CIA Officers Could Face Trial In Britain Over Torture Allegations

Senior CIA officers could be put on trial in Britain after it emerged last night that the Attorney General is to investigate allegations that a British resident held in Guantanamo Bay was brutally tortured, after being arrested and questioned by American forces following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.

The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has asked Baroness Scotland to consider bringing criminal proceedings against Americans allegedly responsible for the rendition and abuse of Binyam Mohamed, when he was held in prisons in Morocco and Afghanistan.

The development follows criticism of US prosecutors by British judges who have seen secret evidence of torture committed against Mr Mohamed, including allegations his torturers used a razor blade to repeatedly cut his penis. The Attorney's investigation is expected to include allegations that MI5 colluded in Mr Mohamed's rendition. Mr Mohamed, 30, an Ethiopian national and British resident, was arrested in Pakistan in 2002, when he was questioned by an MI5 officer.

On Tuesday, Government lawyers wrote to the judges hearing Mr Mohamed's case against the UK government in the High Court. In the letter they said "the question of possible criminal wrongdoing to which these proceedings has given rise has been referred by the Home Secretary to the Attorney general for consideration as an independent minister of justice". Baroness Scotland has been sent secret witness statements given to the court and public interest immunity certificates for the proceedings.

Mr Mohamed, 30, accuses MI5 agents of lying about what they knew of CIA plans to transfer him to a prison in north Africa, where he claims he was subjected to horrendous torture. Mr Mohamed, who won asylum in the UK in 1994, has been charged with terrorism-related offences. He awaits a decision on whether he is to face trial at the US naval base. He is officially the last Briton at Guantanamo. Last night his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, said: "This is a welcome recognition that the CIA cannot just go rendering British residents to secret torture chambers without consequences, and British agents cannot take part in US crimes without facing the music. Reprieve will be making submissions to the Attorney General to ensure those involved, from the US, Pakistan, Morocco, Britain, are held responsible."

Richard Stein, of Leigh Day, representing Mr Mohamed in the High Court proceedings, said: "Ultimately the British Government had little choice once they conceded that a case had been made that Binyam Mohamed was tortured. The Convention Against Torture imposes an obligation on signatory states to investigate torture."

In August two judges ruled allegations of torture were at least arguable and that MI5 had information relating to Mr Mohamed that was "not only necessary but essential for his defence".

The judges have read statements and interviews with Mr Mohamed between 28 and 31 July, 2004 when he says he was forced to confess to terrorism. The judges said: "This was after a period of over two-and-a-half years of incommunicado detention during which Binyam Mohamed alleges he was tortured."

He was first held in Pakistan in 2002, where a British agent interrogated him; he was then sent to Morocco by the CIA and allegedly tortured for 18 months. He was rendered to the secret "Dark Prison" in Afghanistan, where his torture is alleged to have continued. Since September 2004, he has been in Guantanamo Bay.

Source: www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/cia-officers-could-face-trial-in-britain-over-torture-allegations-980384.html

Guantanamo Man Tortured Into Confessing

A young Guantanamo prisoner's confession to Afghan police was obtained through torture and cannot be used as evidence in his trial on charges of wounding U.S. soldiers with a grenade, a judge in the U.S. war crimes court ruled Tuesday.

High-ranking Afghan government officials threatened to kill Mohammed Jawad and his family unless he admitted throwing the grenade that wounded the soldiers and their Afghan interpreter at a bazaar in Kabul in December 2002, the judge found.

Jawad was 16 or 17 at the time and appeared to have been drugged, said the judge, Army Col. Stephen Henley. The Afghan officials who interrogated Jawad at the Kabul police station were armed and the death threat was credible, he ruled.

Jawad was turned over to U.S. forces after confessing and, two months later, was sent to the detention center at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The judge ruled that extracting a confession under threat of death met the definition of torture under the Guantanamo trial rules -- an "act specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain and suffering."

Trial rules allow the use of evidence obtained via coercion but not torture and leave it up to the individual judges to determine which is which.

"While the torture threshold is admittedly high, it is met in this case," Henley said in his ruling.

The ruling casts further doubt on the wobbly case against Jawad, who is scheduled for trial at Guantanamo Jan. 5.

The military prosecutor in the case quit last month, alleging the U.S. government was suppressing evidence that cast doubt on Jawad's guilt. And a U.S. general who supervised the prosecutors was reassigned after fellow officers accused him of pushing for charges in the Jawad case prematurely because he felt it would excite the interest of U.S. citizens.

Jawad's military lawyer, Air Force Maj. David Frakt, said the suppressed evidence indicated Jawad was drugged by Afghans who recruited him for a purported mine-clearing operation and that he was one of three people who confessed to throwing the same grenade.

At a hearing in August, he presented testimony that Jawad was beaten and chained to the wall while in U.S. custody in Afghanistan then subjected to extreme isolation and sleep deprivation at Guantanamo even after the sleep deprivation program was ordered halted.

About 255 suspected members of al Qaeda, the Taliban and associated groups are now detained at Guantanamo. A total of more than 750 foreigners have been held without trial at the base in the seven years since President Bush began a war against terrorism.

The two candidates for the U.S. presidential election Nov. 4 -- Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain -- have said they will close the Guantanamo prison, which is widely seen as a stain on the reputation of the United States.

Source: http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=434417

The Torturer's Tale

Tony Lagouranis was trained by the US Army to torture Iraqis. This is why he stopped

Tony Lagouranis never expected to become a torturer. He didn't even really want to be a soldier. But at 30, he was bored and broke. He had a facility with languages, fancied learning Arabic, and figured the US army would teach him for free and help him clear his student debts. When he started his training, the Twin Towers were still intact and no one expected the US to go to war in Iraq.

Even when Lagouranis chose to specialise as an interrogator, his army instructors implied that the Iraqis he questioned would be friendly and co-operative. "The last experience we had had with interrogation in the military was in the first Gulf war, when most of the prisoners were completely willing. They said: ask them a question and they'll tell you what you wanted to know."

But by the time he arrived in Iraq, the army knew better. Vast numbers of suspects were being rounded up, and they weren't talking. His superiors at the detention facility where he worked in Mosul gave him a list of authorised interrogation tactics - some might say, torture tactics.

‘It said explicitly that the interrogator needed the freedom to be creative... So basically there were no limits’

"It listed things like the use of dogs, dietary manipulation, using sleep deprivation, stress positions and 'environmental manipulation'," said Lagouranis. "We took that to mean that we could induce hypothermia, we could keep them in a hot shipping container, in the sun, for days at a time, we can use loud music and strobe lights and things like that. And it was also an open-ended document. It said explicitly that the interrogator needed the freedom to be creative. It said these are only suggestions of what you can do. So basically there were no limits."

Lagouranis saw people crippled through prolonged use of the stress positions he forced them to adopt, and driven to the verge of insanity through weeks of sleep deprivation and psychological disorientation. But maybe it was worth it if it produced valuable intelligence in the fight against the insurgency? No, he says. As a method of getting intelligence it was useless. And besides, the aim of interrogations shifted subtly. "A lot of what we ended up doing was trying to gather confessions, not intelligence. I think that the commanders wanted to show that they were doing a good job and were picking up guilty people. But in fact we were just rounding up whoever was on the street. They just wanted us to force people to confess so that they could brief their commanders and say that they had captured all the terrorists."

It was fine to douse the prisoner with icy water and put him in front of an air-conditioner, so long as the paperwork was in order

While training back in the US, Lagouranis had become friends with another linguist, Stephen Lewis. Lewis was sent to a top secret interrogation facility in Baghdad. He too was given a list of acceptable interrogation techniques but with the added refinement of a bureaucratic infrastructure. Before each interrogation he had to sign off a checklist of what he intended to do to the suspect. It was fine to douse the prisoner with icy water and put him in front of an air-conditioner, so long as the paperwork was in order.

After the Abu Ghraib scandal broke in 2004 Lewis and fellow interrogators worried that they might become the fall guys if their methods became public knowledge. They raised their concerns with superiors. Within hours, a crack team of army lawyers descended on the base, to give a PowerPoint presentation arguing that everything being done was compatible with international law. And, said the colonel in charge of the base, the interrogators had nothing to fear. "I remember him standing up and saying I give you my word that there is no way that the Red Cross would ever get inside the doors of this unit." How reassured was Lewis by this? "Not reassured at all. Why would he be worried about it? Why not let the Red Cross in?"

There are many academic studies showing that it doesn't take much for an ordinary person to become a torturer. But with Lagouranis and Lewis, something more remarkable happened. Independently, and working in different bases, they decided to stop torturing. Lagouranis, by now suffering from stress, managed to get an honourable discharge on the grounds that he suffered from an "adjustment disorder". Lewis applied to become a conscientious objector, was turned down, and had to serve out his remaining army term.

Today they share a flat together in a run-down district of Chicago. Lagouranis works as a night club bouncer; Lewis as a tennis coach. I think of them as two of the most morally admirable people I've met: proof, indeed, that although anyone can become a torturer, nobody has to.

Source: www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21096.htm

Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al-Bahlul

Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al-Bahlul, a 37-year-old Yemeni, was one of the first detainees to be transferred to Guantanamo when the facility opened in 2002. He is charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism, murder in violation of the laws of war, attacking civilian objects, the destruction of property in violation of the laws of war, terrorism and providing material support for terrorism, based on claims that he received military training in Afghanistan and acted as a “media secretary” for Osama bin Laden.

At al-Bahlul’s initial appearance before the first round of military commissions in 2005 he requested permission to choose a lawyer from Yemen, his home country; his request was denied. When he appeared again a year later, he requested permission to represent himself, stating that he had no expectation of justice from a system created by his American enemies – a request that was also denied.

That case was ultimately thrown out when the Supreme Court declared the initial military commissions unlawful, but the US government announced new charges against him before the new military commissions on February 8, 2008.

When al-Bahlul made his first appearance before the new set of military commissions, he once again told the court that he would not accept representation and that he planned to boycott the proceedings. Air Force Major David Frakt has been assigned to represent al-Bahlul, though al-Bahlul has refused to authorize Frakt to speak on his behalf. Al-Bahlul’s trial has been set for late October, 2008.

Source: www.hrw.org/photos/2008/guantanamo/Ali-Hamza-Ahmad-Sulayman-al.html

Syria Hits Out At 'Terrorist' US

Syria's foreign minister has accused the US of an act of "criminal and terrorist aggression" over what it says was a helicopter raid on its territory.

Walid Muallem said Sunday's attack saw four US forces travel eight miles inside Syrian airspace from Iraq and kill eight unarmed civilians on a farm.

He said those who died were a father and his three children, the farm guard and his wife, and a fisherman.

The US has not confirmed or denied the alleged raid.

However, a unnamed US official was quoted by AFP news agency as saying that its forces had mounted a "successful" raid against foreign fighters threatening US forces in Iraq.

The US has previously accused Syria of allowing militants into Iraq.

'An Opportunity'

Speaking at a news conference in London, Mr Muallem said the raid on the town of Abu Kamal was "not a mistake" and that he had urged the Iraqi government to investigate.

"We consider this criminal and terrorist aggression. We put the responsibility on the American government," he told reporters following talks with UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

"Killing civilians in international law means a terrorist aggression."

Asked if Syria would use force if the Americans mounted a similar operation again, he said: "As long as you are saying if, I tell you, if they do it again, we will defend our terrorities."

The US official quoted by AFP said: "Look when you've got an opportunity, an important one, you take it.

"That's what the American people would expect, particularly when it comes to foreign fighters going into Iraq, threatening our forces."

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7693583.stm

Confessions Of A Former Guantánamo Prosecutor

The inside story of a military lawyer who discovered stunning injustice at the heart of the Bush administration's military commissions.

When Army Lt. Col. Darrell Vandeveld began his work in May 2007 as a prosecutor at the Guantánamo Bay military commissions, the Iraq war veteran was one of the most enthusiastic and tenacious lawyers working on behalf of the Bush administration. He took on seven cases. In court hearings he dismissed claims of prisoner abuse as "embellishment" and "exaggeration." Once, when a detainee asked for legal representation only for the purpose of challenging the legitimacy of the military commissions, Vandeveld ridiculed the request as "idiotic."

So it came as a shock in mid-September when Vandeveld announced that he was resigning as a prosecutor because he had grave doubts about the integrity of the system he had so vigorously defended.

In the days following his resignation -- now testifying, remarkably, for the defense counsel in one of his own cases -- Vandeveld said that he went from being a "true believer" in the military commissions to feeling "truly deceived" about them. His deep ethical qualms hinged foremost on the fact that potentially critical evidence had been withheld from the defense by the government.

Vandeveld says he was pressured explicitly by superiors not to talk about his work at Guantánamo. Until now, the details of his story have largely been kept from public view. He maintains that he is not ready to speak at length about his decision to resign, but in several e-mail exchanges with me this week, as well as in a series of recent e-mail exchanges he had with others involved in the military commissions, a picture emerges of a man who struggled through an intense crisis of conscience. When he took action, he was ridiculed and bullied by his bosses for questioning the fairness of the system. The military also subjected Vandeveld to a mental-health evaluation after he decided to resign, perhaps aimed at undercutting his credibility.

Vandeveld's story reveals the painful struggle of a devoutly religious Catholic who became increasingly disturbed by a process he came to view as fundamentally unjust. Unable to confide in his family and friends because so much of the information in the cases he was working on was classified, he took the unusual step of confiding in his opposing counsel. He also consulted a priest online.

Vandeveld is at least the fourth prosecutor to resign from the highly criticized military commissions, but his account is perhaps the most stark and will surely cast a lasting pall over the process. On Tuesday, the Department of Defense announced that it was dropping charges against five detainees whose cases Vandeveld was prosecuting -- though not the controversial case that prompted his resignation.

That case, the one that ultimately provoked Vandeveld's change of heart, was supposed to be a slam dunk for the government. But as Vandeveld would come to discover, it was plagued by problems.

Mohamed Jawad, a young Afghan who allegedly fought with the Taliban, was accused of throwing a grenade into a vehicle carrying U.S. troops, gravely injuring two of them and their translator. Unlike most of the other men charged before the military commissions, who are accused of seemingly abstract crimes like "providing material support for terrorism," Jawad was charged with "attempted murder in violation of the law of war." There were witnesses to the attack and Jawad had reportedly confessed. It was the kind of coldblooded act the government hoped would capture the public's imagination.

Yet, problems arose in the case as soon as Jawad entered the Guantánamo courtroom last March. To begin with, it turned out that Jawad was only 16 or 17 at the time of his alleged offense. Under both U.S. and international law, he should never have been detained with adults, and he should have been provided educational opportunities, as well as contact with his family. He appeared emotionally distressed, holding his face in his hands and asking why he was at Guantánamo.

His defense counsel, Maj. David Frakt, told the court that Jawad was a homeless, illiterate teenager who had been drugged and forced to fight with Afghan militia, then abused by the United States and transported halfway around the world to Guantánamo where he was imprisoned for five years without charge and was now being used as a guinea pig to test a new system of military justice. He said that Jawad was deeply traumatized by the experience, to the point that he might be incapable of aiding in his defense.

In the beginning, Vandeveld was openly dismissive of the story.

"What you have heard is a series of exaggerations," Vandeveld told the court. "It's clear from what you've seen here today that he is able to assist in his defense."

But over the next six months, as more information about the case came to light, Vandeveld began to have misgivings.

Initially Vandeveld did not believe that Jawad was a juvenile at the time of his arrest. Because Jawad did not know his birth date (which is common among Afghan villagers), and had at times given different ages for himself, the United States did not record him as a juvenile. However, in the process of examining Jawad's prison records, it emerged that Jawad had undergone a bone scan at Guantánamo in 2003, estimating his age to be 18, which would have made him 17 at the time of the alleged crime.

"Jawad should have been segregated from the adult detainees, and some serious attempt made to rehabilitate him," Vandeveld said in a declaration shortly after his resignation. "I am bothered by the fact that this was not done. I am a resolute Catholic and take as an article of faith that justice is defined as reparative and restorative, and that Christ's most radical pronouncement -- command, if you will -- is to love one's enemies."

Vandeveld also had not believed that Jawad had been mistreated by his American captors. But once again, evidence obtained in the process of discovery revealed a different story. Frakt asked the government to provide a copy of prison records on detainee movements at Guantánamo. In May, Vandeveld gave Frakt a stack of them.

The records showed that in mid-2003, Jawad had been removed from a Pashto-speaking wing in the detention center and isolated, as well as deprived of comfort items such as books or mail. In September 2003, after prolonged isolation, his mental health deteriorated. Interrogators observed Jawad talking to posters on his wall. Then, on Christmas day 2003, Jawad tried to commit suicide, first by banging his head against the metal structures in his cell, then by hanging himself.

They also showed that during a 14-day period in May 2004 -- several months after the suicide attempt -- Jawad was moved from cell to cell 112 times, an average of less than every three hours. These movements, which intensified between midnight and 2 a.m., turned out to be part of a sleep deprivation program known in Gitmo parlance as the "frequent flier program." The goal of the program was to disorient detainees and make them more compliant. The records, however, give no indication that Jawad was interrogated at this time.

Initially, Vandeveld did not realize the prison records showed that Jawad had been subjected to a regime of sleep deprivation -- the records consisted of many pages of detainee movements, much of it handwritten. The sleep deprivation was pointed out to him by Frakt, who had carefully scrutinized the records. However, Vandeveld had noticed the detainee's attempt at "self harm." Shortly thereafter, he told Frakt that he wanted to broker a plea agreement that would have given Jawad a minimal sentence and some rehabilitation before sending him home to Afghanistan.

In an e-mail exchange with Frakt on May 22, Vandeveld wrote: "If I ever thought this job required me to do anything I considered unethical, I'd be out the door."

"I appreciate that and I believe you," Frakt replied. "You may have to take back your comments about Jawad's complaints being embellished and exaggerated. It looks like he was telling the truth. Did you notice that he tried to commit suicide in 2003?"

"I did notice that saddening episode ... which is one of the reasons I am pushing for a plea in this case, and why I wanted to get this information in your hands asap," Vandeveld replied.

In a subsequent e-mail the same day, Vandeveld wrote, "BTW, I will correct my misstatements on the record the next time we're in session. I know I am obliged to do so."

A few days after that exchange, Frakt filed a motion with the court to dismiss the charges against Jawad based on evidence that he had been tortured.

When Vandeveld responded to Frakt's motion, he argued that although Jawad had suffered some abuse at Guantánamo -- an unusual admission by a government prosecutor -- the remedy was not to dismiss the charges, but rather to consider the abuse in mitigating the accused's punishment.

According to Vandeveld, when his superiors saw that he had conceded that Jawad had been abused, they were furious. They reprimanded him and made him withdraw the motion and resubmit it, conceding nothing regarding prisoner torture or abuse.

The new motion he submitted stated: "Jawad ... suffered no ill-effects from his alleged sleep deprivation."

As the summer wore on, Vandeveld began to have more doubts. A series of photographs emerged from the time of Jawad's arrest: They showed a naked and terrified teenager undergoing a strip search and medical examination.

Then, in late July, Vandeveld stumbled across a report that was sitting on a colleague's desk about an investigation into the death of an Afghan taxi driver named Diliwar who had been killed in U.S. custody. Investigators had come to Guantánamo to interview detainees who were held in Bagram at the time, and took a statement from Jawad.

In his statement, Jawad said that while at Bagram, he was made to wear a black bag over his head and that he was shackled and forced to stand for prolonged periods of time. If he sat down, guards would beat him, grab him by the throat and stand him up again. At one point, he said, they shackled him to the door so he was incapable of sitting down.

Vandeveld immediately informed Frakt about the report and said he was deeply disturbed by the abuse. Equally disturbing to him was that there seemed to be no system in place to provide such evidence to the defense.

"I am highly concerned, to the point that I believe I can no longer serve as a prosecutor at the Commissions, about the slipshod, uncertain 'procedure' for affording defense counsel discovery," Vandeveld wrote in a statement after his resignation. "One would have thought that after six years since the Commissions had their fitful start, that a functioning law office would have been set up and procedures and policies not only put into effect, but refined."

Vandeveld also said that he had feared retribution if he was perceived as being too cooperative with the defense. He cited another officer who was perceived to have done so and subsequently received a mediocre Officer Evaluation Report.

"I didn't express my concerns to Brig. Gen. Hartmann or Col. Morris before asking to be reassigned," Vandeveld told me by e-mail on Wednesday, "largely because I knew both are highly-indoctrinated ideologues whose likely response would have been to have my security clearance revoked as a punitive and preventative measure. (This concern is not happenstance; I could give examples were I not bound by my clearance itself.) The hostile, dismissive way I'd seen [another concerned officer treated by superiors] was enough for me to conclude my reservations would not be well-met."

Vandeveld's fears in this regard had a potentially devastating effect on the fairness of proceedings in Jawad's case: For example, Vandeveld said he did not provide the defense with information the government had about another suspect in U.S. custody who had confessed to the same crime Jawad is alleged to have committed. Nor did Vandeveld provide the defense with a report by a U.S. government intelligence analyst stating that Jawad may have been forcibly recruited into a militia group that targets young men, sexually abuses them and drugs them before forcing them to engage in violence -- a report that appears to have corroborated part of the defense counsel's case.

By August, Vandeveld was in despair. He had concluded that Jawad was in dire need of rehabilitation and he desperately wanted to broker a deal, but he could not persuade his superiors in the prosecutor's office.

Unsure of what to do, he consulted a priest online. In an Aug. 5 e-mail to the priest, which was first reported by the Los Angeles Times, Vandeveld wrote: "I am beginning to have grave misgivings about what I am doing, and what we are doing as a country. I no longer want to participate in the system, but I lack the courage to quit. I am married, with four children, and not only will they suffer, I will lose a lot of friends."

The priest, Father John Dear, known for his social activism, encouraged Vandeveld to quit. "God does not want you to participate in any injustice, and GITMO is so bad, I hope and pray you will quietly, peacefully, prayerfully, just resign, and start your life over," Dear wrote.

Vandeveld said he still didn't feel comfortable quitting. "One of the precepts of serving as a soldier is that one 'never quits,'" he told me. So he instead asked to be reassigned, to Afghanistan.

In the days after consulting with Father Dear, Vandeveld continued to try to broker a plea deal for Jawad. In an e-mail to Frakt, he complained that he had no pull in the prosecutor's office and that the chief prosecutor, Col. Lawrence Morris, seemed to have personal animus toward Frakt.

In early September, Frakt suggested in an e-mail that Vandeveld write a letter to the Convening Authority of the military commissions detailing his efforts to work out a reasonable pretrial deal for Jawad, and explaining that he was repeatedly overruled.

Vandeveld responded: "Let me think about that some more; I have to consider the impact on my family." In mid-September, he tendered his resignation.

Reprisal from the prosecutor's office was swift.

Vandeveld was directed to undergo a psychological evaluation. He was ordered to stay at home and prohibited from coming into his office pending his official release from military service.

"Those in charge of [the Office of Military Commissions] saw my actions as an abrupt volte face, an aberration borne of emotion, and were hence concerned about my mental well-being," Vandeveld told me. "As I've said before, the humiliating experience of undergoing a mental health assessment quickly showed that their concerns were unfounded."

In what may be an effort to prevent Vandeveld from testifying for the defense -- and possibly providing additional damning information about the government's conduct at Guantánamo -- the Pentagon on Tuesday announced that it was dropping charges against five of the detainees whose cases Vandeveld was working on. The prosecutor's office insisted that the announcement was unrelated to Vandeveld's allegations and that there were no plans to drop charges against Jawad.

Vandeveld is now back home, with his wife and children in Erie, Pa.

"Now that I'm home in Erie, far removed from DC not only in distance, I'm regaining my bearings and sense of self," he said by e-mail. "I've learned, to my immense surprise and gratitude, that outside the Commissions and military bubble, there are many, many fine people whose views are sincere and supportive. I've also heard from my buddies from my time in Iraq, all of them expressing fundamental support -- the connection doesn't get any deeper than that."

Jawad, meanwhile, remains at Guantánamo, going into his sixth year of confinement. The next hearing for his case is scheduled for Dec. 9.

Source: www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/23/vandeveld/index.html

Afghanistan: Occupation In Crisis

The NATO operation in Afghanistan is spilling over in to Pakistan with devastating results. On Wednesday this week a US air strike hit a Pakistani school in North Waziristan, killing eleven. Unbelievably the response from intelligence officials was that the school had links with the Taliban. The attack appears to have been the result of US frustration with the Pakistani government strategy of dealing with extremism which the US believes is too soft.

The occupation of Afghanistan is increasingly brutal. Reports of civilian deaths are mounting as air bombardments become more intense. This week coalition bombers hit an Afghan army checkpoint in Khost killing at least nine soldiers.

The occupation is in crisis, but the main reaction from Whitehall and Washington seems to be to order an escalation of the aggression. A week ago it was announced the outspoken General Dannatt is resigning early as chief of the General Staff and be replaced by the hawk Sir David Richards who supports a surge in Afghanistan including sending 5,000 extra British troops.

In the US, Barack Obama's aides are outlining a foreign policy centred around escalation in Central Asia.

The Stop the War Coalition continues to call for all foreign troops to leave the region immediately. We will be supporting the anti NATO protests at Strasbourg next April 3th-6th. For more information go to: http://tinyurl.com/5ts438

Naming The Dead

We are also asking all local groups and supporters to organise vigils, protests and naming of the dead ceremonies on Thursday 20 November - the seventh anniversary of the so called liberation of Afghanistan.

www.stopwar.org.uk

Meet HHUGS at the Global Peace and Unity

Date: Saturday and Sunday, 25th and 26th October 2008
Time: All day
Venue: ExCel London, Docklands, London, E16 1XL
Ticket Hotline: 0871 230 7142
HHUGS Stall No: G21

4th Annual Global Peace and Unity Event

Fourth year… more passion!

The Global Peace & Unity Event is a unique opportunity for people to empower themselves by taking part in a project to create a progressive and harmonious world. Geared towards Muslims and non-Muslims, it promotes much needed dialogue and offers a chance to change the course of history.

Established in 2005, this not-for-profit event has become the definitive landmark in every Muslim family’s calendar. It provides a platform for entertainment, education and exploration to people of all ages and from every background. If you’re keen on soaking up the atmosphere of this enormous gathering; gleaning knowledge from internationally renowned speakers; hearing some of the most influential politicians give their views on Islam, and enjoying the sweet music of the very best Nasheeds – then this event is for you.

www.theglobalunity.com/08/

Canada Had Role In Torture Of Its Nationals: Probe

Canadian officials played an "indirect" role in the wrongful jailing and torture of three Canadian nationals in Syria and Egypt, an inquiry said Tuesday.

The probe, led by retired Supreme Court judge Frank Iacobucci, began in March behind closed doors to determine if the trio was mistreated abroad and whether Canadian authorities shared intelligence with their counterparts in these countries, as alleged.

Canadians Ahmad El Maati, Abdullah Almalki and Muayyed Nureddin, born in Kuwait, Syria and Iraq respectively, were arrested by Syrian Military Intelligence during trips abroad from 2001 to 2004, suspected of Al-Qaeda links.

El Maati said he was later transferred to Egyptian custody.

All three men were released without charges between January and March 2004. Each claimed upon return to Canada that he had been tortured, and that Canadian security officials had supplied their captors with intelligence and questions to pose the detainees.

Iacobucci found that Canadian officials did not have direct responsibility for detention or abuse "that amounted to torture, as that term is defined in the UN Convention Against Torture," said a statement announcing release of the inquiry's findings.

But he found that "mistreatment resulted indirectly" from actions taken by Canadian intelligence agencies and federal police, including information sharing and in some cases "deficiencies" of consular service provided to the men.

"I found no evidence that any of these officials were seeking to do anything other than carry out conscientiously the duties and responsibilities of the institutions of which they were a part," the judge said. "It is neither necessary nor appropriate that I make findings concerning the actions of any individual Canadian official, and I have not done so."

He added that the probe was also not given a mandate to investigate the conduct of the three Canadians.

"Nothing in the report should be taken as an indication that any allegation that might have been made against any of them is founded," the statement said.

The commission was created in the wake of the case of Maher Arar, a dual Canadian-Syrian citizen who claimed he was tortured in Syria after US authorities arrested him in New York in 2002.

A 2007 judicial report found US authorities had likely relied on faulty intelligence provided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to arrest and deport Arar, who was absolved of suspicion and awarded 10 million dollars by the Canadian government for his ordeal.

The three men recently pleaded with Canadian officials to open the inquiry to the public.

"I'm still waiting for real answers so I can get on with my life," El Maati, accused by Canadian authorities of links to Al-Qaeda, said on October 12, 2007. "I'm here today to ask Prime Minister (Stephen) Harper to help us and all Canadians get answers ... to help us open up this inquiry."

Nureddin told reporters: "My life is in limbo. Not knowing what is going on at the inquiry, not being able to participate in an inquiry into why I was tortured, not knowing the exact role Canada played in this, not knowing all of this makes this limbo another form of torture."

Almalki said he was "frustrated" by the secrecy of the hearings. "As the saying goes, justice must not only be done, but it must be seen to be done."

El Maati, who holds dual Canadian-Egyptian citizenship, said he was on his way to celebrate his wedding in Syria when he was stopped at the Damascus airport in November 2001.

Nureddin was going to visit family in northern Iraq when he was stopped at the Iraqi-Syrian border in December 2003, he said.

Almalki was detained in Damascus in May 2002 while traveling to visit family in Syria. He previously claimed he was forced to sign a false confession that he planned to bomb the Canadian parliament. He said in October 2006 he made the statement hoping to be immediately returned to Canada where he expected to clear his name.

That the inquiry will not clear their names "is a huge concern," their attorney said.

Source: www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21074.htm

Cageprisoners At The 4th Annual Global Peace and Unity Event

Saturday 25th October 2008 10am-10pm
Sunday 26th October 2008 10am-8pm
ExCel London, One Western Gateway, Royal Victoria Dock, London , E16 1XL

Talk to members of Cageprisoners and find out how you can get involved. We look forward to meeting you at Stall G22.
See exhibition floor plan: www.theglobalunity.com/text_pdfs/GPU08_floor_plan_v4.pdf

Cageprisoners spokesman and former Guantanamo detainee Moazzam Begg will be available on Sunday for a book signing at the Cageprisoners stall. He will be speaking on the Main Stage on Sunday 26th October (time to be confirmed).

Former detainee, Cerie Bullivant, will also be on hand to discuss the devastating effects of control orders on people in the UK. Listen to Cerie speaking about his experiences here. www.cageprisoners.com/media.php?id=846

Fourth year… more passion!

The Global Peace & Unity Event is a unique opportunity for people to empower themselves by taking part in a project to create a progressive and harmonious world. Geared towards Muslims and non-Muslims, it promotes much needed dialogue and offers a chance to change the course of history.

Established in 2005, this not-for-profit event has become the definitive landmark in every Muslim family’s calendar. It provides a platform for entertainment, education and exploration to people of all ages and from every background. If you’re keen on soaking up the atmosphere of this enormous gathering; gleaning knowledge from internationally renowned speakers; hearing some of the most influential politicians give their views on Islam, and enjoying the sweet music of the very best Nasheeds – then this event is for you.

Buy tickets online: http://www.seetickets.com/see_multi/price.asp?code=319961&pgroup=all&filler1=see&filler2=multisee
Ticket Hotline: 0871 230 7142

Phone: 07973264197 / Email: contact@cageprisoners.com

www.cageprisoners.com

US Military Drops Guantánamo Charges Against British Resident Binyam Mohamed

Reprieve, the legal action charity whose lawyers represent British resident Binyam Mohamed, announces that the US military has dropped all charges against Mr. Mohamed in his proposed trial by Military Commission at Guantánamo. Last night, the so-called Convening Authority, Susan Crawford, dismissed all charges “without prejudice”.

All is not, unfortunately, as the Pentagon would have it seem.

“Far from being a victory for Mr. Mohamed in his long-running struggle for justice, this is more of the same farce that is Guantánamo,” said Reprieve director, Clive Stafford Smith. “The military has informed us that they plan to charge him again within a month, after the election.”

The charges have been dropped because the US military prosecutor who resigned last month, Lt. Colonel Darrel Vandeveld (US Army), raised pervasive complaints about the military suppressing evidence favourable to the accused. The Pentagon intends to re-file charges against Mr. Mohamed again within 30 days, and argue that intervention by new military prosecutors has resolved the flaws identified by Vandeveld.

This action comes on the same day as Reprieve asked a federal judge to impose sanctions on the government for violating a federal order to produce evidence favourable to Mr. Mohamed.

“The Bush Administration will not even admit in public that they rendered Mr. Mohamed to face torture in Morocco, let alone allow him a fair trial,” said Mr. Stafford Smith. “Meanwhile he sits in solitary confinement in Guantánamo, in total despair, contemplating whether he should just commit suicide.”

Reprieve has long maintained that the entire case against Mr. Mohamed should be dropped by the US Government, and that he should be returned to the UK, as requested by the British Government in August 2007. Mr. Mohamed is a victim of “extraordinary rendition” and torture. He was sent to Morocco by the CIA on July 21, 2002, where he was tortured for 18 months; he was then rendered to the secret “Dark Prison” in Afghanistan, where his torture continued. As a result, all the supposed ‘evidence’ against him is the fruit of torture, and would be inadmissible in any court other than a US Military Commissions.

Source: www.reprieve.org.uk/press_US_Military_drops_Binyam_charges_21_10_08.htm

The End Of America

We are excited to announce the web release of "THE END OF AMERICA" - a feature-length documentary based on Naomi Wolf's bestselling book of the same name - this coming Tuesday, October 21. Our own Michael Ratner and Maria LaHood as well as our client Maher Arar are featured, and CCR is privileged to partner in the online premiere of this powerful and provocative film.

Naomi Wolf, a long-time supporter and ally of CCR, set out on a national tour over the past year to discuss the evolution of America from a functional democracy into a closed, fear-driven society with a terrifying absence of due process. She lays out what she calls the 10 steps necessary to end a democracy and shows us just how close we are to completing them:

Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy.
Create secret prisons where torture takes place.
Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to citizens.
Set up an internal surveillance system.
Harass citizens' groups.
Engage in arbitrary detention and release.
Target key individuals.
Control the press.
Treat all political dissents as traitors.
Suspend the rule of law.

In her film, Naomi Wolf makes a plea for Americans to stand up and fight for our most cherished rights. One thing you can do is check out our new 100 Days Campaign: http://ccrjustice.org/100days and stay tuned for ways to get involved in telling the next administration what they must to do to restore, protect and expand our constitutional rights.

You can also screen THE END OF AMERICA for your friends and neighbors one of two ways - you have a unique opportunity to get a copy of the film now before it hits stores in early 2009. Host a free public screening of the film before November 4, 2008 and they'll provide you with a free DVD. Show it at school, work or place of worship; take it to your local coffee shop or bar; urge organizations you're a member of to host a free screening. They'll send you posters and postcards to promote your event. For more information contact yamerica@katahdinproductions.com.

Source: www.ccrjustice.org

World Against War Tour

Stop the War is hosting World Against War rallies around the country. International speakers will discuss whether economic crisis will spread war, whether Obama will pull troops out of Iraq if he wins the election and the devastating impact of the NATO occupation on Afghanistan. The meetings will also report on resistance to the war in the West and the Middle East.

Speakers include JUDITH LEBLANC from United from Peace and Justice in the US, HOSSAM EL-MAHALAWY from the Cairo Conference in Egypt, SABAH JAWAD and SAMI RAMADANI from Iraqi Democrats against the Occupation, MOHAMMED ASIF from the Scottish Afghan Society.

World Agianst Rallies:

Monday 20 October: Tower Hamlets, London,
Tuesday 21 October: Cambridge
Wednesday 22 October: Leeds
Thursday 23 October: Newcastle
Friday 24 October: Glasgow

For further details: www.stopwar.org.uk / Tel 020 7278 6694 / Email: office@stopwar.org.uk

Who Cares about Omar Khadr?

Omar Khadr is probably the greatest shame on Canada, because two governments, the Liberals under Paul Martin and the Conservatives under Harper have both made the overt decision to leave him in prison. The case against him is insane.

He was a child, aged 15. He was in Afghanistan because his parents took him there. His father and mother are militant Muslims. He was in a building that US commandos suddenly attacked. When people in the building shot back, they bombed the building and blew it to bits. Then they approached the building, and a US soldier got killed by a hand grenade thrown from the ruins of the building. When they entered the ruins Omar was still alive, but, others were too. In a revised report, they made him the only one left alive. He has been charged with murder. He was shot at close range by bullets (plural).

The case is insane for several reasons:

1) He is a child soldier, which means he is a victim of war not a war criminal.

2) Evidence was changed to make him the only person by inference who might have thrown a hand grenade.There is no witness that he did.

3) Soldiers killed while attacking a house in a foreign country cannot be victims of murder. They are casualties of war.

4) People in a house being attacked by foreigners are engaged in self-defense.

The US has made a category that a person is not a soldier and is not a civilian: unlawful enemy combatant. So laws of war and POW treatment do not apply and criminal laws also do not apply.

He has been tortured in Afghanistan and in Guantanamo.

There is not much evidence against him and there is lack of jurisdiction in US Law related to "child soldiers". The only reason he is still in Guantanamo Bay is because the government is afraid they have turned him into a radical. He is young and can be rehabilitated. Everyone, even the Canadian officials who came to console him, have done nothing and he continues to be persecuted.

I received a plea from a woman Zainab Ali asking: "Who cares for this boy?"

www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=25526

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQHFFbD_-Pg

www.cbc.ca/news/background/khadr/omar-khadr.html

www.thestar.com/News/World/article/346020

www.thestar.com/article/512286

www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/11128331/follow_omar_khadr_from_an_al_qaeda_childhood_to_a_gitmo_cell

It is not that no one cares…Zainab cares... I care... Moazzem Begg cares... there are probably others, even his captors, who may care.

The problem is, none of us who care are in any position or hold any power to do anything for him. We are not even voters in America and do not even have the stilled voice of constituency, or a representative to write to, which would be futile anyway.

The editors we know are not going to be interested because this is not the kind of news which sells time and space in their media.

And, no one else is paid to care!

To even publish this kind of stuff more than once will get an editor the name of a "bleeding heart sympathizer with terrists" and risk loss of readership, which his corporate bosses who need the sales numbers in order to sell space and time would not appreciate!

Yes, if they released him they would either have a new and dedicated enemy warrior on their hands, or a "Poster Boy" to inspire and recruit many more.
It is more than likely that they simply consider that they have a problem, and the longer they have kept him the more difficult it has become to release him. Think of the "Missing in Action POWs" whom John McCain and his Government left behind in Vietnam. The longer they denied their existence, the harder it became to bring them back in from the cold and, eventually, they had to write them off because it would have been too embarrassing to save them. This is what is happening in Gitmo.

The kid has no chance. Unless some Colonel, General, or someone with sufficient authority, if even for a moment, should step in, risk his neck, and sign a paper which gets the boy free long enough for him to make it back home to cover. This is extremely unlikely!

There must be some reason why this lad did not die from his wounds. A shotgun blast to the back with sufficient force to exit the chest is a pretty fatal event. Perhaps the Power which kept him alive this long will reveal

His purpose in time. Yeah, I know that is even more rhetorical crap, but then, that is my stock in trade!

Wars produce even worse things and casualties. He is one of them.

What is the current dead, maimed, and homeless count this morning

On the ICH (Information Clearing House) website Front Page?

1,273,378 Who cares about them? How many American youths have they sent to be killed? 4,180 Who cares about them? It has been 7 years and counting.

Do not expect the Americans to care. Very little, I can assure you!

Prayer may help...I’m not sure.

- Debbie Menon is an independent writer. She can be reached at: - debbie.menon@yahoo.com

Source: www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21033.htm

Channel 4 Broadcast of Film ‘The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall’ Available To View Online

1. Summary

IHRC invites you to watch ‘The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall’, a compelling fact-based drama surrounding the controversial shooting of the young British photojournalism student by the IDF, in addition to his family’s mission to find out what really happened. The film, which broadcast on 13 October, can be viewed on Channel 4’s ‘Free Catch-up’ until 13 November 2008, via the following link:

www.channel4.com/video/brandl...homas-hurndall

Also, for further information regarding the movie, family interviews and exclusive video, please visit the following link:

www.channel4.com/health/micro...all/index.html

2. Background

Thomas Hurndall, a 21 year old British photojournalism student, was gunned down on 11 April 2003 by an IDF sniper, dying on 13 January 2004 after a subsequent 9 months of coma. Hurndall entered Gaza as an International Solidarity Movement (ISM) volunteer and was shot during the heroic act of carrying Palestinian children out of the line of sniper fire. The shooting occurred while Hurndall was adorned with a bright orange peace-activist vest.

In the film and following the shooting, the Hurndall family travels to Israel to be with their son and try to find out what really happened. However, they find themselves confronted with an unresponsive and insulting Israeli military. As his obituary in the Guardian newspaper reads:

“The initial IDF field report, which went to the British Embassy in Tel Aviv and to Tom's family, exonerated the soldier who had killed him. He claimed that Tom was in camouflage, and wielding a gun. In the face of a clutch of witness statements, such suggestions were withdrawn. “
www.guardian.co.uk/news/2004/...tuaries.israel

The Hurndall family’s pursuance of finding out what really happened in the case of their son’s shooting eventually led to an unprecedented court win, in which the Bedouin soldier who shot Tom, decorated IDF sniper Sergeant Taysir Hayb, was found guilty of manslaughter, obstruction of justice, giving false testimony and inducing comrades in his unit to bear false witness, and subsequently awarded an eight year sentence in a military court.

When asked about the film’s depiction of Hayb, Tom’s father, Anthony Hurndall, commented:

“It has always been our position that Taysir, while he did something wrong – he is a criminal; he shot somebody deliberately who he knew was not a gunman – but he was doing what was expected of him by the establishment. We've always felt that he was scapegoated. This was somebody who was himself a victim and I fully understand why his story needs to be told.” www.channel4.com/health/micro...ws-family.html

Amongst the memorable quotes from the film was when the actress portraying Jocelyn Hurndall, Tom's mother, upon being asked what her message would be to the Israeli authorities, states, “Why were they firing at small children in the first place, and why did they shoot an unarmed man who was so clearly trying to see them to safety?... Please help us find out what happened to Tom”. Also moving was the remark of the character of Tom’s father, who says:

“You know when I first heard the news, my first reaction was anger. And then I thought, gosh Tom, if you're gonna go, then I can't think of a better way for you to go than in an act of great compassion, and bravery, and humanity, and I couldn't be more bloody proud of you.”

It is hoped that such dramatisations will draw further and much needed attention to the ongoing humanitarian and human rights crises happening Gaza and greater Occupied Palestine.

___________

For more information, please contact the office on the numbers or email below.
IHRC is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations
Please help IHRC by visiting www.ihrc.org.uk/catalog and making a donation or buying an item from our on-line store.
If you want to subscribe to the IHRC list please send an email to subscribe@ihrc.org
IHRC is not responsible for the content of external websites, nor endorses them by providing their link.
For more information, please contact the office on the numbers or email below.

"And what reason have you that you should not fight in the way of Allah and of the weak among the men and the women and the children, (of) those who say: Our Lord! Cause us to go forth from this town, whose people are oppressors, and give us from Thee a guardian and give us from Thee a helper." Holy Qur'an: Chapter 4, Verse 75

Join the Struggle for Justice. Join IHRC.
Islamic Human Rights Commission, PO Box 598, Wembley, HA9 7XH, United Kingdom
Telephone (+44) 20 8904 4222 / Fax (+44) 20 8904 5183 / Email: info@ihrc.org / Web: www.ihrc.org

Mustafa Ibrahim Al Hassan Released

We are delighted that last week our client Mustafa Ibrahim Al Hassan, a 51-year-old father of four who had spent the last 6 years in Guantánamo Bay, was released and repatriated to Sudan. He had been arrested in Pakistan in 2002 while studying Islam and looking for business opportunities. He has been in Guantánamo since August 2002, but he was never charged with any specific crime and never received a trial. Mustafa had an opportunity last December to be released but was overlooked and left behind while two other Sudanese prisoners returned home. He was told in May that he would be released, but again was overlooked and left behind while other detainees went home. Mustafa was finally released this month and reunited with his family. In a statement read out at a press conference in Sudan , Zachary Katznelson , Reprieve Legal Director, thanked the Government of Sudan, Civic Aid International and Sudanese advocates for their tireless work in helping to bring Mustafa home.

Source: http://www.reprieve.org/

Human Rights Victory As Government Climbs Down On 42 Day Proposal

Thank you for speaking out...

Resoundingly against the Government's 42 day pre-charge detention plan. Last night after an emphatic defeat in the Lords, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced that the Government has dropped the 42 day proposal from the Counter Terrorism Bill.

This is a fantastic victory.

The Lords voted to scrap 42 day pre charge detention by a majority of nearly 200. This followed a debate in which speaker after speaker labeled 42 days unprincipled and unworkable. The Government climbed down, concerned about losing its majority in the House of Commons if the Bill was returned there, after it narrowly passed with just nine votes last time.

Amnesty has been working hard on this issue since the Government started consultation on the Bill in 2007. But we couldn't have done it without you. So we want to thank all our supporters again, for campaigning against the proposal and lobbying their MPs. This work was crucial in building the case against 42 days and building the strong opposition that led the Government to scrap the measure. The Government has said that it still needs 42 days and has prepared a new piece of legislation, which it hopes to push quickly through parliament in the event of an emergency. Amnesty will continue to work against any extension of detention without charge.

Together, we achieved this victory and defended our basic rights. This is one example of what our movement of ordinary people who stand up for humanity and human rights can do. Become a member of Amnesty, and stand up for individuals at risk of violence, repression and injustice all over the world.

The Government climb down means that the pressure is off for now in terms of any vote in the House of Commons on this issue, so we will no longer be placing campaigning advertisements in regional press. Similarly, we will no longer be acquiring signatures on our national petition. All donations received will go to fund our valuable human rights work.

However we will be watching this issue very closely and will make sure MPs are aware of your concerns. We will update you with news via www.protectthehuman.com/ - register now if you haven't already,

Protest - Stop The Harassment of Muslims at Glasgow Airport

Date: Tuesday 14th October 2008
Time: 2pm
Venue: Strathclyde Police Headquarters, 173 Pitt Street, Glasgow G1

In recent weeks, there have been growing complaints from members of Glasgow/Scotland's muslim community (incl. Scottish-born Pakistanis) about alleged harassment by Special Branch POLICE OFFICERS at Glasgow Airport.

Muslim community members have been singled out for questioning for 'no apparent reason' other than being 'muslim' (or those befitting the current racist/stereotypical description). At Glasgow airport, individuals have been questioned for hours at a time and asked questions which bear no relation to immigration issues.

Individuals have also complained that they are then 'asked' to go to the Special Branch Headquarters for further questioning where they are then asked the same questions repeatedly for 1,2 hours or more. In several cases, individuals were then 'asked' to drop into a local Police Station for further questioning, or if they prefer, a café or restaurant!

Some of these (ridiculous) questions include:
· Do you know where Osama Bin Laden is?
· Did you meet Al-Qaeda in Pakistan?
· Have you trained with the Taliban?
· Do you pray? Which Mosque do you go to?
· Are you a member of a terrorist group?
· Are you their operator in Scotland? JOIN THE PROTEST!!

Organised by Scottish Afghan Society

Supported by SACC 'We are fed up with the discriminatory policies of Strathclyde Police (Special Branch).

We cannot bear the psychological torture anymore. The authorities treat us like terrorists, as well as putting pressure on ordinary muslims to become local informants and spies, but we are not going to be intimidated and pressured.' M. Asif, President, Scottish Afghan Society Please come along to support this important demo, even if you can only spare a short time.

More information : Afghan community's protest at 'harassment' by police force hailed as role model, Sunday Herald 28 September www.sacc.org.uk/index.php?opt...d=613&catid=45

Guantanamo: Demand Justice For The Uighurs Now!

With the stock market drop and new slander tactics in the election crowding the news, you might have missed a key moment in our struggle to close Guantanamo Bay. It was a court decision to free 17 men from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

On October 7, Judge Ricardo Urbina of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (DC) ruled that 17 Uighurs be released into Washington, DC to begin the process of adjusting to their lives outside of Guantánamo.

The ordered release of the detainees is a landmark victory for justice, but efforts to block the decision on the part of the administration leave their futures in limbo. Despite the fact that the government has conceded that the Uighurs are not "enemy combatants," the administration appealed the decision and said that it will go to the U.S. Supreme Court, "if necessary."

On October 8, the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia stayed Judge Urbina's order until it had a chance to review the government's appeal. No decisions will be made until October 16 at the earliest.

The Uighurs cannot return to their native China, where they would face a serious risk of torture or execution, but the U.S. government has failed to find another country willing to accept them. This means that the Uighurs are effectively being detained indefinitely, in violation of the U.S. Constitution and international law.

The Uighurs have been held without charge or trial for almost seven years.

Ensure that justice, and a safe release for the Uighurs, is not delayed any longer: http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/c.jhKPIXPCIoE/b.2590179/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&aid=11366

Upcoming LGC Events

Monday 13 October: 7-9pm: Combatting Terror With Justice

Willesden Green Library Centre (Upstairs), High Road Willesden, NW10 (nearest tube: Willesden Green/ bus: 98/260/460/266/52/6/302)

As part of Amnesty International's Protect the Human Week (11-17 October), the London Guantánamo Campaign and Amnesty Kilburn invite you to join us to discuss the current anti-terror laws in this country (42 days' pre-charge detention and other provisions of the Counter-Terrorism Bill are currently being debated in the House of Lords), British involvement in extraordinary rendition and other illegal practices in the "War on Terror" and what we can do about it.Speakers include Sarah Teather MP (Brent East)Camilla Jelbart, Amnesty International, Counter Terror With Justice Campaign OrganiserDavid Edwards, Amnesty International, UK researcherAisha Maniar, London Guantánamo CampaignFor more details, please contact the LGC london.gtmo@googlemail.com or call Aisha on 07809 757 176

Saturday 18 October: 1-3pm Monthly stall for Binyam Mohamed

Opposite Ladbroke Grove tube station, next to the entrance to Portobello Market

Join us at our successful monthly stall, handing out leaflets and talking to passers by, collecting signatures on petitions about Binyam Mohamed in his local area. For more details, please call David on 07932 774 2373.30pm - we will be holding the first PLANNING MEETING FOR THE SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY ACTION ON SUNDAY 11 JANUARY 2009. Please meet us opposite Ladbroke Grove Tube Station after the stall (or you can join us for that too). There is an agenda for this meeting so please reply to this email to get a copy. If you have any ideas for this action and are unable to attend, we would like to hear from you all the same.

Saturday 25 October/Sunday 26 October: Global Peace and Unity Event, Excel Centre

Will be taking part in this event on both days thanks to the Association of Muslim Lawyers (AML). Please come and visit the AML stall and see our information and sign our petition for Guantánamo to close down. If you would like to help out on either day, please let us know. www.theglobalunity.com/08

Tuesday 4 November: 2-8pm: Vigil outside the US Embassy

On the day of the US Presidential elections, we invite you to join us in a vigil to call on the new American president to uphold his commitment to closing down Guantánamo Bay and to uphold human rights and close other illegal CIA-run prisons around the world. We call on the new US president to commit to an ethical foreign policy and human rights. We also call on the American electorate to hold their politicians to their pledges to them.Vigil from 2-6pm, followed by a candlelight vigil with speakers (TBC) from 6-8pm, outside the US Embassy, Grosvenor Square, London, W1A 1AE (nearest tube: Bond Street/Marble Arch)

Alert Update: USA – Sami Al-Arian High Court Appeal Rejected

Summary

The US Supreme Court has refused to hear Sami Al-Arian’s appeal against a contempt charge brought about upon his refusal to give testimony in front of a grand jury in Virginia. This means Al-Arian is now set to face a pending trial in Virginia for the contempt charge.

Al-Arian’s defence argues that a 2006 plea agreement with exempted him from further testimony and cooperation with federal prosecutors. His attorney, Jonathan Turley, said:

"We are obviously disappointed in the failure of the Supreme Court to accept the case. Dr. Al-Arian, however, remains committed to vindicating himself before the trial court and enforcing the plea agreement reached with the government."

Background

Dr Sami Al-Arian is a Palestinian peace-activist and former University of South Florida professor who was convicted in 2003 on charges of funding terrorists. His conviction has received much media attention, and has been referred to as a ‘federal witch hunt’ by some. After a 2005 court win in which a Florida jury rejected federal charges linking Al-Arian to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, his attorneys struck a deal whereat he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge to face only deportation.

Dr Al-Arian had spent more than 5 years detained in federal custody, and had been under 23-hour solitary confinement at the Pamunkey Regional Jail in Virginia. IHRC wrote to the Pamunkey Regional Jail regarding his 23-hour solitary confinement, given its being considered a violation of the current UN Convention against Torture.

Al-Arian’s contempt trial was postponed on 29 August 2008 in order for the Supreme Court to consider his appeal. Now that the appeal has been rejected, Al-Arian is set to stand trial in Virginia facing the contempt charge. On 02 September 2008, Dr Al-Arian was released on bail pending his trial. IHRC welcomed the decision, as a federal judge has stated clearly that Dr Al-Arian posed no danger to anyone, and should be allowed bail until his trial.
__________

IHRC is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations
Please help IHRC by visiting http://www.ihrc.org.uk/catalog and making a donation or buying an item from our on-line store.
If you want to subscribe to the IHRC list please send an email to subscribe@ihrc.org
For more information, please contact the office on the numbers or email below.

"And what reason have you that you should not fight in the way of Allah and of the weak among the men and the women and the children, (of) those who say: Our Lord! Cause us to go forth from this town, whose people are oppressors, and give us from Thee a guardian and give us from Thee a helper."
Holy Qur'an: Chapter 4, Verse 75

Join the Struggle for Justice. Join IHRC.

Islamic Human Rights Commission, PO Box 598, Wembley, HA9 7XH / Telephone (+44) 20 8904 4222 / Fax (+44) 20 8904 5183 / Email: info@ihrc.org / Web: http://www.ihrc.org/

Staff 'Fears' Over Muslim Inmates

A prison inspection report has detailed the "fear" felt by staff at Whitemoor high security jail in Cambridgeshire at the radicalisation of Muslim prisoners.

The Chief Inspector of Prisons said the findings highlight a growing "disaffection and distance" between Muslim inmates and the prison system.

Anne Owers said the growing situation "urgently" needed addressing. The National Offender Management Service said work to improve prisoner and staff relations was "a priority". Ms Owers said the Prison Service "needs to equip staff better to deal with the growing number of Muslim prisoners".

The report says a fundamental problem at HMP Whitemoor is the relationship between staff and the 120 Muslim inmates - almost a third of the total number of prisoners.

According to inspectors, officers tended to treat Muslim prisoners as extremists and potential security risks, even though only eight of them had been convicted of terrorist offences.

Officers expressed a "fear" that increasing numbers of prisoners were converting to Islam and being radicalised.

Prison officers said Muslim prison gangs are trying to force other inmates to sign up to Islamic radicalism.

Inspectors were told that extremists at HMP Whitemoor were pushing a "strict and extreme" interpretation of Islamic practice.

Ms Owers said: "There was a perception among officers that some Muslim prisoners operated as a gang and put pressures on non-Muslim prisoners to convert, and on other Muslim prisoners to conform to a strict and extreme interpretation of Islamic practice." She said staff were reluctant to tackle "inappropriate behaviour" and that Muslim prisoners were able to "police themselves".

She added: "In particular, as we have said in relation to other prisons, especially high security prisons, the Prison Service as a whole needs to equip staff better to deal with the growing number of Muslim prisoners. "This inspection and others have charted a growing disaffection and distance between those prisoners and the prison system, a gap which urgently needs to be bridged."

BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said the Whitemoor report echoes findings of a previous inspection at Belmarsh prison in London, which said staff needed training and support to counter the risk of radicalisation, while at the same time avoiding alienating the majority of Muslim prisoners.

'Jihadist Prisons'

Phil Wheatley, director general of the National Offender Management Service, said: "The chief inspector is right to highlight the challenges and risks Whitemoor is facing.

"It is also important to recognise the action being taken to manage challenging prisoner profiles. "A more sophisticated approach to addressing bullying and the management of bullies and their victims is now in place and is bringing improvements.

"Work to improve the relationships between staff and prisoners is a priority and measures have been implemented to tackle this, including training to develop staff understanding of the growing Muslim population."

An EU-commissioned report warned earlier this week that urgent action was required to stop brainwashing being carried out by jailed extremists.

Dr Peter Neumann from King's College London said European governments should observe prisons more closely as they were likely to become "major hubs" for terrorist recruitment, suggesting creating "jihadist prisons" in which to isolate Islamist militants.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7662525.stm

Amnesty International UK Press Release:
Hurndall Case: Israeli Military Forces Still Kill Civilisians With Near-Total Impunity

Ahead of a new television drama based on the controversial killing in 2004 in Gaza of British national Tom Hurndall (“The Shooting Of Thomas Hurndall”, Channel Four Television, Monday 13 October), Amnesty International has renewed its call for justice for Mr Hurndall’s family.

The human rights organisation has described a situation where Israeli military forces kill civilians in Gaza with “near-total impunity” - and while Mr Hurndall’s death has led to the conviction of one Israeli soldier on manslaughter charges, Amnesty insists that this was almost solely due to the determination of his family rather than the Israeli military authorities’ own efforts to see justice done.

Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said: “The shocking truth is that Israeli soldiers kill civilians in Gaza with near-total impunity, week in week out. “Tom Hurndall’s family have fought hard to achieve justice over his tragic death but the general position is one where independent investigations of civilian killings almost never happen and where the process itself lacks independence and impartiality.

“Where, exceptionally, an individual Israeli soldier is held responsible for a civilian death or injury, typically no-one further up the command structure is ever held accountable.”

Amnesty remains extremely concerned that Israeli military personnel continue to operate unaccountably in Gaza. In April this year, for example, a Reuters cameraman - Fadel Shana - was killed by an Israeli tank shell in Gaza despite clearly displaying “TV-Press” on his flak jacket and nearby vehicle.

Two Palestinian children - Ahmad Farajallah and Ghassan Khaled Abu ‘Ataiwi - were also killed in the attack that killed Shana and several other people were also injured. Shana and the two children were killed by a “flechette” shell containing up to 5,000 5cm-long steel darts (or flechettes) that spread over an area as big as a football pitch when fired. These munitions are notoriously imprecise and should never be used in areas populated with civilians. In this case the Israeli army later wrote to Reuters saying it had investigated the incident saying the decision to attack the journalist was “sound”.

So far this year more than 420 Palestinians (including some 80 children) have been killed by Israeli forces, and 30 Israelis killed by Palestinian groups. Most of these deaths (some 385) occurred in Gaza. Amnesty International remains concerned at a widespread failure to bring people to justice for unlawful killings.

Kate Allen added: “Amnesty condemns in the strongest terms all killings and other attacks by Palestinian armed groups against Israeli civilians.

“However, while Palestinians who commit such attacks are tried by Israeli military courts and given heavy sentences (with many also being assassinated by Israeli forces), Israeli soldiers responsible for unlawful killings and other attacks against unarmed Palestinian civilians almost always act with impunity.”

Amnesty International UK media information: Neil Durkin: 020 7033 1547, neil.durkin@amnesty.org.uk / Steve Ballinger: 020 7033 1548, steve.ballinger@amnesty.org.uk / Out of hours: 07721 398984, www.amnesty.org.uk

In Setback For Bush, Judge Orders Release Of Guantánamo Detainees

A US federal judge yesterday ordered the release into the United States of 17 Chinese Muslims who have been held at the US military prison at Guantánamo Bay, a ruling that dealt a setback to the Bush administration.

District Judge Ricardo Urbina gave his ruling at a hearing to consider the appeals by members of the Uighur ethnic group, who are seeking their release from the military prison and asking to go to the US.

He said there was no evidence that the detainees, who have been held at Guantánamo for nearly seven years, were enemy combatants or a security risk, and said that the US constitution prohibited indefinite detention without cause. He ordered them to be brought to the court for a hearing on Friday.

The Bush administration had argued that federal judges do not have the authority to order the release of the detainees into the US.

Lawyers for the prisoners said the ruling marked the first time that a federal court had ordered the release into the US of prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay.

The Uighurs remain at the prison even though the US military no longer considers them enemy combatants. The US has been unable to find a country willing to accept them. It has said they would face persecution if they were returned to China.

Source: www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/08/guantanamo.humanrights

Secrets of Iraq's Death Chamber

Prisoners are being summarily executed in the government's high-security detention centre in Baghdad. Robert Fisk reports

Like all wars, the dark, untold stories of the Iraqi conflict drain from its shattered landscape like the filthy waters of the Tigris. And still the revelations come.

The Independent has learnt that secret executions are being carried out in the prisons run by Nouri al-Maliki's "democratic" government.

The hangings are carried out regularly – from a wooden gallows in a small, cramped cell – in Saddam Hussein's old intelligence headquarters at Kazimiyah. There is no public record of these killings in what is now called Baghdad's "high-security detention facility" but most of the victims – there have been hundreds since America introduced "democracy" to Iraq – are said to be insurgents, given the same summary justice they mete out to their own captives.

The secrets of Iraq's death chambers lie mostly hidden from foreign eyes but a few brave Western souls have come forward to tell of this prison horror. The accounts provide only a glimpse into the Iraqi story, at times tantalisingly cut short, at others gloomily predictable. Those who tell it are as depressed as they are filled with hopelessness.

"Most of the executions are of supposed insurgents of one kind or another," a Westerner who has seen the execution chamber at Kazimiyah told me. "But hanging isn't easy." As always, the devil is in the detail.

"There's a cell with a bar below the ceiling with a rope over it and a bench on which the victim stands with his hands tied," a former British official, told me last week. "I've been in the cell, though it was always empty. But not long before I visited, they'd taken this guy there to hang him. They made him stand on the bench, put the rope round his neck and pushed him off. But he jumped on to the floor. He could stand up. So they shortened the length of the rope and got him back on the bench and pushed him off again. It didn't work."

There's nothing new in savage executions in the Middle East – in the Lebanese city of Sidon 10 years ago, a policeman had to hang on to the legs of a condemned man to throttle him after he failed to die on the noose – but in Baghdad, cruel death seems a speciality.

"They started digging into the floor beneath the bench so that the guy would drop far enough to snap his neck," the official said. "They dug up the tiles and the cement underneath. But that didn't work. He could still stand up when they pushed him off the bench. So they just took him to a corner of the cell and shot him in the head."

The condemned prisoners in Kazimiyah, a Shia district of Baghdad, are said to include rapists and murderers as well as insurgents. One prisoner, a Chechen, managed to escape from the jail with another man after a gun was smuggled to them. They shot two guards dead. The authorities had to call in the Americans to help them recapture the two. The Americans killed one and shot the Chechen in the leg. He refused medical assistance so his wound went gangrenous. In the end, the Iraqis had to operate and took all the bones out of his leg. By the time he met one Western visitor to the prison, "he was walking around on crutches with his boneless right leg slung over his shoulder".

In many cases, it seems, the Iraqis neither keep nor release any record of the true names of their captives or of the hanged prisoners. For years the Americans – in charge of the notorious Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad – did not know the identity of their prisoners. Here, for example, is new testimony given to The Independent by a former Western official to the Anglo-US Iraq Survey Group, which searched for the infamous but mythical weapons of mass destruction: "We would go to the interrogation rooms at Abu Ghraib and ask for a particular prisoner. After about 40 minutes, the Americans brought in this hooded guy, shuffling along, shackled hands and feet.

"They sat him on a chair in front of us and took off his hood. He had a big beard. We asked where he received his education. He repeatedly said 'Mosul'. Then he said he'd left school at 14 – remember, this guy is supposed to be a missile scientist. We said: 'We know you've got a PhD and went to the Sorbonne – we'd like you to help us with information about Saddam's missile project'. But I said to myself : 'This guy doesn't know anything 'bout fucking missiles.' Then it turned out he had a different name from the man we'd asked for, he'd been picked up on the road by the Americans four months earlier, he didn't know why. So we said to the Americans: 'Wrong gentleman!' So they put the shackles on him and took him back to his cell and after 20 or 30 minutes, they'd bring someone else. We'd ask him where he went to school and he told us he had never been to school.

"Wrong person again. It was a complete farce. The incompetence of the US military was astounding, criminal. Eventually, of course, they found the right guy and brought him in and took his hood off. He was breathing heavily, overweight, pudgy, disoriented, a little bit scared."

On this occasion, the Americans had found the right man. The British and American investigators asked the guards to remove the man's shackles, which they did – but then they tied one of the man's legs to the floor. Yes, he had a PhD.

Again, the official's testimony: "We went through his history, what he'd worked on – he was obviously just a minor functionary in one of Saddam's missile programmes. Iraqi scientists didn't have the knowledge how to make nuclear missiles nor did they have the financial support necessary. It just remained in the dreams of Saddam."

The scientist-prisoner in Abu Ghraib miserably told his captors that he'd been arrested by the Americans after they'd knocked on his front door in Baghdad and found two Kalashnikov rifles a woman's hijab, verses from the Koran and, obviously of interest to his captors, "physics and missile textbooks on his bookshelves." But this supposedly valuable prisoner was never charged or previously interviewed even though he admitted he was a rocket scientist.

"I don't know what happened to him," the former official told me. "I tried to tell the UK and the US military that we've arrested this man but that he's got a wife, children, a family. I said that by locking up this one innocent person, you've got 50 men radicalised overnight. No, I don't know what happened to him."

For many of the investigators working for the Anglo-American authorities in Baghdad, the trial for the crime for which the Iraqi dictator was himself subsequently hanged was a fearful experience that ultimately ended in disgust. Through captured documents, they could see the dark, inner workings of Saddam's secret police. The idea of the Saddam trial was less to bring members of the former regime to justice than to show Iraqis how justice and the rule of law should operate.

"It was exhilarating to see Saddam being cross-examined," one of the court investigators said. "The low point was when he was executed. What drove me on was seeing how Saddam dealt with his victims – I was looking at a microcosm of all the deaths that had taken place in Iraq. But when he was executed, it was done in such a savage way."

Saddam Hussein was hanged in the same "secure" unit at Kazimiyah where Mr al-Maliki's people, in an echo of Saddamite Baathist terror, now hang their victims.

Iraq The Death Penalty

*The death penalty in Iraq was suspended after Saddam Hussein was deposed in 2003. It was reinstated by the interim government in August 2004.

*The United Nations, the European Union and international human rights organisations all spoke out against the reintroduction.

*At the time, the government claimed the death penalty was a necessary measure until the country had stabilised. Amnesty International claims that "the extent of violence in Iraq has increased rather than diminished, clearly indicating that the death penalty has not proved to be an effective deterrent."

*Saddam, left, his half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and Iraq's former chief judge Awad Hamed al-Bandar were hanged at the end of 2006 for their part in the killings of 148 people in the mainly Shia town of Dujail in 1982. Illicit videos of all three executions later became public. Saddam's body could be seen on a hospital trolley, his head twisted at 90 degrees. Barzan – Iraq's former intelligence chief –was decapitated by the noose. Officials said it was an accident.

*According to Amnesty, there were at least 33 executions reported in Iraq last year. About 200 people were estimated to have been sentenced to death.

Source: www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/secrets-of-iraqs-death-chamber-953517.html

No 10 Plays Down 42-day 'Rethink'

Downing Street has played down reports it may shelve plans - ahead of a House of Lords vote - to hold terror suspects for up to 42 days without charge.

Sources say Gordon Brown's view of the Counter Terrorism Bill is "unchanged".

But The Times says that he has decided against using the Parliament Act to force it onto the statute books if the House of Lords vote against it.

The proposal scraped through the Commons in June by 315 votes to 306 and is expected to be defeated by peers.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7654102.stm

More Blowback From The War On Terror

The U.S.-backed Ethiopian military has secreted away scores of "suspects" – including pregnant women and children – and fueled anti-American rancor in Africa.

Ishmael, a 37-year-old shepherd from the Ogaden region in Ethiopia, looked at me with tears in his eyes. Ethiopian forces – who had already killed his mother, father, brothers and sisters – murdered his wife days after they were married. They then slaughtered his goats, beat him unconscious, and slashed his shoulder to the bone, he said.

In December 2006, Ishmael crossed through Somalia into Kenya, heading for the nearest refugee camp in search of medical care. But when he didn't have enough money to pay a 1,000 shilling ($15) bribe, the Kenyan police bundled him into a car and took him to Nairobi. Less than a month later, he was herded onto an airplane with some 30 others, flown to Somalia and handed over to the Ethiopian military – the same forces that he previously fled.

Ishmael is a victim of a 2007 rendition program in the Horn of Africa, involving Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and the United States. There are at least 90 more victims like him. Most have since been sent home. A few – including a Canadian and nine who assert Kenyan nationality – remain in detention even now. The whereabouts of 22 others – including several Somalis, Ethiopian Ogadenis, and Eritreans – remain unknown.

In late 2006, the Bush administration backed a full-scale Ethiopian military offensive that ousted the Islamist authorities from Somalia's capital, Mogadishu. The fighting caused thousands of Somalis, including some who were suspected of terrorist links, to flee across the Kenya border.

Kenyan authorities arrested at least 150 men, women and children from more than 18 countries – including the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada – in operations near the Somali border, and held them for weeks without charge in Nairobi. In January and February 2007, the Kenyan government then unlawfully put dozens of these individuals – with no notice to families, lawyers or the detainees themselves – on flights to Somalia, where they were handed over to the Ethiopian military. Ethiopian forces also arrested an unknown number of people in Somalia.

Those rendered were later transported to detention centers in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa and other parts of Ethiopia, where they effectively disappeared. Denied access to their embassies, their families and international humanitarian organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, the detainees were even denied phone calls home. Several detainees have said that they were housed in solitary cells, some as small as two meters by two meters, with their hands cuffed in painful positions behind their backs and their feet bound together any time they were in their cells.

An unknown number of them – likely dozens – were questioned by the Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in Addis Ababa. From February to May 2007, Ethiopian security officers daily transported detainees – including several pregnant women – to a villa where US officials interrogated them about suspected terrorist links. At night the Ethiopian officers returned the detainees to their cells.

For the most part, detainees were sent home soon after their interrogation by US agents ended. Of those known to have been interrogated by US officials, just eight Kenyans remain. (A ninth Kenyan in Addis Ababa was rendered to Ethiopia in August 2007, after US interrogations reportedly stopped.) These men, who have not been subjected to any interrogation since May 2007, would likely have been repatriated long ago but for the Kenyan government’s longstanding refusal to acknowledge their claims to Kenyan citizenship or to take steps to secure their release.

Recently I spoke by telephone to several of the still-detained Kenyans. They described water-soaked mattresses, insufficient food and inadequate healthcare. Two said they have trouble walking, following beatings by Ethiopian officials, and a third said he can no longer use his left hand.

“I can’t sleep here. I miss my family. Please, I need you to help us to go home,” one detainee pleaded with me.

In mid-August 2008, Kenyan authorities visited these men for the first time. The officials reportedly told the detainees they would be home within a few weeks. But more than a month and a half has passed with no apparent follow-up.

In addition to working with the US, the Ethiopians used the rendition program for their own ends. For years, the Ethiopian military has been trying to quell domestic Ogadeni and Oromo insurgencies that receive support from neighboring countries, such as Ethiopia's archrival, Eritrea. The multinational rendition program provided them a convenient means to continue this internal battle – and get their hands, with US and Kenyan support, on those with suspected insurgent links.

Ishmael was one of their victims.

The questions his Ethiopian interrogators asked were nonstop, and always the same: "Are you al-Qaida? Are you an Ogadeni rebel? Are you part of the Somali insurgency?" Each time he said no, he was beaten, sometimes to the point of unconsciousness. When he resisted answering, they targeted his testicles.

Then, in February 2008 – some 14 months after his original arrest – the Ethiopians decided Ishmael was no longer worth the trouble. They dumped him, along with 27 others, just over the Somali border. The men were met by a Somali officer who told him that he was very sorry, that their arrest was a mistake and that they were all innocent.

Now Ishmael is back in the refugee camp, limping and urinating blood. He is still waiting for the healthcare he came searching for nearly two years ago.

Almost everyone I spoke with assumed – whether true or not – that the United States backed the arbitrary arrest and unlawful rendition of men like Ishmael and the still-detained Kenyans. Almost everyone assumed that the Ethiopians operate with America's blessing. Their stories have circulated, fueling anger and resentment. As one man, whose childhood friend became one of the rendition victims, told me, "Now when I go to the mosque, I pray to God to punish the Americans."

To be sure, the United States is not the main culprit when the Kenyans unlawfully render suspects or the Ethiopians torture them. But when US officials interrogate rendition victims who are being held incommunicado, the United States becomes complicit in the abuse. The U.S. is funding the Ethiopian military, supporting its activities in Somalia and training Kenyan security forces in counterterrorism – so as US-backed military and police forces in the region brutalize their domestic opponents in the name of fighting terrorism, the United States is often blamed.

The United States could change those perceptions by demanding higher standards of its foreign partners and cutting off aid to abusers. It otherwise risks fueling the very problem – anti-American militancy – that it seeks to solve. For starters, the US could demand the release or fair trial of any rendition victims still stuck in Ethiopian custody.

At the end of our interview, Ishmael looked at me with sad eyes. "I have suffered three times," he told me. "I lost my family; I was beaten and tortured, and then I was arrested and tortured again. Now I have nothing to lose."

Source: www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/01/africa_renditions

LGC Events - October

Friday 3 October: Monthly vigil outside the US Embassy: 6-7pm

Grosvenor Square, W1A 2LQ (nearest tube: Bond Street). Meet in front of the American Embassy to call for the return of Binyam Mohamed and the closure of Guantanamo Bay and other secret illegal detention facilities in the war on terror. For more details, please call Aisha on 07809 757 176.

Tuesday 7 October: 7-9pm, Costa Cafe, Birkbeck College, Malet St., WC1E (nearest tube: Russell Square): LGC Monthly Meeting

Our first meeting since the summer, we will discuss the latest news from GTMO, campaign news and also plans for the seventh anniversary of GTMO in January. If you are interested in/planning on attending, please reply to this email to get an electronic copy of the agenda. If you haven't been actively involved in the campaign before, now is a great time to get involved! For more details, please call Aisha on 07809 757 176

Monday 13 October: 7-9pm, Counter Terror With Justice, Willesden Green Library Centre, High Street Willesden, NW10 (nearest tube: Willesden Green)

Joint event with Amnesty Kilburn as part of Amnesty International's Protect the Human Week. Speakers include Camilla Jelbart from Amnesty International. To be considered: anti-terror laws in the UK and Britain's role in extraordinary rendition.

Saturday 18 October: Monthly stall in Ladbroke Grove for Binyam Mohamed: 1-3pm

Stall opposite Ladbroke Grove tube station (next to the entrance to Portobello Market) in Binyam's local area to raise awareness of his plight - hand out leaflets, collect signatures on petitions/letters to the government. For more details, please call David on 07932 774 237.

Ethiopia/Kenya: Account for Missing Rendition Victims

Secret Detainees Interrogated by US Officials Are Still in Custody

At least 10 victims of the 2007 Horn of Africa rendition program still languish in Ethiopian jails and the whereabouts of several others is unknown, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Several of the detained men were interrogated by US officials in Addis Ababa soon after they were secretly transferred from Kenya to Somalia, and then to Ethiopia in early 2007.

The 54-page report, “‘Why Am I Still Here?’: The Horn of Africa Renditions and the Fate of the Missing,” examines the 2007 rendition operation, during which at least 90 men, women, and children fleeing the armed conflict in Somalia were unlawfully rendered from Kenya to Somalia, and then on to Ethiopia. The report documents the treatment of several men still in Ethiopian custody, as well as the previously unreported experiences of recently released detainees, several of whom described being brutally tortured.

“The dozens of people caught up in the secret Horn of Africa renditions in 2007 have suffered in silence too long,” said Jennifer Daskal, senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch and author of the report. “Those governments involved – Ethiopia, Kenya and the US – need to reverse course, renounce unlawful renditions, and account for the missing.”

In late 2006, the Bush administration backed an Ethiopian military offensive that ousted the Islamist authorities from the Somali capital Mogadishu. The fighting caused thousands to flee across the border into Kenya, including some who were suspected of terrorist links.

Kenyan authorities arrested at least 150 men, women, and children from more than 18 countries – including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada – in operations near the Somali border and held them for weeks without charge in Nairobi. In January and February 2007, the Kenyan government then rendered dozens of them – with no notice to families, lawyers or the detainees themselves – on flights to Somalia, where they were handed over to the Ethiopian military. Ethiopian forces also arrested an unknown number of people in Somalia.

Those rendered were later transported to detention centers in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa and other Ethiopian towns, where they effectively disappeared. Denied access to their embassies, their families, and international humanitarian organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, the detainees were even denied phone calls home. Several have said that they were housed in solitary cells, some as small as two meters by two meters, with their hands cuffed in painful positions behind their backs and their feet bound together.

A number of prisoners were questioned by US Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in Addis Ababa. From February to May 2007, Ethiopian security officers daily transported detainees – including several pregnant women – to a villa where US officials interrogated them about suspected terrorist links. At night, the Ethiopian officers returned the detainees to their cells.

“The United States says that they were investigating past and current threats of terrorism,” Daskal said. “But the repeated interrogation of rendition victims who were being held incommunicado makes Washington complicit in the abuse.”

For the most part, detainees were sent home soon after their interrogation by US agents ended. Of those known to have been interrogated by US officials, just eight Kenyans remain. (A ninth Kenyan in Addis Ababa was rendered to Ethiopia in July/August 2007, after US interrogations reportedly stopped.) These men, who have not been subjected to any interrogation since May 2007, would likely have been repatriated long ago but for the Kenyan government’s longstanding refusal to acknowledge their claims to Kenyan citizenship or to take steps to secure their release.

Human Rights Watch recently spoke by telephone to several of the Kenyans in detention in Ethiopia, many of whom complained of physical ailments and begged for someone to help get them home. Although Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga made a campaign pledge to help repatriate these detainees, little progress has been made to date. In mid-August 2008, Kenyan authorities visited these men for the first time. The officials reportedly told the detainees they would be home within a few weeks, but more than a month and a half has now passed.

“The previous Kenyan government deported its own citizens and then left them to rot in Ethiopian jails,” Daskal said. “The new Kenyan government should reverse course, bring these men home, and show that it is not following the same shameful path as the old.”

The Ethiopian government also used the rendition program for its own purposes. For years, the Ethiopian military has been trying to quell domestic Ogadeni and Oromo insurgencies that receive support from neighboring countries, such as Ethiopia’s archrival, Eritrea. The Ethiopian intervention in Somalia and the multinational rendition program provided them a convenient means to gain custody over people whom they could interrogate for suspected insurgent links. Once these individuals were in detention, Ethiopian military interrogators and guards reportedly subjected them to brutal beatings and torture.

Detainees said Ethiopian interrogators pulled out their toenails, held loaded guns to their heads, crushed their genitals, and forced them to crawl on their elbows and knees through gravel. Several reported being beaten to the point of unconsciousness.

The Human Rights Watch report calls upon the Ethiopian government to immediately release the rendition victims still in its custody or prosecute them in a court that meets basic fair trial standards. It also urges the Kenyan government to take immediate steps to secure the repatriation of Kenyan nationals still in Ethiopian custody, and the US government to withhold counterterrorism assistance from both governments until they provide a full accounting of all the missing detainees.

Source: www.hrw.org

Human Rights Concern Over 42 Days

Government plans to enable police to hold terror suspects without charge for 42 days have caused "considerable concern" at Europe's human rights body.

The Council of Europe's anti-torture committee said suspects should be taken to prison after 14 days as police cells were inadequate for longer detention.

The controversial law was passed by MPs in June and will be voted on in the Lords in a fortnight.

The government said it was "acutely aware" of its responsibilities.

The Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) visited the high-security Paddington Green police station in west London in December.

It wanted to inspect "the safeguards afforded to persons detained by the police under the Terrorism Act 2000 as well as the conditions of detention of such persons".

Under the Act, terror suspects can be detained up to 28 days - which the government wants to extend to 42 days in "special circumstances".

But the committee said in a report released on Wednesday: "The existing - and possible new - provisions regarding the permissible length of pre-charge detention in cases falling under the terrorism legislation are a matter of considerable concern to the CPT.

"The committee has no intention of entering into the current debate on the arguments for and against the length of pre-charge detention of terrorist suspects in the UK.

"However, as the CPT has emphasised in the past, in the interests of the prevention of ill-treatment, the sooner a criminal suspect passes into the hands of a custodial authority which is functionally and institutionally separate from the police, the better."

Under the UK's code of practice, suspects must be transferred from police station to prison after 14 days unless a detainee specifically asks to remain in the police station, or when transfer to prison would hinder effective investigation of the case.

The CPT report warned: "The information gathered at Paddington Green high security police station indicates that the exceptions have become very much the rule."

It said that allowing requests was a "fundamentally-flawed approach from the standpoint of the prevention of ill-treatment".

It also doubted whether an investigation would be hindered if a suspect was transferred as police can still question the detainee, even in prison.

"Transfer to a prison should in all cases be obligatory if detention of a terrorist suspect beyond 14 days is authorised (and, preferably, such a transfer should occur at a much earlier stage)," the report said.

Cells Conditions

The committee criticised the state of Paddington Green station, especially as authorities had failed to act on its 2005 report which said the station was not suitable for prolonged detention.

While the cells were clean with adequate artificial lighting and ventilation, they were "a very austere environment" with "minimal access to natural light" and limited exercise facilities.

The report said: "The CPT considers that such conditions are not acceptable for persons held for periods of up to 14 days (let alone 28 or 42)."

The government said the authorities were taking steps to improve conditions at Paddington Green, following previous criticisms from the independent reviewer of terror laws, Lord Carlile.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7645191.stm