eleven men were originally charged with genocide in the case - all of whom were police officers or soldiers with the Bosnian Serb wartime authorities. Four were acquitted and the other seven were given sentences ranging from 38 to 42 years.

"The defendants knew that by killing the Bosnian Muslim men, they participated in the permanent extermination of Bosnian Muslims from Srebrenica," said judge Hilmo Vucinic. "They consciously killed hundreds of Bosnian Muslims with the aim of permanently removing Bosnian Muslims from Srebrenica."

The group of seven played a part in separating more than 1,000 Bosniak men from their families. The court said that the murdered men were among a group trying to escape from Srebrenica after it came under Bosnian Serb control. The men were told they would be taken to safety if they surrendered. Instead, they were taken by bus or on foot to the warehouse of an agricultural co-operative in the village of Kravica before being murdered in a single day.

The convicted men either carried out executions themselves using firearms or hand grenades, or prevented people from escaping from the warehouse.

Killing Spree

Munira Subasic, who lost her husband and son in Srebrenica and who runs an association of survivors, said she was pleased with the verdict but that her pain "can never be healed". "The mothers of these men still have their sons, their wives still have husbands, their children still have fathers and I am still looking for my son's bones," she told AFP news agency.

The massacre was part of a week-long killing spree by Bosnian Serb forces, who overran the UN-protected Srebrenica enclave.

Milos Stupar and Milenko Trifunovic were commanders of special police force units, Milovan Matic was a member of the Bosnian Serb army and the remaining men were special police force officers. All but two of the men were were born in Bosnia-Hercegovina - Dragisa Zivanovic was born in Serbia and Branislav Medan was born in Croatia.

Five former Bosnian Serb officers have already been jailed by the international war crimes tribunal at The Hague over the Srebrenica atrocities, while further suspects are awaiting trial. A Serbian court has also jailed four former Serb paramilitaries for their role in the Srebrenica massacre.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7531413.stm

Reprieve Press Release:
Binyam Mohamed Hearing on Torture Evidence

Monday 10:30 Royal Courts of Justice, London

Yesterday, on July 24, Binyam Mohamed spent his 30th birthday in Guantánamo Bay, with little cause for celebration. Binyam has now spent one fifth of his life in illegal US detention.

This Monday, 28 July, Binyam will at last have his day in court – and a chance to obtain evidence of his torture in the possession of the UK government.

Binyam is a British resident who has spent the last the last four years in Guantánamo Bay and before that suffered two years of torture having been rendered to Morocco and the “Dark Prison” in Afghanistan by the CIA. Binyam has been tortured in unspeakable ways. In Morocco, amongst other horrors, he regularly had a razorblade taken to his genitals.

Binyam now faces the prospect of a politically motivated, unfair military commission at Guantánamo. These military tribunals have been condemned uniformly by international authorities as a violation of human rights.

The UK government holds evidence of Binyam’s CIA torture in Morocco which is crucial to his defence. Despite this, the UK government has said that it will not provide this information. It refuses to help him prove either that he was tortured or that he is innocent of the charges.

Monday’s hearing relates to Mr. Mohamed’s request for a judicial review of that decision.

Come to the Royal Courts of Justice at 10:30am.

The Litigation

We know that the British government has various pieces of evidence key to Binyam’s defence. British agents met with Binyam when he was arrested in Pakistan, interviewed him for three hours, and apparently told the US that he was a “nobody” (Binyam was a janitor from Kensington). UK agents also told Binyam that he was going to be rendered by the US to a foreign country. When Binyam was duly sent to Morocco for 18 months of torture, the UK provided background information to the US that was used to manipulate him in his torture sessions.

With the assistance of the law firm Leigh Day, Binyam has sued the UK government for the evidence in its possession that would help prove that he was rendered by the CIA to the torture chambers of Morocco.

The government’s lawyers replied that “evidence held by the UK government that US and Moroccan authorities engaged in torture or rendition cannot be obtained” by Mr. Mohamed’s lawyers to help defend him. Why not? We are not told.

The government lawyers went on to write that "the UK is under no obligation under international law to assist foreign courts or tribunals in ensuring that torture evidence is not admitted" against Binyam in Guantánamo. Again, why not?

Clive Stafford Smith, Director of Reprieve, said: “The British citizen used to have an absolute right to remain silent in the face of a criminal accusation. Two decades ago, the British government abolished this right. Surely, no official can be allowed to remain silent when asked to explain why the government wants to cover up evidence that could help bring justice to a Londoner held in Guantánamo Bay?

“No matter what the technical arguments that can be made in favour of an injustice, surely the just course of action is obvious here. We do not ask anyone merely to accept Binyam’s claims, but we do ask that he be given an open trial in which to present them to a fair jury, and that he be allowed access to the evidence with which to prove his case. “

_____

For further information, please contact Clare Algar at Reprieve’s Press Office on 020 7427 1085 or email: clare.algar@reprieve.org.uk.

Note for editors:

Reprieve, a legal action charity, uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantánamo Bay. Reprieve investigates, litigates and educates, working on the frontline, to provide legal support to prisoners unable to pay for it themselves. Reprieve promotes the rule of law around the world, securing each person’s right to a fair trial and saving lives.

Clive Stafford Smith is the founder of Reprieve and has spent 25 years working on behalf of people facing the death penalty in the USA. Reprieve lawyers currently represent over thirty prisoners held in Guantánamo Bay. Reprieve lawyers have represented Mr. Mohamed since 2005.

For more details about Reprieve, visit: www.reprieve.org.uk.

Secret Memo Shows Harsh CIA Tactics Approved

Interrogators protected if they believed there would be no long-term harm

The Justice Department in 2002 told the CIA that its interrogators would be safe from prosecution for violations of anti-torture laws if they believed "in good faith" that harsh techniques used to break prisoners' will would not cause "prolonged mental harm." That heavily censored memo, released Thursday, approved the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques method by method, but warned that if the circumstances changed, interrogators could be running afoul of anti-torture laws.

The Aug. 1, 2002, memo signed by then-Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee was issued the same day he wrote a memo for then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales defining torture as only those "extreme acts" that cause pain similar in intensity to that caused by death or organ failure. That memo was never rescinded.

Waterboarding is a form of simulated drowning that critics call torture. CIA Director Michael Hayden banned waterboarding in 2006 but government officials have said it remains a possibility if approved by the attorney general, the CIA chief and the president.

Secret Program

Secret Bush administration memos authorizing harsh interrogation techniques have been made public starting in 2004, when the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal revealed detainee mistreatment. Thursday's release adds to the growing record of the still secret program launched after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The new Bybee memo was obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union along with two other previously unreleased documents dealing with the CIA's interrogation program. The Bybee memo specifically approved proposed interrogation techniques that were devised for use against al-Qaida suspects who were resistant to traditional questioning methods.

The standards used to judge how physically rough an interrogation could be are blacked out. But interrogations that stress a detainee psychologically or emotionally were not allowed to cause "prolonged mental harm." That was defined as harm lasting months or even years after the interrogation.

The memo suggests psychiatrists or psychologists should be consulted prior to interrogations to assess the likely mental health effect on the prisoner. "The healthier the individual, the less likely that the use of any one procedure or set of procedures will result in prolonged mental harm," the memo states.

'Enhanced Technique'

The new documents indicate that senior Bush administration officials were aware of the controversial and potentially problematic use of certain interrogation methods, including waterboarding.

In a second memo, dated Jan. 28, 2003, then-CIA Director George Tenet authorized CIA officers to interrogate a terror suspect using an "enhanced technique" and ordered a record to be kept of it as the interrogation was happening. It was not clear whether such a record would be taken via notes, videotape or audiotape, but it was to include the "nature and duration of each such technique employed, the identities of those present" and other factors.

Tenet's memo also authorized the use of both "enhanced techniques" and "standard techniques," and said no other methods could be used "unless otherwise approved by headquarters."

Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU's national security project, said the Tenet document suggests the CIA at least contemplated techniques that went beyond waterboarding. He said the interrogation records, if released, could be used as evidence by defendants in military tribunals at Guantanamo to prove they were tortured or coerced.

A third document released Thursday is undated but likely was written in 2004, well after the last confirmed use of waterboarding against a CIA prisoner. It addresses a planned interrogation, saying that it should go forward only with the clear understanding of all policies pertaining to the treatment of prisoners.

'Saved American Lives'

That unsigned memo defends interrogations but warns those authorizing them to be fully aware of the then-emerging international and U.S. legal debate surrounding the issue. It appears to serve as groundwork to defend the legality of interrogations — including waterboarding — if necessary. "Intelligence gained using the interrogation techniques has saved Americans lives and property," the unsigned memo states.

It pointed to the August 2002 Justice Department opinion that concluded "interrogation techniques including the waterboard do not violate the torture statute."

For several years, the Bush administration relied on the findings in that 2002 opinion to maintain its interrogations did not amount to torture — and therefore had not violated any U.S. or international treaties on how detainees are treated. However, the one-page undated memo highlights legislation by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., prohibiting cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees. The amendment was approved by the Senate in June 2004 and was part of a 2005 military budget bill that became law in October 2004.

It also notes a 2004 Supreme Court decision — which found that terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay could challenge their detention in U.S. courts — that "raises possible concerns about judicial review of the program, and these issues."

The Bush administration maintains waterboarding was legal when it was used by CIA interrogators in 2002 and 2003 against top al-Qaida detainees Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. CIA Director Hayden said waterboarding was used, in part, because of widespread belief among U.S. intelligence officials that more catastrophic attacks were imminent.

Source: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25837803/

Gaza Appeal: A Cry From Gaza

On the night of 15th April 2008 there was clash at and around Al Wafa hospital between the Israeli armed forces (using Machaver tanks) and Palestinians.

As a result the hospital sustained significant damage to its building. A preliminary survey showed an estimated £30,000 worth of damage and repairs are now urgently needed. The situation was made worse by the power and other cuts inflicted by Israel.

There is a tentative ceasefire in place now designed to halt Israeli incursions into the Gaza Strip. This ceasefire comes after a period in which the humanitarian situation in Gaza deteriorated significantly. Since the last ceasefire, which collapsed in April 2007, about 600 Palestinians have died (source BBC). We hope this ceasefire wil be an important first step to improve the daily lives of the ordinary people of Gaza and will give the people of Gaza much needed relief. Hopes are high that this opportunity can be used to put a healing balm on the suffering of Gaza and its residents.

We at Helping Hands believe now is the right time to step forward and give a ' helping hand' to our brothers and sisters in Gaza.

Please donate as much or as little as you can even if it is only a £1.

If everybody who reads this email donates we believe we will be able to make a huge difference. Thank you very much, the Helping Hands team.

For more information: www.helpinghandsworldwide.com/Gaza_Incident_Appeal.php

Cageprisoners Press Release:
British Peer Demands Investigation into Detention of Female at Bagram

A British peer has demanded an investigation into the fate of a female detainee who has been held in US custody for more than four years. Prisoner 650, a Pakistani woman, was last seen in the US base at Bagram , Afghanistan .

Lord Ahmed of Rotherham has tabled a series of written questions including one asking if British Intelligence officers have been involved with the interrogation of prisoners at the US controlled Bagram Airbase. He has also demanded to know if the British government is aware of Prisoner Number 650, referred to in the media as the “Grey Lady of Bagram” and whether they are aware of her identity, and nationality.

Cageprisoners have learned through former detainees held in Bagram that during 2003 and 2005 there was a female prisoner being held in solitary confinement, whose incessant screams could be heard and who had been terribly abused. Following hunger strikes by detainees in protest of her detention, the woman was transferred from the prison.

A Pentagon spokesman, Lt Col Mark Wright however has denied the presence of any female detainees in Bagram or any record of a “Prisoner 650”.

British journalist and Cageprisoners patron, Yvonne Ridley commented:

“We know this woman exists although we do not know her name or even her state of mind or exact whereabouts. She was last seen alive in a highly distressed state having spent at least two years in Bagram. Our sources of information are impeccable and I’ve urged Lt Col Mark Wright to go back to his sources again as I believe they are mistaken or deliberately misleading him.”

Saghir Hussain, Director of Cageprisoners, has already handed over a dossier, Devoid of the Rule of Law, to the Pakistan media prepared by the human rights NGO which reveals the abuse of detainees held in Pakistan and the complicity of Western governments therein. He added,

“Prisoner 650 is just the tip of a very nasty iceberg of human rights abuses, illegal detentions and rendition flights. It is a shameful episode in Pakistan 's history which must be put right.”
The statements of former Bagram detainees confirming the existence of prisoner 650 can be found in the dossier at:

www.cageprisoners.com/DevoidOfTheRuleOfLaw.pdf

QUESTIONS ABOUT PRISONER 650

1. Lord Ahmed of Rotherham to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether British Intelligence officers are involved with the interrogation of prisoners at the US controlled Bagram Airbase.

2. Lord Ahmed of Rotherham to ask Her Majesty’s Government if they are aware of any female prisoners held at this airbase prison together with the male prisoners?

3. Lord Ahmed of Rotherham to ask Her Majesty’s Government if they are aware of Prisoner Number 650, referred to in the media as the “Grey Lady of Bagram” and whether they are aware of her identity and nationality.

4. Lord Ahmed of Rotherham to ask Her Majesty’s Government if they aware of alleged sexual and physical abuse of Prison Number 650 and whether she is forced to use communal toilet and shower facilities in full view of the guards.

5. Lord Ahmed of Rotherham to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether there is a psychiatric and medical report in relation to the “Grey Lady of Bagram”, Prisoner Number 650, and whether they have made any representations to the US government in relation to her psychiatric and physical condition.

_____

Cageprisoners is a human rights organisation that exists to raise awareness of the plight of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other detainee s h eld as part of the War on Terror. We aim to give a voice to the voiceless.

Media

Contact: Moazzam Begg
Email: moazzam.begg@cageprisoners.com
Number: 0044 (0) 7875090494
www.cageprisoners.com

Israeli Soldier Shoots Restrained Palestinian At Close Range

Today, B'Tselem is publishing a video clip documenting a soldier firing a rubber coated steel bullet, from extremely close range, at a cuffed and blindfolded Palestinian detainee. The shooting took place in the presence of a lieutenant colonel, who was holing the Palestinian's arm when the shot was fired.

The incident took place on 7 July, in Nil'in, a village in the West Bank. A Palestinian demonstrator, Ashraf Abu Rahma, 27, was stopped by soldiers, who cuffed and blindfolded him for about thirty minutes, during which time, according to Abu-Rahma, they beat him. Afterwards, a group of soldiers and border policemen led him to an army jeep. The video clip shows a soldier aim his weapon at the demonstrator's legs, from about 1.5 meters away, and fire a rubber coated steel bullet at him. Abu-Rahma stated that the bullet hit his left toe, received treatment from an army medic, and released by the soldiers.

A Palestinian girl from Nil'in filmed the incident from her house in the village, and B'Tselem received it this morning.

B'Tselem does not know if any proceedings were opened against those involved. However, residents of Ni'lin told B'Tselem that they saw the soldier the following day, still serving in his unit.

B'Tselem immediately forwarded a copy to the Military Police Investigation Unit commander, with demand that an immediate Military Police investigation be opened, if it hasn't already, and that the soldier be brought to justice. Additionally, B'Tselem demanded that the involvement of the lieutenant colonel who was holding the detainee is investigated. B'Tselem stressed that members of the security forces are obligated to report unlawful acts. It is even more serious is a high-ranking officer participates in such a whitewash.

Watch the video here: Today, B'Tselem is publishing a video clip documenting a soldier firing a rubber coated steel bullet, from extremely close range, at a cuffed and blindfolded Palestinian detainee. The shooting took place in the presence of a lieutenant colonel, who was holing the Palestinian's arm when the shot was fired.

The incident took place on 7 July, in Nil'in, a village in the West Bank. A Palestinian demonstrator, Ashraf Abu Rahma, 27, was stopped by soldiers, who cuffed and blindfolded him for about thirty minutes, during which time, according to Abu-Rahma, they beat him. Afterwards, a group of soldiers and border policemen led him to an army jeep. The video clip shows a soldier aim his weapon at the demonstrator's legs, from about 1.5 meters away, and fire a rubber coated steel bullet at him. Abu-Rahma stated that the bullet hit his left toe, received treatment from an army medic, and released by the soldiers.

A Palestinian girl from Nil'in filmed the incident from her house in the village, and B'Tselem received it this morning.

B'Tselem does not know if any proceedings were opened against those involved. However, residents of Ni'lin told B'Tselem that they saw the soldier the following day, still serving in his unit.

B'Tselem immediately forwarded a copy to the Military Police Investigation Unit commander, with demand that an immediate Military Police investigation be opened, if it hasn't already, and that the soldier be brought to justice. Additionally, B'Tselem demanded that the involvement of the lieutenant colonel who was holding the detainee is investigated. B'Tselem stressed that members of the security forces are obligated to report unlawful acts. It is even more serious is a high-ranking officer participates in such a whitewash.

Watch the video here: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9704.shtml

Happy Birthday Binyam!




Please note that there is music (so Insha'allah switch the volume off) but the facts are very beneficial so please do watch.

Introducing Syed Fahad Hashmi

Dear Friends,

We are writing about another urgent case. Syed Fahad Hashmi is a 27-year-old Muslim American citizen currently being held in solitary confinement in a federal jail on two counts of providing and conspiring to provide material support - and two counts of making and conspiring to make a contribution of goods or services - to Al Qaida. If convicted, he faces seventy years in prison.

Hashmi came to the United States from Pakistan with his family when he was three and grew up in Flushing, Queens. He majored in political science at Brooklyn College and then attended the London Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom where he received his MA in international relations. In June 2006, he was arrested by the British police at Heathrow Airport (he was about to travel to Pakistan, where he has family) on a warrant issued by the US government. In May 2007, he was extradited to the United States, where he has since been held in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.

Under special administrative measures (SAMs) imposed by the Attorney General, Hashmi must be held in solitary confinement and may not communicate with anyone inside the prison other than prison officials. Family visits were not granted for many months and are now limited to one person every other week for one and a half hours, and cannot involve physical contact. Syed may write only one letter (of no more than three pieces of paper) per week to one family member. He may not communicate, either directly or through his attorneys, with the news media. He may read only designated portions of newspapers - and not until thirty days after their publication - and his access to other reading material is restricted.

He may not listen to or watch news-oriented radio stations and television channels. He may not participate in group prayer. He is subject to 24-hour electronic monitoring and 23-hour lockdown, has no access to fresh air, and must take his one-hour of daily recreation - when it is given - inside a cage. While the Attorney General claims that these measures are necessary because "there is substantial risk that [Hashmi's] communications or contacts with persons could result in death or serious bodily injury to persons," he was held in a British jail with other prisoners for eleven months without incident.

The US government alleges that during February 2004, Junaid Babar, also a Pakistani-born US citizen, stayed with Hashmi at his London apartment for two weeks. According to the government, Babar stored luggage containing raincoats, ponchos, and waterproof socks in Hashmi's apartment and then delivered these materials to the third- ranking member of Al Qaida in South Waziristan, Pakistan. In addition, Hashmi allegedly allowed Babar to use his cell phone to call other conspirators in terrorist plots. The government claims that Babar's testimony is the "centerpiece" of its case against Hashmi. Babar, who has pleaded guilty to five counts of material support for Al Qaida, faces up to 70 years in prison. While awaiting sentence, he has agreed to serve as a government witness in terrorism trials in Britain and Canada as well as in Hashmi's trial. Under a plea agreement reported in the media, Babar will receive a reduced sentence in return for his cooperation.

The events described above comprise the main allegations that the government has presented to the defense. According to the rules of discovery in federal criminal cases, however, the government may present additional allegations up until the day before the trial begins. Much of the evidence against Hashmi is classified, which means that unless the judge rules otherwise, Hashmi will not be allowed to see it. Part of the government's case hinges upon evidence
about Hashmi's beliefs, associations, and speech. When Hashmi was a student at Brooklyn College, he was a member of Al Muhajiroun, a group that advocates positions well outside the mainstream of American public opinion. The US government, however, has neither designated it a terrorist organization, nor deemed membership in it illegal. While Hashmi's beliefs, speech, and associations are constitutionally protected, the government may attempt to use them as evidence of his criminal intent. Unlike other high-profile post- 9/11 cases, in which the defendants were not particularly political, Hashmi is an activist. The government's increasing attention to this kind of political activity further raises the specter of a chilling effect on First Amendment rights throughout the country.

Hashmi's case thus raises three concerns: first, the draconian conditions of his detention; second, the undermining of his Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial; third, the threats it poses to the First Amendment rights of others. What you can do to help:

1. Go to: www.educatorsforcivilliberties.org/and www.freefahad.com/ to become more familiar with the issues of the case

2. Sign the Statement of Concern around the civil liberties issues of his case at: www.ipetitions.com/petition/Hashmi-Rights/

3. Share it with friends, congregations and other networks and get others to endorse the Statement.

4. Email Amnesty International (admin-us@aiusa.org) and Human Rights Watch (hrwnyc@hrw.org) and ask them to investigate and take action around the case.

For more information, contact jeannetheoharis@gmail.com

Guantánamo Children

In a submission to the UN in May, the Pentagon said that no more than eight youths, aged 13 to 17 at time of capture, were held at Guantánamo Bay. But a prisoner list released in 2006 in response to US freedom of information act litigation names 21 inmates under 18 when they arrived. A separate defence department admission brings the total to 22. Testimonies collected by the charity Reprieve, which represents 30 inmates at Guantánamo, indicate the actual number is much higher.

Guantánamo's child prisoners came from all over the world: they were Afghan, Yemeni, Saudi, Russian, Uighuri, and Canadian. Five of them are still there. They are: Mohammed el Gharani, aged 14-15 when he was seized while praying in a Karachi mosque; Hassan bin Attash, aged 16-17 when seized in Pakistan, and rendered to Jordan where he endured 16 months of torture before being transferred; Faris Muslim Al Ansari, an Afghan-Yemeni who was 17 when captured; Mohamed Jawad, an Afghan who was 17 when seized and faces trial by military commission; and Omar Khadr.

Saudi citizen Yasser Talal Al Zahrani, 17 when captured, joined a prison-wide hunger strike in 2005. He was found dead in his cell in June 2006 after apparently killing himself.

- Cori Crider, lawyer for Reprieve

Source: www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/19/humanrights.usa

Egypt: Release Dozens of Protestors Held Without Charge

Detainees Held for More Than 90 Days, Allegedly Tortured

Egypt should immediately release six men who have been detained for more than 90 days without charge since their arrests following a workers strike and street protests in Mahalla al-Kobra in April, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch also called on authorities to suspend the prosecution of 49 others by a security court where procedures violate fair trial rights and to investigate allegations that some of the men were tortured.

The men, whose names were released by Human Rights Watch, were arrested after thousands of security forces prevented workers from striking to protest the failure to implement promised wage increases at Mahalla’s Misr Spinning and Weaving textile mill, Egypt’s largest factory on April 6. Mahalla residents took to the streets later that day and again on April 7 to protest recent food price hikes. Witnesses said security forces used live ammunition to disperse demonstrations, and news reports said two people were killed.

“Not only has the government blatantly violated the right of workers to strike, it has refused to provide those arrested with basic due process rights,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch. “Nothing justifies torturing and indefinitely detaining protesters without charge.”

Six of the men were arrested on April 6 and 7, and 32 others were detained during a three-day sweep on April 21, 22 and 23. The six men have been detained for over three months without charge, leaving it unclear what, if any, crime they are alleged to have committed. The 32 others currently in detention had been detained without charge in “preventive custody” until June 6, when a prosecutor charged them and transferred their cases, along with 17 others, to Egypt’s Supreme State Security Court.

In total, the East Tanta General Prosecutor’s Office transferred 49 cases to the Supreme State Security Court, according to a charge sheet obtained by defense lawyers. All 49 men face a wide range of charges, including participating in a gathering of five or more people “of a nature to disturb public order” in violation of Egypt’s Emergency Law, as well as destroying public property, illegally possessing firearms, and assaulting policemen.

Egyptian human rights lawyers say the men could face lengthy prison terms, since judges can increase criminal sentences in cases related to national security or public order.

Two former detainees from Mahalla told Human Rights Watch that security forces tortured them in custody.

On April 10, Mahalla police arrested James Buck, an American journalism student, and Mohamed Marei, a 23-year-old veterinary student who was working as his translator. Buck told Human Rights Watch that the public prosecutor in Muhalla ordered their release later that night, but that police rearrested them moments later. They later released Buck.

On April 11, Marei told Human Rights Watch he was transferred to State Security Investigations (SSI) offices in Mahalla, where officers interrogated him for seven hours, beating him, kicking him in the head and genitals, and threatening him with electric shock by holding electricity cables so close to his head that he could hear the current. He said the SSI threatened to put him “in the oven,” and that his feet and hands were bound so tightly during the interrogation that he lost feeling in them for four days. He was beaten “into unconsciousness” before being transferred, blindfolded, to a detention center and kept in solitary confinement for 19 days.

Marei said his family tried to visit him, but SSI officers denied that he was in custody. They then transferred him to Burj al Arab prison, near Alexandria, where he twice went on hunger strike to protest continued detention. He did not see his family for 32 days, and did not see a lawyer for 42 days. He was released on July 5, after 87 days in detention, without ever being told of any charges against him.

Karim el-Beheiri, a textile factory worker who wrote a blog that supported the planned strike, told Human Rights Watch that after security forces arrested him early in the morning on April 6, they detained him for three days without food or drink in the SSI Mahalla offices. SSI agents blindfolded him, bound his arms and legs, and used electric shocks all over his body during their interrogation.

El-Beheiri said the interrogators told him they would torture his mother and sister if he did not cooperate, and that he should stop advocating for workers’ rights. “They said I should stop reading the newspapers and keep quiet,” el-Beheiri said.

El-Beheiri was then transferred to the Burj al Arab prison outside Alexandria. His lawyer, Ahmed Ezzat, said that a misdemeanor court in Tanta ordered el-Beheiri’s release on April 16, and the next day the Tanta criminal court affirmed the release order. Nonetheless, on April 21, before el-Beheiri was released, the Tanta prosecutor’s office ordered him to be detained again. El-Beheiri said he twice went on hunger strike to protest his redetention. On May 31, he was transferred to SSI custody in Tanta, where he said that officers tortured him again and warned him not to talk to foreign journalists before releasing him from custody late that night.

El-Beheiri now suffers from leg pain, memory loss and severe headaches, and has trouble eating. He told Human Rights Watch that he receives threats that he will lose his job at the Mahalla textile mill.

“Impunity for torturers continues to undermine the rule of law in Egypt,” said Whitson.

Egypt is obliged to bring anyone detained for criminal offenses to trial within a reasonable time or to release them pending trial under Article 9(3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Egypt ratified in 1982. Egypt is further bound to respect individuals’ rights to liberty and security and their freedom from arbitrary arrest under Article 9(1) of the ICCPR. Arbitrary arrest includes detaining a person despite court orders for their release.

The Supreme State Security Court (Mahkamat Amn al-Dawla al-'Ulya) was established under Egypt’s Emergency Law in 1980 and follows procedures that violate internationally recognized fair trial norms. In violation of guarantees of the independence of the judiciary, two military judges may sit alongside the Security Court’s regular bench of three civilian judges.

In compliance with its human rights obligations, Egypt should immediately release the six men detained without charge, quash the transfer of 49 cases to the Supreme State Security Court, and investigate allegations of torture against Marei and el-Beheiri.

Egypt is the second-largest recipient of US military and economic assistance, after Israel. The US should ensure that any assistance that flows to Egypt’s SSI is conditioned on the Egyptian authorities’ compliance with human rights law, respect for due process, and an end to torture and other inhumane treatment, as well as civilian prosecution of perpetrators, Human Rights Watch said

Persons arrested on April 6, 2008, who remain in detention without charge:

1. Hasan Hasan Fouad;
2. Mahmoud Shauqy Abu al-Azem;
3. Samy Mahmoud al-Halouf;
4. Mohammed al-Said Abd al-Rahman Mettwaly;
5. Kamal Abd al-Fatah; and
6. Ragab Gaber al-Mahdy.

Persons detained on April 21, 22, and 23, whose cases have been transferred to the Supreme State Security Court in Tanta:

1. Ahmed Abdel Raouf Hassanein Mahmoud, 40;
2. Mahmoud Abo Bakr Ahmed El-Shennawy, 22;
3. Ashraf Shabaan Daoud Shabaan, 39;
4. Mohamed Galal Ismail Khater, 19;
5. Mohamed Rezq El-Bayyoumy Rezq, 27;
6. Tareq Mohamed Abdel Hafeez El-Sawy, 22;
7. Moustafa El-Sayyed Mohamed El-Gamal, 33 (released and rearrested on June 2);
8. Helmy Mohamed Helmy El-Saadawy, 24;
9. Hamada Ibrahim Tawfeq El-Bassiouni, 27;
10. Osama Eid Mohamed Abdel Galeel, 30;
11. Ashraf Mohamed Eissa Salem, 42;
12. Moqbal Abdel Moneim Ahmed Abo Rahhal, 43;
13. Ahmed El-Sayyed Mohamed Ali El-Dahhan, 24;
14. Ahmed Kamel Ahmed Mohamed Ismail, 27;
15. Ahmed Abdel Moneim Mohamed Dessouqy, 39;
16. Ahmed Mosaad Mohamed Ragheb, 21 (released and rearrested on June 2);
17. Mansour Mohamed Mansour Abdallah, 42;
18. Tareq Farouq El-Sayyed El-Guindy, 33;
19. Mohamed Shayboub Mohamed Sayyed Ahmed, 29;
20. El-Khateeb Abdallah Zaky El-Naqeeb, 28;
21. Karim Ahmed El-Said Ahmed El-Refai, 19;
22. Ibrahim Samy Hassan Mohamed Badr, 21;
23. Hamada Zaky Hamadto Zaky Hegazy, 28;
24. Ahmed Samir Ahmed Abdel Moazz, 22 (released and rearrested on June 2);
25. Rafat Mohamed Mohamed El-Bawab, 47 (released and rearrested on June 2)
26. Essam Mohamed Ibrahim El-Saqra, 28;
27. Ibrahim Ibrahim Abdel Hamid Ammara, 20 (released and rearrested on June 2);
28. Abdel Moaty Fathy Mohamed Ali, 22;
29. Ibrahim Mohamed Youssef Abdel Meguid, 23 (released and rearrested on June 2);
30. Farahaat Sabry Mohamed Abdallah, 39 (released and rearrested on June 2);
31. Rady Mohamed Hassan El-Zaghl, 33 (released and rearrested on June 2); and
32. Bassam Adel Abdel Hay Saada, 21 (released and rearrested on June 2).

Other persons currently in detention whose cases have been transferred to the Supreme State Security Court:

33. Ali Ali Amin Abo Omar, 38.

Persons not currently in detention whose cases have been transferred to the Supreme State Security Court:

34. Fawzeyya Hafez El-Shenawy, 58;
35. Mohamed Ezzat Youssef El-Zeiny;
36. Osama Abdel Fattah Hammad El-Batal;
37. Mohamed Hasan El-Zogby Atteya, 34;
38. Mohamed Abdel Meguid El-Maqsoud Moussa, 36;
39. Mahmoud Mohamed Mohamed Ibrahim, 19;
40. Mahmoud Shawqy Abo El-Azam;
41. Wael Abdel Qader El-Beltagy;
42. Mosaad El-Sayyed Ibrahim El-Sharnouby;
43. Ibrahim El-Metwaly Ahmed Sallam, 23;
44. Baher Said Hamed El-Damiaty, 27;
45. Abdel Aziz Fathy Abo Salem;
46. Ramy Maysara Abdel Wahab Salem, 29;
47. El-Said Kamel Mohamed Harheera, 28;
48. Ahmed Mohamed Farhana, 22; and
49. Basem Mohamed El-Azab Mohamed, 27.

Source: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/07/18/egypt19391.htm

Binyam Mohamed: "Six Days For Six Years Vigil"

The London Guantanamo Campaign is to hold a vigil, 24 hours a day for six days, outside the American embassy in Grosvenor Square. The vigil will start at 6pm on Friday 18th July, and end on Thursday 24th July at 3pm.

For six years, London man Binyam Mohamed has been held without trial by the US authorities. Resident in west London for over seven years, he was captured in Pakistan and suffered severe torture for 18 months in Morocco, under the CIA's extraordinary rendition programme. He is currently suicidal and suffering post traumatic stress disorder. He is also on hunger strike and being force fed by military guards. In June, charges were brought against him by the US military and he is to be tried by an unjust military tribunal using "evidence" obtained under torture, and could face the death penalty.

The six day vigil will symbolically mark the six years that Binyam has been held captive.

A PROTEST. On Thursday the 24th of July, Binyam will turn thirty. At 5pm on that day, protesters will join those holding the vigil and proceed to Downing St in Guantánamo-style orange jump suits, where more protesters will gather to hold a birthday party, from 6pm to 8pm.

ACTION DEMANDED OF THE USA. The London Guantánamo Campaign demands that the USA authorities immediately drop the charges against Binyam, and arrange for his release and return to this country.

ACTION DEMANDED OF THE UK GOVERNMENT. The UK Government is in possession of documents which, if handed over to the Americans, could prove that allegations against Binyam are false, and based on information procured through torture. The Government refuses to do this. The London Guantánamo Campaign demands that the Government hands these documents over, and takes all possible steps to secure Binyam's immediate release and return home.

NOTES TO EDITORS.

Binyam Mohamed was born in Ethiopia in 1978 and came to Britain in 1994, where he lived for seven years, sought political asylum, and was given leave to remain.

In 2002 he was kidnapped while in Pakistan, and handed over to the CIA who illegally "rendered" him to Morocco. After 18 months of interrogation under torture, he was "rendered" again to an underground prison in Kabul, before finally being taken to Guantánamo Bay in September 2004, where he has been held without trial ever since.

The London Guantánamo Campaign campaigns for justice for all prisoners at Guantánamo bay, for the closure of this and other secret prisons, and for an end to the practice of extraordinary rendition.

Contact: london.gtmo@googlemail.com / www.guantanamo.org.uk / Aisha - 07809 757176 / Christine – 07737 783159

Cageprisoners Press Release:
Control Order Detainee Banned From Contact With Ex-Guantanamo Detainee

Control order detainee Mahmoud Abu Rideh has been prohibited for having any contact with former Guantanamo detainee, Moazzam Begg. Begg has been acting as spokesman and outreach worker for the human rights NGO, Cageprisoners, since 2006.

Moazzam Begg conducted an interview with Palestinian national Mahmoud Abu Rideh on behalf of Cageprisoners in April 2008, to draw attention to his seven year ordeal of detention without charge and life under the strict control order regime. The interview highlighted the tragic impact control orders have had on Abu Rideh’s mental health and family life. The Home Office now claims that the interview was a ‘pre-arranged meeting’ in violation of Mr Abu Rideh’s order, despite the fact that Mr Begg has conducted several interviews with prisoners and ex-prisoners for the organisation via telephone.

Weeks after the interview was conducted, Abu Rideh attempted suicide and was hospitalised. He remained in hospital on hunger strike for more than 40 days, vowing not to eat until he was allowed to leave the UK or his control order relaxed. Begg, in his capacity as outreach worker, spoke to Abu Rideh regularly whilst he was in hospital although he was denied access to visit him; encouraging other individuals to provide moral support to Abu Rideh in the form of visits, letters and gifts. He was responsible for alerting media to the case. Cageprisoners subsequently published the interview, accompanied by photos of a weakened bed-ridden Abu Rideh on hunger strike, and ran a high profile campaign, collecting hundreds of signatures in a petition in support of Abu Rideh.

As part of the revised terms of his order, Abu Rideh is prohibited from any contact with Moazzam Begg. In addition to this, ‘burqa-clad’ women are no longer allowed to enter his home under the pretext that men often use the garment to disguise their identity.

Moazzam Begg, commented:

“It seems evident to me that Mahmoud Abu Rideh - a man innocent of any wrongdoing - has once again been penalised for daring to tell his story. That they [the Home Office] have now decided that he cannot have any communication with me demonstrates - in addition to the new and ludicrous ban on burqa-clad women entering his house - an astonishing level of fear of embarrassment for the way in which Mr. Abu Rideh has been treated.”

Interview transcript and audio: Moazzam Begg & Mahmoud Abu Rideh
www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=25056

Cageprisoners campaign for Abu Rideh
www.cageprisoners.com/campaigns.php?id=754

Photos of Mahmoud Abu Rideh available upon request.

_______________

Cageprisoners is a human rights organisation that exists to raise awareness of the plight of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other detainee s h eld as part of the War on Terror. We aim to give a voice to the voiceless.

Media

Contact: Moazzam Begg
Email: moazzam.begg@cageprisoners.com
Number: 0044 (0) 7875090494

Gitmo Video Offers Glimpse Of Interrogations

In a video released Tuesday, a 16-year-old captured in Afghanistan cries out for his mother and says he needs treatment for his battle wounds during questioning by Canadian officials at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay. "Oh Mommy," he cries in despair in Arabic when he is alone in the room, watched only by hidden cameras.

The 10 minutes of video — selected by Omar Khadr's Canadian lawyers from more than seven hours of footage recorded by a camera hidden in a vent — provides the first glimpse of interrogations at the U.S. military prison. It shows Khadr weeping, his face buried in his hands, as he is questioned by Canadian intelligence agents over four days in 2003. The lawyers hope to pressure Canada into seeking Khadr's return, but the government said its position was unchanged.

The video, created by U.S. government agents at the prison in Cuba and originally marked as secret, provides insight into the effects of prolonged interrogation and detention on the Guantanamo prisoner.

A Canadian Security Intelligence Services agent in the video grills Khadr about events leading up to his capture as an enemy combatant when he was 15. Khadr, a Canadian citizen, is accused of throwing a grenade that killed one U.S. Special Forces soldier during a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan that left another soldier blinded. He was arrested after he was found in the rubble of a bombed-out compound — badly wounded and near death.

At one point in the interrogation, Khadr pulls off his orange prisoner shirt and shows the wounds he sustained in the firefight. He complains he cannot move his arms and says he had not received proper medical attention, despite requests.

"They look like they're healing well to me," the agent says of the injuries. "No, I'm not. You're not here (at Guantanamo)," says Khadr, the son of an alleged al-Qaida financier.

The agent later accuses Khadr of using his injuries and emotional state to avoid the interrogation. "No, you don't care about me," Khadr says.

Khadr also tells his interrogator that he was tortured while at the U.S. military detention center at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan, where he was first detained after his arrest in 2002.

Later on in the tape, a distraught Khadr is seen rocking and moaning, his face in his hands. His family said he was calling out for his mother in Arabic, repeatedly crying "Ya Umi." His lawyers, listening to the same audio, said they believed he was calling out 'help me' but acknowledged they were unsure.

On the final day, the agent tells Khadr that he was "very disappointed" in Khadr's behavior, and tries to impress upon him that he should cooperate. Khadr says he wants to go back to Canada. "There's not anything I can do about that," the agent says.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, Khadr's U.S. military lawyer, said the video shows "a frightened boy" who should be permitted to return to Canada. He said Khadr is cooperative at the beginning of the four-day stretch of interviews, because "he believed that if he was cooperative and told them what he thought they wanted to hear that they would take him home."

"So between Day One and Day Two he figures out that that is not going to happen and so you see a very emotional reaction on Day Two when this very scared 16-year-old boy finally figures out that the Canadians aren't going to do anything for him and are going to leave him there. He is devastated," Kuebler said.

A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. J.D. Gordon, denied that Khadr was mistreated. "Our policy is to treat detainees humanely and Khadr has been treated humanely," Gordon said.

The video was made by U.S. authorities and turned over to Khadr's defense team, Gordon said. The tapes are U.S. property.

A Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs report said Canadian official Jim Gould visited Khadr in 2004 and was told by the American military that the detainee was moved every three hours to different cells. That technique, dubbed, "frequent flyer," was one of at least two sleep deprivation programs the U.S. military used against Guantanamo prisoners. Detainees were moved from cell to cell throughout the night to keep them awake and weaken their resistance to interrogation.

The document also says Khadr was placed in isolation for up to three weeks and then interviewed again and noted in an aside that at least one of his interrogators "seemed to be trying to intimidate (Khadr) or force (him) to talk rather than trying to cajole him into cooperation."

"What you see in the video is a teenager begging for help and what you see is an interrogation that violates U.S. law and any international law concerning the rights of children," said Wells Dixon, a lawyer for the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents dozens of Guantanamo prisoners. "If this is the way a teenager in Guantanamo has been treated, you can just imagine how anyone else has been treated."

The Supreme Court of Canada in May ordered the Canadian government to hand over key evidence against Khadr to his legal team to allow a full defense of the U.S. charges against him, which include accusations by the U.S. that he spied for and provided material support to terrorists.

In June, a Canadian Federal Court judge ordered the Canadian government to release the video to the defense team after the court ruled the U.S. military's treatment of Khadr broke human rights laws, including the Geneva Conventions.

The Canadian report indicates that Khadr, who was born in Canada and raised in Afghanistan, is questioned about his family, which has a long history of alleged involvement with radical Islamic causes. His Egyptian-born father, Ahmed Said Khadr, and some of his brothers fought for al-Qaida and had stayed with Osama bin Laden.

Khadr faces up to life in prison on U.S. charges that include murder for allegedly throwing a grenade that killed an American special forces soldier, Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer of Albuquerque, N.M.

During his last interrogation, according to the Canadian government report, Khadr is shown a picture of his family. He denied knowing anyone shown, but when left alone with it later, he urinated on the photograph.

Gould later wrote a briefing note related to his visit stating he had met a "screwed up young man" whose trust had been abused by just about everyone who had ever been responsible for him — including his family and the U.S. military.

With the release of the video "We hope that the Canadian government will finally come to recognize that the so-called legal process that has been put in place to deal with Omar Khadr's situation is grossly unfair and abusive," said Nathan Whitling, one of Khadr's lawyers. "It's not appropriate to simply allow this process to run its course."

Canada's Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper has maintained he will not seek Khadr's return to Canada and his position was unchanged after the release of the video.

Anne Howland, a spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson, repeated the statement Tuesday that was issued by the prime minister last week, that the Conservative government believes Khadr is in "a legal process that must continue."

Khadr's sister, Zaynab Khadr, who lives in Toronto, said she was pessimistic his situation would improve soon.She noted that another brother, Abdullah Khadr, now in prison on terror charges in Canada awaiting extradition to the United States, was interrogated by Canadian agents despite having been abused in detention in Pakistan.

"He was tortured for their benefit and he still continues to be in jail and it hasn't changed much, so I can't expect it to be any different in Guantanamo," Zaynab Khadr said.

Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hotDtVCEf5QHuOnCDHTfrq31PKAAD91UHQM80

LGC Events This Week

Have you sent Binyam a birthday card yet?

Cards to Gordon Brown can be sent next week but please try to send Binyam a birthday/greeting card soon in solidarity with his plight (details at www.guantanamo.org.uk).

Thursday 17 July: 7pm: Willesden Green

Film Showing of Rendition followed by talk with Andy Worthington from Reprieve, organised with Brent Stop the War, 7pm, Space 2, Upstairs at the Willesden Green Library Centre, 95 High Road, NW10 2SF. Free event. (nearest tube: Willesden Green)

Friday 18 July: 6pm: US Embassy:

Launch of the Six Days for Six Years vigil outside the US Embassy in Mayfair. The LGC will be holding a vigil to mark the six years that Binyam Mohamed has spent in illegal detention with a continuous vigil outside the US Embassy in Mayfair calling on the Americans to drop the charges against him (the "evidence" for which was obtained through torture) and to end the kangaroo court trials. Come and join us if you can - come and spend the night in one of London's poshest spots, drop by after work, schools and colleges break up next week so come and join us then. If Binyam can spend six years in illegal detention for the sake of our so-called "freedom", then we can spend a week outside the American Embassy calling for justice for him. Andy Worthington will be joining us at the launch of this action too.

If you are interested in taking part in this action, please call Aisha on 07809 757 176. This action has been authorised by the police.

Stall for Binyam outside the Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre, Ladbroke Grove, 2pm

Saturday 19 July: 1-3pm: Ladbroke Grove:

Monthly LGC stall for Binyam Mohamed – opposite Ladbroke Grove tube station, Ladbroke, W10, a monthly stall in the area Binyam Mohamed lived and worked in for 7 years. Join us as we drum up local support for the 24/7 demo next week.

For more details and to post information about your own campaigns/actions for Binyam: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16939923951

London Guantánamo Campaign

Do No Harm: A Torture Victim Remembers

I wasn't really surprised by the watchdog group Physicians for Human Rights-Israel's (PHR-I) latest intervention to Israel's health ministry, in which they accused Israeli doctors of complicity in the torture of Palestinian detainees in Israeli interrogation centers. Indeed, it sounded all too familiar to what I experienced during 550 days of incarceration in a South African prison from 1990 through 1992.

PHR-I reached its conclusion based on the testimony of two Palestinian prisoners who were tortured during interrogation and developed trauma-related symptoms including hearing loss, panic attacks and incontinence. The doctors who treat Palestinian detainees conduct medical checkups on the prisoners during and after interrogation but they fail to report the findings and symptoms, which make them an actor in the torturing of detainees, PHR-I said.

The report about those tortured Palestinian detainees leads me to recall my own experience. I returned to South Africa following the release of Nelson Mandela after he served 27 years in apartheid prison. I chose to go back to the birthplace of my activist father, the land that I grew up in for the first eight years of my life, and the place where my older brother was shot and killed right in front of me when I was just five years old.

Four days after I arrived in the country, the police picked me up off a dusty road in the township known as Soweto (South West Township) for violating a curfew. The ensuing one-and-a-half years of detention drove me to the brink of insanity. I was subjected to prolonged and at times violent interrogations. Some merely involved endless hours of questions and answers, and nearly all consisted of some form of torture, extreme heat and cold, having to stand or squat in a certain position for hours on end naked, sleep deprivation (their personal favorite to use on me), and being punched in my face and body.

I don't remember too many instances in great detail -- mostly I've blocked them out of my mind -- but I can recall one that reminds me of the testimony of the two Palestinian detainees that testified to PHR-I.

One particular incident probably happened after I had been in custody for well over six months. I had gone through a number of interrogations, but had told my jailers nothing, simply because I had nothing to tell. My inquisitor looked on at me with a stone-face and said, "Look kaffir [nigger], make it easy on yourself and just confess that you've got dealings with those communists in the ANC youth league." I looked on, non plussed. I didn't have dealings with the African National Congress youth league because I wasn't a member; I belonged to AZAPO, the Azanian People's Organization, a Black Consciousness group, and proudly told my jailer so.

I can't recall the first blow, or the second, but over time I remember that my left eye was beginning to close and that it felt as if my right eye was about to fall out of the socket. At the moment when I thought it was all over, my inquisitor stopped. As I lay on the ground gasping for air, pools of blood were forming near my mouth and eyes as I lay face down. Then I blacked out.

I awoke in my cell but couldn't see very well as my eyes were swollen shut. But I could feel soft hands tending to me, then a voice that I hadn't heard before spoke too me. "Lay still I need to check your bandages," a man said, speaking with a thick Afrikaans accent. "Who are you?" I asked. "I'm one of the doctors here at the prison. Just lay still, you're going to be alright." Desperate to tell him what had happened too me I tried to give an account of all that had gone on in the torture session. Expecting him to respond, all I heard was silence.

Surely, I thought to myself, this was because he was trying to process how such a thing could happen. Indeed he would be outraged that the security police would behave in such a manner to either the innocent or guilty. But the silence continued. I heard nothing from him. Finally, I spoke up: "Please, you have to help me, you have to file a report. Let someone know what they are doing to us in here!"

"I can't do anything for you," he said matter-of-factly. And with that he gathered his medical bag and left my cell.

I never did see him again.

During the Truth and Reconciliation Hearings that were chaired by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, those who took part in the crimes of apartheid were asked to confess what they had done. Several doctors came forward and testified that they had been present at numerous torture sessions of Black South African political detainees who died in detention and had falsified records to cover up these murders, as well as countless torture sessions during which suspects hadn't died -- like me. Some recounted how they had failed to uphold the Hippocratic oath of doing no harm to others.

I wonder to this day if the doctor that treated me in my cell confessed before the truth commission in South Africa. Likewise, I will wonder if the physicians that PHR-I accused of complicity in torturing Palestinian prisoners will one day confess their crimes.

Naji Ali is the producer and host of Crossing The Line: Life in Occupied Palestine. He is the son of a Black South African resistance fighter. Ali spent 550 days in detention in South Africa and was subjected to repeated torture by the security police. He also lived and worked in Palestine in the Old City of Hebron from 2002-2004. HE can be contacted at Naji Ali A T riseup D O T net.

Source: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9675.shtml

Cageprisoners at IslamExpo 2008

Friday 11th July - Monday 14th July
Olympia, London

IslamExpo is hosting a unique exhibition by Cageprisoners, comprising the works of men detained without trial in the UK, to highlight the hidden human tragedy taking place, as part of Europe's largest four-day Islamic exhibition at London's Olympia.

Since the start of the global War on Terror, there has been a systematic removal of human rights and civil liberties through seemingly legal processes, including Control Orders and detention without charge. Captivated: The Art of Interned will be exhibited for a second time, with previously unseen work by prisoners and other artists. Included in the exhibition are unique and stimulating pieces depicting the ongoing horrors at Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib and the secret detention sites. The exhibition will run daily from Friday 11th to Monday 14 July (10am - 8pm, except on Monday, closing at 4pm).

The Cageprisoners lectures Guantanamo: From Cuba to Britain will be delivered by Legal Director of Reprieve and lawyer for dozens of prisoners in Guantanamo, Zachary Katznelson, acclaimed human rights lawyer, Gareth Peirce and Cageprisoners’ spokesman, Moazzam Begg. The event will be chaired by journalist and author, Victoria Brittain. Sunday 13th July,12:45-1:45pm Main Hall.

Former Guantánamo detainee and Cageprisoners spokesman Moazzam Begg will be at the exhibition and the Cageprisoners stall (location G71) over the weekend. Shafiq Rasul and Ruhal Ahmad of The Road to Guantánamo will be joining Moazzam for a book signing and taking questions from people at the stall between 4pm -6:30pm on Sunday 13th July (at location G71).

Former detainee, Cerie Bullivant, will also be on hand to discuss the devastating effects of control orders on people in the UK.

Cageprisoners will also be running a competition on the stall for two DVD copies of the Oscar-winning documentary, Taxi to the Dark Side.

Moazzam Begg will also be also be talking about the Guantanamo poets and perform readings from ‘Poems from Guantánamo’ at the Muslim Writers section (G130). Sunday, 13th July, 6.30pm.

* For more information about the Captivated exhibition, see www.cageprisoners.com/page.php?id=32

Source: www.cageprisoners.com/campaigns.php?id=767

Marine's Graphic Interview Describes Killing Of Prisoners In Iraq

Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, in a tape-recorded interview, says he and a fellow sergeant were ordered to kill the prisoners during a sweep through a Fallouja neighborhood in 2004.

A graphic, vulgarity-laced interview in which a Marine described how he and two other Marines killed four unarmed prisoners in Iraq was played today during a preliminary hearing in the case.

Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, in a tape-recorded interview with a Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent, said he and Sgt. Ryan Weemer were ordered by Sgt. Jose Nazario to kill the prisoners as the Marines swept through a neighborhood in Fallouja in late 2004.

Several minutes of the tape were played at the hearing for Weemer, who faces murder and dereliction of duty charges. Nelson faces similar charges, and Nazario faces manslaughter charges in federal court in Riverside.

Nelson told the investigator that Nazario told him, "I'm not doing all this [expletive] by myself. You're doing one and Weemer is doing one."

Nelson said that he watched in shock as Nazario shot a kneeling prisoner at point-blank range: "He hit the dude in the forehead, the dude went down and there was blood . . . all over his [Nazario's] boots."

Weemer then used his service pistol to shoot one of the prisoners, Nelson said. "He shot him and the dude was on the ground and rolling and [Weemer] was shooting, shooting, shooting, shooting, shooting."

The case began when Weemer, who had left the Marine Corps, told a job interviewer from the Secret Service about the killings. The Marine Corps recalled him to active-duty so he could be charged.

Nelson and Weemer, in their interviews, said that Nazario ordered the killings after getting a radio message from a superior that ordered the Marines not to take time to process the prisoners according to the rules. The Marines were needed to support other Marines sweeping through the insurgent-held city, Weemer said in his interview.

A hearing officer, at the conclusion of the preliminary hearing, will recommend to Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland whether the case should go to court martial, be dropped or be handled through an administrative procedure.

After seeing Weemer and Nazario shot prisoners, Nelson said he lost his reluctance to join in the killings. "I said [expletive] and I shot my dude."

Source: www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20266.htm

India: Protect Honored Kashmiri Rights Lawyer From Attacks

Authorities Should Act Against Those Responsible

The Jammu and Kashmir state government should protect Parvez Imroz, an award-winning human rights lawyer who survived an armed attack on June 30 in Srinagar by alleged security forces members, Human Rights Watch said today. The state government and Human Rights Commission should launch an immediate and thorough investigation into the attack and take criminal action against those responsible.

"The Kashmir government should investigate whether the attack on Imroz was related to his work," said Meenakshi Ganguly, senior South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. "All members of the security forces found responsible, no matter how far up the chain of command, should be prosecuted."

According to Imroz, on the night of June 30, nine or 10 men wearing uniforms of the state police and the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force appeared at his Srinagar home and demanded that he come outside. Imroz had recently been investigating scores of unmarked graves in Kashmir to determine if those buried were "disappeared" or part of "fake encounter killings."

Apprehensive because of previous assassination attempts, Imroz and his wife refused to open the door and called for the help of his brother, Sheik Mustaq Ahmad, who lives next door. Ahmad came out with a flashlight and asked the group of men to identify themselves, but they refused and ordered him to switch off the light. When Imroz's nephew ran out toward Imroz's house, one of the men opened fire, but missed. Another man then tossed a grenade at Imroz's house, which exploded but caused no injuries. When neighbors began to gather, the men left after using tear gas and firing blank shots to disperse the crowd. They also beat up a male neighbor.

Imroz, president of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society and a founder of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, was awarded the Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize in 2006. For many years, he has been documenting abuses and filing court cases to address the widespread problem of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Kashmir. His work investigating unmarked graves is done as a convener of an unofficial tribunal created by human rights activists. Indian intelligence officials have repeatedly questioned tribunal members.

Since the beginning of the insurgency in Kashmir in 1989, thousands of Kashmiris have gone missing. Imroz and others, including Human Rights Watch, have established that many have been victims of enforced disappearance, which occurs when authorities take individuals into custody and then deny all responsibility or knowledge of their fate or whereabouts. In some recent cases, government investigations have found that security forces have picked up and killed civilians, and later constructed a fake armed encounter with militants in their official report to the police. Senior members of the security forces have admitted that unidentified militants executed by the security forces are buried by villagers in unmarked graves.

Human Rights Watch has recommended an independent and time-bound commission to investigate allegations of "disappearances" and extrajudicial killings. Such a commission should have the capacity to use forensic tests to identify the bodies and security forces should be ordered to cooperate with the commission's inquiries. Human Rights Watch has also long criticized serious abuses by Kashmiri militants.

"There are these graves containing unidentified people and there are families that are still waiting for news of relatives that 'disappeared,'" said Ganguly. "It seems that any government committed to respecting human rights would launch a credible investigation to see if any of those missing are in the graves."

The attack on Imroz comes in the wake of a week of the largest protests in Jammu and Kashmir state in many years. Tens of thousands of Kashmiris came onto the streets after a decision by the state cabinet to give land to a trust to build temporary shelters for Hindu pilgrims for an annual pilgrimage to a cave in the Kashmir valley. While officials stated that this was only a temporary arrangement to build toilets and other facilities, Muslims in the valley protested that it was a ploy to settle Indian Hindus in the area. At the same time, in the majority Hindu Jammu area, protesters demanded that the decision not be revoked.

With state elections due soon, various political entities used the protests to advance their causes. Separatist groups led pro-secession marches. As the protesters enforced a strike, schools, banks, offices, and shops remained shut and daily life came to a halt. Large numbers gathered on the streets, setting fires and destroying government property, evoking memories of similar anti-India protests in 1989 and 1990. Five people were killed and hundreds of protesters and police were injured in the violence.

"People angry at the handling of the land case and other grievances should protest peacefully," said Ganguly. "And while the security forces have exercised greater restraint than in the past in dealing with these civil disturbances, their responsibility for the deaths of the protesters needs to be independently investigated."

More than 50,000 people have been killed in an armed conflict that erupted in Jammu and Kashmir state in 1989. In a September 2006 report, "Everyone Lives in Fear," (http://hrw.org/reports/2006/india0906/) Human Rights Watch documented the plight of Kashmiris caught between abusive Indian government forces and armed militant groups.

The report found that the impunity provided to state forces and the failure to hold them accountable for human rights violations have created an atmosphere where violators believe they can get away with serious crimes. Despite repeated claims by the state government and the central government in New Delhi of a "zero tolerance" policy for human rights abuses, there have been no serious attempts to transparently investigate, prosecute, and punish individuals responsible for abuses.

"Impunity has led members of the security forces to believe that they can get away with attacks such as the attempt on Parvez Imroz," said Ganguly. "By punishing the individuals who tried to attack him, the government can send a strong message about its commitment to protect human rights defenders."

Source: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/07/01/india19235.htm

Reprieve: Pull The Plug on Torture Music - Ruhal Ahmed



Reprieve has launched a new initiative called Pull the Plug - to expose and stop the use of torture music against prisoners of the 'war on terror.'

Here, former Guantanamo prisoner Ruhal Ahmed describes his experience of being tortured by earsplitting music in the hands of the US authorities.

www.reprieve.org.uk

Former Head Of MI5 Says 42-Day Detention Plan Is 'Unworkable'

Plans to hold terror suspects for up to 42 days are neither practical or principled, the former head of MI5 warned yesterday.

Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller, who stood down as the director general of Britain's domestic intelligence agency last year, took the highly unusual step of using her maiden speech in the House of Lords to denounce the plans. It was the first time she had spoken on the subject.

"I don't see on a practical basis, as well as a principled one, that these proposals are in any way workable," she told peers.

The comments by Lady Manningham-Buller, an anti-terrorism specialist who led MI5 during the London Tube bombings three years ago, represent a serious blow to Gordon Brown's anti-terror laws, which were forced through the Commons on the votes of Democratic Unionists (DUP) last month after a major rebellion by Labour MPs.

She told peers: "I have weighed up the balance between the right to life – the most important civil liberty – the fact that there is no such thing as complete security, and the importance of our hard-won civil liberties. Therefore, on a matter of principle, I cannot support 42 days' pre-charge detention. I do understand different views and that there are judgements honestly reached by others, and I respect these views."

Peers are expected to vote overwhelmingly to defeat plans to extend detention without trial when the anti-terror Bill faces detailed scrutiny in the autumn, and will trigger a damaging new round of trench warfare for Mr Brown in the Commons.

Yesterday, a string of eminent figures in the Lords vented their anger at the proposals, attacking them as an affront to civil liberties and a recruiting sergeant for extremists.

Lord Falconer, the former lord chancellor and one of Tony Blair's closest allies, said: "I'm absolutely clear that there is no advantage to fighting terrorism that will be gained by extending pre-charge detention to 42 days."

He criticised the Government for relying on the DUP to get the Bill through the Commons, adding: "We in this country determine whether people should be detained on the basis of a judge's view. I find it worrying that someone could be detained in prison on the basis of a deal done with another political party."

Lord Goldsmith, the former attorney general, also condemned the proposals, telling peers that "you cannot keep somebody for as long as it takes." He added: "I dealt with the plots which we believed were being uncovered in the summer of 2006.

"I flew back from my holiday. I stayed with the prosecutors and got detailed briefings through that period. I was anxiously considering and wanting to know whether a longer time was necessary. It wasn't. "I asked the prosecutors, 'If you had had longer than 28 days, would you have used it?' 'No', they said.

"I cannot support this. I believe that detention without charge for a long period would undermine fundamental freedoms on which this country is based, of which this country should be proud, of which I will say my party ought to be proud. I will not undermine them in this way."

But Lord West of Spithead, the Security minister, insisted the new powers were needed. He said: "The question we all have to face is whether there is a potential need for more than 28 days. I have looked at this in depth and I believe there is. It is better for us to legislate on a precautionary basis than find ourselves scrambling for emergency legislation in the heat of a serious operation."

Source: www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/former-head-of-mi5-says-42day-detention-plan-is-unworkable-862947.html

`No Progress' On Mass Guantanamo Prisoner Transfer

U.S. and Yemen remain at odds over a proposal to release more than one-third of the detainees from Guantanamo Bay, officials said Monday, even as the Bush administration wrestles with the future of the military prison.

About 100 of the approximately 270 prisoners remaining at Guantanamo Bay are Yemeni nationals. A U.S. delegation visited the capital city of San'a last week to discuss the possible transfer of a few detainees to Yemen. Yemeni officials hoped to negotiate the release of all but the most dangerous prisoners.

"There is no progress at all," said Waleed Alshahari, an official following the talks for the Yemeni Embassy in Washington. "The situation remains as it is."

The future of Guantanamo Bay has been in doubt since the Supreme Court ruled last month that detainees have the right to challenge their imprisonment in U.S. courts. A deal with Yemen could dramatically shrink the inmate population before the Bush administration is forced to explain to federal judges why the detainees are being held.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the U.S. and Yemen had "good discussions, but there's still work to be done in that regard." Another U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe the private negotiations, said prospects were slim for an agreement any time soon.

Meanwhile, the court process begins Tuesday with a hearing in Washington. Under a proposed schedule to be discussed Tuesday, judges could begin reviewing evidence against some of the detainees within weeks. If judges decide there is not enough evidence, they could order some detainees released, but it would likely be up to the Bush administration to determine where to send them.

Despite White House claims that suspected terrorists could end up walking the streets of U.S. cities, judges generally don't have the authority to order a foreigner to be brought into the U.S., and a federal appeals court already refused to say otherwise.

The negotiations with Yemen hinge on what will happen to the detainees once they are returned to Yemen. The Bush administration wants to be sure that dangerous prisoners are not freed and that prisoners are held in humane conditions. Yemen proposes charging some detainees in its court system and supervising others as part of a "rehabilitation program."

"There are a lot of people there that have nothing to do with anything. And there are some people who have blood on their hands," said Mohammed Albasha, a spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy. "You cannot put both groups together."

U.S. negotiators hoped to agree on a trial program, in which a few Yemeni detainees are repatriated. If successful, it could be expanded over time.

The U.S. is not confident, however, in Yemen's ability to ensure that detainees are not freed. In the past, suspects have escaped from Yemeni prisons and, in some cases, it was unclear whether they were simply released.

Given those concerns, one U.S. official — the same one who said an imminent deal is unlikely — said it could take up to two years for Yemen to establish the kind of safeguards the U.S. wants to see before transferring prisoners.

Such a timeline would not help the Bush administration as it prepares to go to court. Albasha predicted judges would determine some Yemeni detainees were being improperly held, forcing the U.S. to decide soon how to continue.

The Guantanamo Bay discussions come amid what Yemen's foreign minister recently called a crisis in relations between the two countries. Yemen says its constitution prohibits the extradition of two al-Qaida suspects wanted by the FBI in connection with the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole.

Also Monday, the State Department announced the July 2 transfer of two detainees to Algeria and reiterated President Bush's desire to close Guantanamo Bay.

"The United States has no desire to hold detainees any longer than necessary and is making tremendous strides to ensure that those individuals who no longer need to be held by the United States are transferred to their home countries," said State Department spokesman Rob McInturff.

Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h_AQyDQN-KLj1zOMK-r3MNOTvnfgD91P667O0

Syria Blames Inmates In Jail Riot

Syria's government has blamed prisoners serving sentences for extremism and terror for clashes with jail guards that left several inmates dead.

Prisoners say the unrest began early on Saturday when guards began beating the mainly Islamist inmates in their cells.

The government has denied this, saying the guards intervened to stop violence begun by inmates during an inspection.

It remains unclear how many detainees were killed and injured in the unrest. A human rights group said 25 were dead.

The Islamist prisoners were also reported to have taken a large number of other inmates hostage but it is not clear whether they have been released.

Several prisoners managed to contact Syrian human-rights groups, as well as the BBC, by telephone from inside Saydnaya Prison, near Damascus, as the unrest was going on.

'Restore Calm'

Syria's state news agency, Sana, issued a statement from the authorities saying security forces had been forced to act to restore order after violence by inmates.

"Prisoners sentenced for crimes of terrorism and extremism caused trouble... They attacked their comrades during a prison inspection," the agency said.

"A security force unit immediately took action to remedy the situation and restore calm in the prison."

The agency did not comment on the number of casualties. It said measures would be taken against those responsible for starting the trouble.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday that at least 25 prisoners had been killed and others hurt when security forces fired live bullets to quell the unrest.

The London-based group quoted a political prisoner as saying that the riot had been started by Islamist inmates after aggressive raids on their cells by the guards.

The prisoners said the early-morning raids were in response to a protest by detainees several weeks ago about conditions at the jail, which houses chiefly Islamist and political prisoners.

One inmate told the BBC the guards had roughly treated the prisoners during the raids and had desecrated the Koran.

"They shackled our hands behind us, confiscated our clothes and possessions, and beat us. And they insulted the Koran, they trod on the Koran," he told the BBC's Arabic service.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7492120.stm

20-Mile Walk For Children of Chechnya

To celebrate the wonderful summer weather, the beautiful English countryside and our good healths, a small group of us are going to do a 20-mile (32 km) sponsored walk on Wednesday 23rd July through Slough. To help others less fortunate than ourselves, we are raising money for Medical Aid and Relief for the Children of Chechnya (MARCCH) through our efforts.

MARCCH is a great charity with very dedicated and active people doing wonderful and much-needed work in and around Chechnya. So far, they have been able to:

- Provide vital medical equipment and medicines to the main children's hospital in Grozny.

- Deliver 300,000 syringes for TB testing to the Chechen health
authorities; TB is rife in Chechnya.

- Help individuals who otherwise might have been deprived of essential medical treatment such as the mentally or physically handicapped children.

- Provide children with prosthetic limbs who lost their arms or legs in the war.

- Help an orphanage for Chechen refugees in the neighbouring republic of Ingushetia with rent, food and clothing.

- Provide every child in the children's hospital in Grozny who needs it with an oxygenator.

Currently, MARCCH are looking into building a new wing in the children's hospital in Grozny to allow mothers to stay with their children. Today, in Chechnya, women travel long distances every day to visit and be with their children. Together we hope to raise £1000 for this and other on-going MARCCH projects.

Read more about MARCCH: www.marcch.org

They are very worthy of all the help we can give them iA. So please dig deep, sponsor us and encourage others to do so. Every penny raised will go directly to children in dire need of medical help. This is a guarantee from MARCCH.

How To Sponsor Us:

1. Donate online at: www.marcch.org/donations.html

2. Post a cheque, payable to MARCCH, to: MARCCH, PO Box 22982, London N10 3EZ

FINALLY... Please pray for us - that we are successful in our efforts and that Allah (swt) accepts our efforts.

JazakumAllaah Khair

Walaikumsalaam

Freed Sudan Terror Suspect Angry At Bombers, Britain

One minute, Omer Almagboul says, he and his fellow Sudanese flatmate were lazing at their student flat in England, recovering from a big night out. The next, their lives changed for ever.

Dozens of armed police stormed in, forced them to kneel on the floor facing the wall and interrogated them as terrorism suspects in the seaside town of Brighton, south of London.

Almagboul was caught up with his friend Shadi Abdelgadir in a police net trawling for people who helped the men who tried to blow up London buses and trains on July 21, 2005 -- two weeks after suicide bombers in the city killed over 50 people.

Their Sudanese friend, Mohamed Kabashi, had brought one of the would-be bombers, Hussein Osman, to their flat one night, the first time they had met him. He stayed one night then left.

"We thought he was just another visitor -- we showed the usual hospitality." said Almagboul, now 23 and sitting in his family's home in Khartoum. "I couldn't believe he (Kabashi) would do that to us. He played us like fools."

After an ordeal lasting nearly three years, a British jury cleared the two last month of all charges including failing to disclose information under the Terrorism Act and aiding and abetting a criminal. Kabashi was convicted.

Almagboul, a thin man who was friendly and hospitable, anxiously tapped his cigarette on the table as he recalled in his first media interview the emotional turmoil and extreme paranoia he lived with.

The trial was a farce, but the jury was good, he said -- leaving him with anger towards Britain's government which he says is trying to introduce a police state, but admiration for its people.

"The British people don't know. The public lost millions of taxpayers' money and for what? Politics?" said the former electrical engineering student. "These terrorism trials aren't about justice, they're about manipulating the law to guarantee convictions and make up numbers."

He said he and his friend agreed to be witnesses for the prosecution to help convict one of the would-be bombers, having been promised they would not face charges -- but were tricked.

Prison

They spent six months in London's high-security Belmarsh prison alongside some of Britain's most dangerous criminals, then got bail but had to wear a tracking tag, stay in for 12-1/2 hours of each day and had to report twice a day to a police station.

Even then, police would bang on Almagboul's door at all hours of the night or telephone to check he was in. "It was unnecessary harassment," he said. "I didn't sleep properly for 2-1/2 years -- I was a walking zombie."

In Belmarsh, he was afraid to openly practise his religion, Islam. Once as he and other Muslim prisoners tried to pray in the yard, guards shouted and pushed them and dragged them back to their cells. "You were so paranoid -- in that way the terrorists won, in the effect they had on the British public," he said. "If you're a Muslim, you're a terrorist now."

Almagboul was close to breaking point but felt he had to be strong for his family as a tragic accident during his time in Britain left him their only son.

An army truck exploded while moving rockets and missiles in Khartoum in April 2007. A missile hit his home, in the room next to where he was now sitting for the interview, killing his older brother Gasim. "It hurt so much that they wouldn't let me see him, go to his funeral. I was devastated."

He said British prosecutors feigned ignorance at every e-mail or fax from defence lawyers requesting access to evidence.

June 11 was the day of the verdict at London's Old Bailey central criminal court. After three co-defendants were found guilty of similar charges of helping al Qaeda-inspired would-be suicide bombers, Almagboul said he couldn't breathe until he finally heard a verdict of not guilty for him and his friend Shadi Abdelgadir.

"I wanted to say kudos to the British public, the jury, because I'm not sure I could have ... seen through all the rubbish in that courtroom," he said.

Not Over Yet

Tears of joy and relief ran down both their faces, but the nightmare wasn't over.

Moments after the judge left the court, the only two defendants acquitted found themselves in handcuffs again.

Their student visas, which had run out, would not be renewed and they were taken to a detention centre where they were locked up in a cell for 23 hours a day awaiting deportation. "To think you're free and then to be detained again -- it was mind boggling!" he said.

Almagboul cannot now believe he and his friend are home. "I used to dream of waking up at home but would still wake up in prison so it's hard to believe this isn't still a dream," he said.

His father Nagmeldin Almagboul is bitter at the whole process. The treasurer of the Sudanese-British friendship society in Khartoum, he has now resigned.

His son -- who plans now to run his late brother's air conditioning repair business -- had a bitter message for the would-be bombers. "The people that do this, they say they are protecting Muslims, but that's a lie ... it's destroyed my life, my entire family's life."

Source: www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSMCD133812

From Triumph To Torture

Israel's treatment of an award-winning young Palestinian journalist is part of a terrible pattern

Two weeks ago, I presented a young Palestinian, Mohammed Omer, with the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism. Awarded in memory of the great US war correspondent, the prize goes to journalists who expose establishment propaganda, or "official drivel", as Gellhorn called it. Mohammed shares the prize of £5,000 with Dahr Jamail. At 24, he is the youngest winner. His citation reads: "Every day, he reports from a war zone, where he is also a prisoner. His homeland, Gaza, is surrounded, starved, attacked, forgotten. He is a profoundly humane witness to one of the great injustices of our time. He is the voice of the voiceless." The eldest of eight, Mohammed has seen most of his siblings killed or wounded or maimed. An Israeli bulldozer crushed his home while the family were inside, seriously injuring his mother. And yet, says a former Dutch ambassador, Jan Wijenberg, "he is a moderating voice, urging Palestinian youth not to court hatred but seek peace with Israel".

Getting Mohammed to London to receive his prize was a major diplomatic operation. Israel has perfidious control over Gaza's borders, and only with a Dutch embassy escort was he allowed out. Last Thursday, on his return journey, he was met at the Allenby Bridge crossing (to Jordan) by a Dutch official, who waited outside the Israeli building, unaware Mohammed had been seized by Shin Bet, Israel's infamous security organisation. Mohammed was told to turn off his mobile and remove the battery. He asked if he could call his embassy escort and was told forcefully he could not. A man stood over his luggage, picking through his documents. "Where's the money?" he demanded. Mohammed produced some US dollars. "Where is the English pound you have?"

"I realised," said Mohammed, "he was after the award stipend for the Martha Gellhorn prize. I told him I didn't have it with me. 'You are lying', he said. I was now surrounded by eight Shin Bet officers, all armed. The man called Avi ordered me to take off my clothes. I had already been through an x-ray machine. I stripped down to my underwear and was told to take off everything. When I refused, Avi put his hand on his gun. I began to cry: 'Why are you treating me this way? I am a human being.' He said, 'This is nothing compared with what you will see now.' He took his gun out, pressing it to my head and with his full body weight pinning me on my side, he forcibly removed my underwear. He then made me do a concocted sort of dance. Another man, who was laughing, said, 'Why are you bringing perfumes?' I replied, 'They are gifts for the people I love'. He said, 'Oh, do you have love in your culture?'

"As they ridiculed me, they took delight most in mocking letters I had received from readers in England. I had now been without food and water and the toilet for 12 hours, and having been made to stand, my legs buckled. I vomited and passed out. All I remember is one of them gouging, scraping and clawing with his nails at the tender flesh beneath my eyes. He scooped my head and dug his fingers in near the auditory nerves between my head and eardrum. The pain became sharper as he dug in two fingers at a time. Another man had his combat boot on my neck, pressing into the hard floor. I lay there for over an hour. The room became a menagerie of pain, sound and terror."

An ambulance was called and told to take Mohammed to a hospital, but only after he had signed a statement indemnifying the Israelis from his suffering in their custody. The Palestinian medic refused, courageously, and said he would contact the Dutch embassy escort. Alarmed, the Israelis let the ambulance go. The Israeli response has been the familiar line that Mohammed was "suspected" of smuggling and "lost his balance" during a "fair" interrogation, Reuters reported yesterday.

Israeli human rights groups have documented the routine torture of Palestinians by Shin Bet agents with "beatings, painful binding, back bending, body stretching and prolonged sleep deprivation". Amnesty has long reported the widespread use of torture by Israel, whose victims emerge as mere shadows of their former selves. Some never return. Israel is high in an international league table for its murder of journalists, especially Palestinian journalists, who receive barely a fraction of the kind of coverage given to the BBC's Alan Johnston.

The Dutch government says it is shocked by Mohammed Omer's treatment. The former ambassador Jan Wijenberg said: "This is by no means an isolated incident, but part of a long-term strategy to demolish Palestinian social, economic and cultural life ... I am aware of the possibility that Mohammed Omer might be murdered by Israeli snipers or bomb attack in the near future."

While Mohammed was receiving his prize in London, the new Israeli ambassador to Britain, Ron Proser, was publicly complaining that many Britons no longer appreciated the uniqueness of Israel's democracy. Perhaps they do now.

www.johnpilger.com

Source: www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/02/israelandthepalestinians.civilliberties

_____

ACTION! Please ask your MP to sign EDM 1926 about the treatment of Mohammed Omer form Gaza, winner of the 2008 Martha Gellhorn prize for Journalism.

EDM 1926 - FREEDOM OF JOURNALISTS AND THE MEDIA IN ISRAEL
01.07.2008 Breed, Colin

That this House condemns the actions of the Israeli security forces with regard to the Palestinian journalist and joint winner of the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, Mohammed Omer, who after briefing Members of Parliament on the situation in the Gaza Strip, attempted to re-enter the Occupied Territories via the Allenby Bridge and was interrogated at the crossing, strip-searched at gunpoint and beaten for four hours resulting in hospitalisation after he lost consciousness; expresses concern that harassment, intimidation and even killing of journalists has been too frequent an occurrence, particularly since the outbreak of the Intifada in 2000; calls on Israel and all other parties to uphold the freedom of journalists to report; further calls on the Israeli government to launch a full independent inquiry, to compensate Mohammed Omer in full for his injuries; and urges the Government to raise this issue with the government of Israel at the earliest opportunity. More information here: http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=36248&SESSION=891

France: Guilty-by-Association Prosecutions Violate Rights
Improve Criminal Justice Safeguards, Provide Legal Counsel for Terror Suspects

In its effort to fight terrorism, France routinely arrests and prosecutes people for being associated with possible terror suspects, undermining international fair trial standards, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.

“Using the criminal justice system is the right way to fight terrorism,” said Judith Sunderland, Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “But prosecuting people because of who they know and what they think sacrifices basic rights, and that is wrong in principle and dangerous in practice.”

The 84-page report, “Preempting Justice: Counterterrorism Laws and Procedures in France,” looks at how France uses a vaguely defined ‘terrorism association offense’ to arrest large numbers of people based on minimal evidence. Human Rights Watch documented credible allegations that terrorism suspects are subjected to oppressive questioning in police custody, linked to a policy that delays a suspect’s access to a lawyer. Many suspects go on to spend long periods in pre-trial detention. Human Rights Watch talked to two dozen people caught up in terrorism investigations and trials, and conducted interviews with counterterrorism officials and judicial authorities.

The lack of appropriate safeguards within the criminal justice system puts France on the wrong side of human rights law.

France is renowned for its preemptive criminal justice approach to countering terrorism. Specialized prosecutors and investigating judges work closely with police and intelligence services to break up alleged networks before they commit a terrorist attack. But reliance on the broad offense of “criminal association in relation to a terrorist undertaking” means that large numbers of people are arrested on the basis of minimal evidence and detained for extended periods. Prosecutions are often based on intelligence material, including from countries with poor records on torture, which defendants cannot effectively challenge.

“France is too eager to set aside rights for the sake of efficiency,” said Sunderland. “To be a real leader, France should uphold rights while confronting terrorism.”

Human Rights Watch will discuss its findings and recommendations during a round-table on human rights and the fight against terrorism in Europe at the Third World Forum on Human Rights in Nantes, France, on July 2.

Safeguards in police custody are a particular concern. Terrorism suspects can be held for up to six days in police custody. Suspects can only see a lawyer after three days of police questioning, undermining the right to an effective defense and putting detainees at risk of ill-treatment. When they do finally see a lawyer, the visit is limited to 30 minutes and the lawyer usually knows almost nothing about the reason for the arrest. By law, police do not have to tell suspects that they have the right to remain silent, and anything they say can be used against them if charges are filed.

Rachida Alam, 34, was arrested along with her husband in May 2004. She was subjected to 25 hours of interrogation during her three days in police custody without once seeing a lawyer. A diabetic, Alam had to be taken to the detention facility’s hospital three times.

Human Rights Watch interviewed suspects who said that sleep deprivation, disorientation, constant, repetitive questioning, and psychological pressure are common in police custody. Human Rights Watch also documented credible allegations of physical abuse.

Emmanuel Nieto, 33, was arrested in October 2005 largely on the basis of statements made by a man detained arbitrarily in Algeria. Nieto claims he was subjected to physical abuse at the hands of the police during his four days in custody, including being punched, forced to kneel for long periods of time, and grabbed by the throat. He was questioned for a total of 45 hours in 13 different sessions.

Suspects charged with terrorism offenses are usually remanded to long periods of pre-trial detention. A reform from 2001 allowing decisions on custody to be made by a separate “liberty and custody” judge has made little difference in limiting pre-trial detention in such cases.

The breadth of the terrorism association offense can lead to a conviction based on a low standard of proof and weak evidence such as that suspects know each other, are in regular contact, or share particular religious and political beliefs.

Interviews with French counterterrorism officials, terrorism suspects and their families, and defense lawyers suggest that France’s approach risks alienating Muslims, potentially radicalizing individuals, and eroding trust in law enforcement and security forces. Neighbors are less likely to tip off the police about suspicious behavior if they don’t believe the accused will be treated fairly.
“Sarkozy has called the fight against terrorism a ‘battle of ideas,’” Sunderland said. “The way to win that battle is to ensure that countering terrorism doesn’t come at the expense of the human rights of suspects.”

The report contains concrete recommendations to the French government to strengthen safeguards in the criminal justice system, including:

Making the offense of criminal association in relation to a terrorist undertaking more precise and requiring proof of intent to participate in a plan to commit terrorist acts;

Improving safeguards in police custody, in particular access to a lawyer from the outset of detention and during all interrogations;

Reinforcing the role and independence of the “liberty and custody judges;” and

Ensuring that evidence obtained under torture and ill-treatment, including from third countries, is inadmissible in any criminal proceedings.

Source: www.hrw.org

Uighurs at Guantanamo

In a ruling that is years late, but is nonetheless brave and important, a federal appellate court held last week that a prisoner at Guantanamo has been wrongly deemed an “enemy combatant.” Huzaifa Parhat, the prisoner whose fate was at issue in the case, has been in US custody at Guantanamo for over six years.

Parhat is an ethnic Uighur, part of a Muslim minority from western China. Like the 16 other Uighurs who remain in military detention at Guantanamo, Parhat claims that he was never a combatant and that he ended up in US custody by mistake. Parhat says that he was living with a group of other Uighurs in Afghanistan when the 2001 war started, that his group was led across the border to Pakistan, and that the Pakistanis sold them to the United States for a bounty.

US officials realized pretty quickly that the Uighurs were no threat. Indeed, Parhat and others were reportedly determined to be eligible for release from Guantanamo more than four years ago. The reason that they remained at Guantanamo was that they could not return to their home country, and no other country—including the United States—would agree to accept them.

Parhat and the other Uighurs would risk serious persecution if returned to China. Since their continued imprisonment at Guantanamo represents an unjustifiable wrong, and they have nowhere else to go, they should be paroled into the United States.

Chinese Fears of “Splittism”

Uighurs in China face imprisonment, torture, and even execution for what the Chinese government deems to be “separatism” or “splittism.” Having fled to Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban would be sufficient, under the Chinese government’s standards, for the 17 Uighurs at Guantanamo to be viewed as a dangerous threat.

The Uighur population of western China is under tight Chinese control. Because the Chinese fear that ethnic Uighurs want independence for their region of the country, the government has taken draconian steps to repress Uighur nationalist sentiment. As Islam is perceived as underpinning Uighur ethnic identity, the government also represses most outward expressions of Islam.

For Uighurs to celebrate Muslim religious holidays, study religious texts, or show their religious identity through their personal appearance are acts that are strictly forbidden at state institutions, including schools. The Chinese government vets who can be a cleric, what version of the Koran is acceptable, where religious gatherings may be held, and what may be said at such gatherings.

Even the most peaceful Uighur activists, if they practice their religion in a way that the authorities deem inappropriate, face potential arrest and torture.

Whether to Return the Uighurs to the Chinese

US officials have made it clear that they will not send any of the Uighurs to China, but this option was once deemed within the range of possibility.

In a document that was released via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, an unnamed FBI official who worked at Guantanamo in late 2002/early 2003 mentioned the idea. “At the time of my TDY [temporary duty at Guantanamo],” he said, “US officials were considering whether to return the Uighurs to the Chinese, possibly to gain support for anticipated US action in the Middle East. The Uighur detainees at GTMO were convinced that they would be immediately executed if they were returned to China.” The next paragraph in the document was entirely censored.

In a document contained in an earlier FOIA release, an unnamed FBI official described an interview with a Uighur detainee, stating that “[CENSORED] advised that he still has faith and trust in America and please do not return him to [CENSORED].” The censor’s codes show that the first excision in the sentence was made to hide a person’s name, but that second excision was made because the information that would have been revealed—no doubt the word “China”—was considered classified. It is sad that US classification authority was used to protect the Chinese from embarrassment.

While no Uighurs were ever returned to China—and in fact the US managed to convince Albania to take five of them in 2006—the US did allow Chinese officials to visit Guantanamo at one point and interrogate the Uighur detainees.

“They didn’t treat me good,” one Uighur explained, when asked about the visit in a 2004 administrative proceeding. Saying that the Chinese officials made threats, he described how they photographed him and said that he and the other Uighurs were going to be sent back to China.

Walking in Circles

The appellate court’s opinion in Parhat’s case has not yet been released because it, too, contains classified information, but a redacted version is being prepared. Importantly, in the one-page order that has so far been released, the court told the government either to release or transfer Parhat, or—in what would be a pointless and agonizing exercise at this point—to hold a new set of administrative proceedings for him.

In the meantime, Parhat is living a life of useless tedium. He recently described
his daily routine to his lawyer, who wrote:

Wake at 4:30 or 5:00. Pray. Go back to sleep. Walk in circles—north, south, east, west—around his 6-by-12 foot cell for an hour. Go back to sleep for another two or more hours. Wake up and read the Koran or look at a magazine (written in a language that he does not understand). Pray. Walk in circles once more. Eat lunch. Pray. Walk in circles. Pray. Walk in circles or look at a magazine (again, in a foreign language). Go back to sleep at 10:00 p.m.

Abdusemet, another Uighur at Guantanamo, has described days on end of doing nothing more than eating, praying, pacing, and sitting on his bed. “I am starting to hear voices, sometimes. There is no one to talk to all day in my cell and I hear these voices,” Abdusemet told his lawyer, worriedly.

“What did we do?” he asked. “Why do they hate us so much?”

Source: http://writ.news.findlaw.com/mariner/20080630.html