US Pledge To Reduce Afghan Deaths

Civilian casualties in Afghanistan must be reduced, the newly appointed commander of US and Nato-led troops Gen Stanley McChrystal has told the BBC. He said both preventing and investigating incidents where civilians were hit would be a priority.

Earlier, a UN report said the number of civilians killed so far this year had risen 24% on the same period last year. The UN said insurgent bombings and air strikes by international forces were the biggest killers.

There has been widespread concern in Afghanistan about civilian death tolls. In June the US military called for better training in an effort to reduce the numbers of civilian deaths. The Taliban also issued a new code of conduct earlier this week which says fighters should minimise civilian casualties.

Gen McChrystal, the new commander of US and Nato-led troops in Afghanistan, said civilian casualties were "deeply concerning" and something he "would love to say we'd get to zero". He said he was trying to build this into the culture of his forces, but admitted it was very hard to balance this with their own protection. Gen McChrystal, the new commander of US and Nato-led troops in Afghanistan, said civilian casualties were "deeply concerning" and something he "would love to say we'd get to zero".

He said he was trying to build this into the culture of his forces, but admitted it was very hard to balance this with their own protection The report, by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Unama), says insurgents were responsible for more deaths than government-allied forces. But it also notes that two-thirds of the deaths caused by government-allied forces came in air strikes.

The rising death toll was partly due to the fact that militants were deliberately basing themselves in residential districts, the report's authors concluded.

The increasingly sophisticated tactics used by insurgents were also highlighted. This is the third year the UN has counted civilian deaths and the numbers have risen each year.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8179294.stm

Clinton Moved To Halt Disclosure Of CIA Torture Evidence, Court Told

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, personally intervened to suppress evidence of CIA collusion in the torture of a British resident, the high court heard today. The dramatic turn emerged as lawyers for Binyam Mohamed, the UK resident abused in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Morocco and Guantánamo Bay, joined by lawyers for the Guardian and other media groups, asked the court to order the disclosure of CIA material.

It consists of a seven-paragraph summary of what the CIA knew, and what it told MI5 and MI6, about the treatment of Mohamed. Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones, the judges hearing the case, have said that the summary contains nothing that could possibly be described as "highly sensitive classified US intelligence".

However, David Miliband, the foreign secretary, has repeatedly told the court that the US would stop sharing intelligence with the UK if the CIA material was published. The judges, as well as lawyers for Mohamed and the media, have challenged that assertion. "Is it remotely credible that [the Obama administration] would stop intelligence-sharing?" Thomas asked yesterday, referring to Obama's recent decision to publish CIA torture documents in the US. "The judgment of the foreign secretary is the key," he added.

The court has heard how the Foreign Office and Miliband have solicited US help in keeping the CIA material secret. Today, it heard how Miliband met Clinton in Washington on 12 May this year. In a written statement proposing a gagging order, Miliband told the court that she "indicated" that the disclosure of CIA evidence "would affect intelligence sharing". Pressed repeatedly by the judges on the claim yesterday, Karen Steyn, Miliband's counsel, insisted that Clinton was indeed saying that if the seven-paragraph summary of CIA material was disclosed, the US would "reassess" its intelligence relationship with the UK, a move that "would put lives at risk".

Guy Vassall-Adams, for the Guardian and other media groups, told the court earlier that Miliband's claims – including his account of his conversation with Clinton – "lack any credibility". He questioned the foreign secretary's claim that whatever the actual contents of the CIA material it was the principle that mattered. Miliband has insisted that any intelligence provided to the UK from a foreign government must always remain secret.

"The ultimate decision as to where the balance of the public interest lies is a matter for the courts and not for the executive – and any [foreign] country providing intelligence to the UK which understood otherwise would be labouring under a fundamental misapprehension," Vassall-Adams said. Thomas intervened, saying that the absolute control over intelligence material the UK and US governments were claiming was not based on any legal principle but was "the exercise of naked political power".

A letter recently sent by the CIA to the high court "merely demonstrated that the CIA would like the court to withhold from the public … findings about CIA wrongdoing", he added.

The CIA letter was couched in vague language and Miliband's interpretation of the US claims was completely unreasonable, lawyers for Mohamed and the media said. The court was also provided with a 35-page MI5 document – of which all but three are blacked out – relating to its instructions to one of its officers in 2002.

Nevertheless, the document shows that the officer, known in the case as Witness B, was sent a list of detailed questions to ask Mohamed, including about his acquaintances in London. Mohamed had been arrested in Karachi trying to return to Britain on an false passport.

Officer B, whose conduct is being investigated by Scotland Yard, questioned Mohamed while he was being held incommunicado in a Pakistani jail. It is unclear why so many pages in the MI5 document have been redacted, but the information contained in them may relate to Mohamed's condition and how he should be interrogated.One unredacted passage refers to Mohamed as "The Dirty Bomber" a reference to claims about him which were dropped years later after he was secretly flown to Guantánamo Bay.The high court judges, who have described the case as "troublesome", reserved their ruling on whether the CIA material should be published.

Source: www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/29/binyam-mohamed-cia-torture

10,000 Uighurs Disappeared During Unrest In China, Exiled Leader Claims

Rebiya Kadeer, the exiled Uighur leader, today claimed that almost 10,000 Uighurs had "disappeared" during ethnic unrest in China's north-western region of Xinjiang earlier this month and called on the international community to launch an inquiry. Speaking during a controversial visit to Japan, Kadeer said Chinese authorities had used undercover "snatch squads" to target Uighurs during clashes between Uighur and Han Chinese in the city of Urumqi on 5 July.

"Almost 10,000 people attending the protests in Urumqi disappeared in one night," Kadeer, president of the pro-independence World Uighur Congress, said. "Where did they go? If they died, where are their bodies? If they were detained, where are they being held?" It was unclear where Kadeer got her numbers from.

The state news agency, Xinhua, said today that authorities in western China had arrested 253 more people suspected of being involved in the violence in Urumqi, in addition to the 1,434 detained earlier over suspected involvement in the 5 July riot. There are no details of the ethnicity of suspects.

The violence began after police attempted to break up a peaceful protest against the killings days earlier of two Uighur workers by Han Chinese colleagues at a factory in Guangdong, southern China.

At least 197 people died – including 137 Han and 46 Uighurs – and 1,800 others were injured in the worst ethnic violence China has seen for decades.

China has accused Kadeer, 62, of inciting the riots and warned Japan that her visit could damage bilateral ties. China's ambassador to Japan, Cui Tiankai, denounced her as a criminal. "How would the people of Japan feel if a violent crime occurred in Japan and its mastermind is invited to visit a third country?" he said in an interview with the Kyodo news agency.

Japanese officialstoday attempted to play down the significance of Kadeer's visit. "As a government, we understand that [it] came about as the result of a private invitation, and we do not think it will have a negative impact on the Japan-China relationship," the chief cabinet secretary, Takeo Kawamura, told reporters.

China also lodged a strongly worded complaint with Australia, where Kadeer is due to give a nationally televised speech next month, following the screening of a documentary about her life at the Melbourne international film festival.

Kadeer, who lives in the US, said the Chinese authorities had turned the peaceful demonstration in Urumqi into a bloodbath to justify a crackdown on Uighurs, a Muslim people who refer to the region as East Turkestan. "For Uighurs, taking part in a demonstration is akin to committing suicide, so they would not have demonstrated without a good reason," she said.

A block on internet access imposed in Xinjiang three weeks ago has been partially lifted, but residents are still unable to make overseas phone calls. Normal service is not expected to resume until after 1 October, the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Kadeer said China's Uighur population, which accounts for less than half of Xinjiang's 20 million people, would have little cause to mark the anniversary.

"We have not enjoyed freedom for the past 60 years," she said. "There isn't a single Uighur family that hasn't suffered at the hands of the Chinese Communist party. "East Turkestan is rich in resources, but we have not seen the economic benefits. We are not allowed to freely practise our religion. As Uighurs, we have nothing to celebrate."

Source: www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/29/uighur-leader-japan-tokyo-china

Iran Frees 140 Political Detainees

Iran today responded to growing criticism over political detainees by freeing 140 inmates incarcerated in its most notorious jail following the recent post-election upheavals. The prisoners were released from Tehran's Evin prison after MPs inspected the facility, where hundreds of opposition politicians, activists and protesters have been held following protests over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's bitterly disputed re-election.

The move followed the closure of another detention centre where human rights groups say torture led to several deaths. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered the closure of Kahrizak prison on Tehran's southern outskirts because it "lacked the standards" to maintain detainees' rights, officials said.

The release of the Evin prisoners came a day after the judiciary chief, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, urged officials to free inmates not suspected of serious offences. Some 150 political prisoners remain inside, according to official figures, including prominent supporters of the reformist candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims last month's presidential election was stolen from him.

Many prisoners are said to be under severe pressure to sign confessions admitting involvement in a foreign-backed plot to topple the regime. This week, the Guardian reported how Evin inmates recently released claimed they had been beaten, abused and held in overcrowded conditions. Ramin Ghahremani is said to have died from a blood clot after being suspended upside down from the jail ceiling, where he was taken after surrendering himself to the police.

Concern over the detainees triggered a fresh crisis after the death last week of Mohsen Rouholamini ‑ the son of a prominent scientist and regime insider ‑ reportedly from meningitis. Rouholamini's family says he developed an infection after injuries sustained under torture were untreated. Another prisoner, Mohammad Kamrani, 18, died in hospital of meningitis after being taken from Evin. However, it has emerged that both had been previously been held in Kahrizak, where they were among detainees crammed into an underground makeshift cell after arrest during a demonstration on 9 July.

Norooz, the official website of the main reformist party, the Islamic Participation Front, said prisoners had been doused with water before being beaten with hoses and cables, though the reports could not be independently confirmed.

On Monday, Mousavi denounced the crackdown on opposition supporters as a "disaster". In a speech to a group of teachers, he said: "People will not forgive these acts. How is it possible that someone goes into a prison, then his body comes out?" He demanded a judiciary investigation into Rouhalamini's death: "They will find out what happened. This is not what we expect from the Islamic Republic," he said.

Source: www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/28/iran-prisoners-release-evin-prison

Government Might Allow U.S. Trial for Detainee

The Obama administration changed course Friday in the case of one of the youngest prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, saying he would no longer be considered a military detainee but would be held for possible prosecution in American civilian courts. The decision came after a federal judge said last week that the government’s case for continuing to detain the prisoner, Mohammed Jawad, was “riddled with holes” and that the Justice Department had been “dragging this out for no good reason.”

Mr. Jawad, whose precise age is unknown, has been held for nearly seven years, after first being detained as a teenager. The federal judge, Ellen Segal Huvelle of Federal District Court in Washington, reacted furiously last week after government lawyers conceded that much of their evidence to justify Mr. Jawad’s detention consisted of statements he had made that a military judge had previously ruled were obtained after he was tortured. Government lawyers said they would no longer rely on those statements.

In a filing Friday, the administration effectively conceded that it had lost the case, a habeas corpus challenge to Mr. Jawad’s imprisonment, before Judge Huvelle. The filing said the government would “no longer treat petitioner as detainable” as a military detainee.

But it said that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. had directed that a criminal investigation of Mr. Jawad continue. American officials say Mr. Jawad threw a hand grenade that seriously wounded two American servicemen and their Afghan translator in an attack in Kabul in 2002.

The filing indicated that the government planned to continue to hold Mr. Jawad at Guantánamo “at an appropriate camp facility,” evidently until a decision on whether to transfer him to the United States for prosecution.

Judge Huvelle indicated in a hearing on July 16 that she was considering ordering that Mr. Jawad be returned to Afghanistan. That created a politically awkward situation for the Obama administration, which has faced sharp criticism from Republicans for its plan to close the Guantánamo prison. It potentially meant that the administration would be required to transfer a detainee charged with trying to kill American servicemen.

In a statement accompanying Friday’s court filing, the Justice Department said that an administration task force reviewing the cases of Guantánamo detainees had previously made the decision to refer Mr. Jawad’s case for possible prosecution.

Separate from the habeas corpus case before Judge Huvelle, the government has been prosecuting Mr. Jawad, an Afghan, in the military commission system at Guantánamo. But that case met numerous obstacles. Among other things, the presiding military judge ruled last year that Mr. Jawad had been tortured by Afghan officials before he was turned over to American forces and that he was mistreated at Guantánamo.

The government’s filing on Friday said it had “multiple eyewitness accounts that were not previously available” and other evidence including an account by an witness who “alleges that he saw Jawad throw a grenade that wounded two American service members.”

Judge Huvelle could still issue an order directing that Mr. Jawad be released to Afghanistan. But such an order would encounter many hurdles. Congress recently passed legislation requiring that it receive 15 days’ notice before any such transfer, which could give the administration the time necessary to charge Mr. Jawad in an American court.

Jonathan Hafetz, Mr. Jawad’s lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union, said he was likely to ask the judge to direct that Mr. Jawad be sent home. Last week, Mr. Hafetz said, the Justice Department acknowledged that Mr. Jawad had been tortured. “Today they admitted he has been illegally held for seven years,” Mr. Hafetz said. “Rather than sending him home to Afghanistan, which has demanded his return, they are trying to prolong his detention.”

Source: www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/us/25gitmo.html

Torture – New Claim Of Secret UK Complicity

A businessman who was held and mistreated in the United Arab Emirates following the London bombings believes he has evidence that British consular officials asked permission from the UK's own security services to visit him while he was detained. Heavily redacted documents seen by the Guardian appear to indicate that the request to visit Alam Ghafoor was made to an unidentified British intelligence officer and not to officials in the UAE.

Ghafoor is one of several British men who allege there has been British complicity in their detention and torture while abroad. The businessman, who is 38 and from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, was detained and tortured while on a business trip to Dubai following the London bombings in July 2005.

Ghafoor and his business partner, Mohammed Rafiq Siddique, flew to the UAE on 4 July. They were dragged out of a restaurant as they dined on 21 July. The two British Muslims say they were threatened with torture, deprived of sleep, subjected to stress positions and told they would be killed and fed to dogs.

Ghafoor has obtained copies of correspondence from consular officials to the Foreign Office in London while he was in custody that show those officials were asking someone other than the UAE authorities for permission to see him. Who that person is, and who they represented, is unclear, as their name was censored before the copies were handed over. Some of the reports were so heavily redacted by the time Ghafoor received them that the only words not blanked are his name.

In one email, dated 25 July, 2005, a consular official wrote: "Today I phoned [name withheld] trying to get permission to see them. First [...] told me that there was no need because they would be deported soon. I asked if we could see them today or tomorrow. [...] told me that [...] would check with the UAE authorities... and would let me know. I didn't hear from [...] since then. Tomorrow I'll speak to [...] again."

Ghafoor, who was released without charge on 30 July, is convinced that the individual to which consular officials were turning for permission to see him was a British intelligence officer. At the time of his interrogation, Ghafoor was told that British security services had requested his questioning.

MI5 and MI6 officers who question terrorism suspects they know are being tortured, are acting in line with a secret government interrogation policy, drawn up after the 9/11 attacks. The policy states: "we cannot be party to such ill treatment nor can we be seen to condone it" and that "it is important that you do not engage in any activity yourself that involves inhumane or degrading treatment of prisoners." It also advises intelligence officers that if detainees "are not within our custody or control, the law does not require you to intervene" to prevent torture.

According to Philippe Sands, QC, one of the world's leading experts in international human rights law, the policy almost certainly breaches international human rights.

When Ghafoor asked why he had been picked up, he was shown a photograph and told he resembled one of the 7/7 suicide bombers and must be related to him. His business partner, Siddique, who was also detained and tortured, says he was told he must have been involved in the bombings – not only did he share a name with the bombers – but he lived in Dewsbury, the same Yorkshire town.

Ghafoor said his interrogators questioned his sexuality, as he is not married, and insulted him because he was unable to wash, saying he smelled. He was also punched in the groin. One interrogator said to him: "In the morning you will be thrown into a pit and the dogs will tear you to bits and I will watch it and enjoy it."Eventually, he agreed to sign a false confession admitting he was a friend of the bombers and had organised the London attacks. "I wrote a false confession and put crazy things in it like 'I have constant contact with Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden'," he said.

He was told he would be shot by a firing squad the following morning.

When Ghafoor returned home, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. His relationship with his partner broke down and he suffered nightmares, anxiety and paranoia.Ghafoor is furious that there has been no explanation for his treatment, nor an apology. "I would like to know why I was put through this hell and I would like someone to be accountable."

Clive Stafford-Smith, the legal director of Reprieve, a not-for-profit human rights organisation, said: "It is impossible for the victims of torture to move on without truth and reconciliation, yet the British government seems intent on covering up what it has done." He added: "Until recently, the British security services were told to effectively turn a blind eye to torture."

The Foreign Office said in a statement that Ghafoor and Siddique were not detained at Britain's request. "British consular staff visited them on July 30, 2005 to ensure their welfare needs were being addressed. Their detention was a matter for the Dubai authorities ... they were not detained at the request of the UK government. We do not participate in, solicit, encourage or condone the use of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment for any purpose.

"Wherever allegations of wrongdoing are made, they are taken seriously and investigated as appropriate."

Source: www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/26/alam-ghafoor-torture-uk-intelligence

US: Investigate Bush-Era Interrogation Abuses

The US Department of Justice should open a criminal investigation into post-9/11 interrogation practices, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder released today.

"It's crucial the Justice Department investigate the torture and ill-treatment of detainees," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "The United States can't truly claim to have repudiated these egregious human rights violations unless it returns to the day when it treated them as crimes rather than as policy options."

Last week, Newsweek magazine reported that Holder is considering opening a criminal investigation into the previous administration's abusive interrogation practices. Human Rights Watch said that such an investigation and appropriate prosecutions would send the strongest possible signal that the US government is committed to foreclosing any future use of torture and other ill-treatment.

By abolishing secret CIA prisons and banning the use of torture, President Barack Obama has already taken important steps toward setting a new course. But this effort to renew America's commitment to democratic values and human rights requires the administration to confront the past as well. Only by dealing appropriately with past abuses will the US government be seen to have surmounted them.

"As the nation's top law enforcement officer, Attorney General Holder shouldn't be satisfied that crimes have stopped; he should punish the serious crimes that were already committed," Roth said. "He owes it to the victims, to the law, and to the prospect of deterrence."

Human Rights Watch called upon Holder to take steps to ensure that any investigation reaches the officials most responsible for serious abuses. The investigation should not be limited to low-level personnel who may have employed unauthorized interrogation techniques, but rather should examine the responsibility of the senior officials who planned, authorized, and facilitated the use of abusive methods that were in violation of US and international law.

Any investigation that failed to reach those at the center of the policy, while pinning responsibility on line officers, would lack credibility both domestically and internationally, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch urged Holder to reject the sweeping view that officials implicated in torture and other ill-treatment explicitly covered by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel memoranda are thereby protected from criminal prosecution. "The Justice Department should not let the infamous ‘torture memos' become a get-out-of jail free card," Roth said. "This would risk validating the Bush administration's cynical strategy of preemptively constructing an elaborate set of legal defenses to justify criminal acts."

Responding to commentators who claim that any effort to address past abuses would be politically divisive and might hinder the Obama administration's ability to achieve pressing policy objectives, Human Rights Watch pointed out the high cost of inaction. Any failure to carry out a criminal investigation into torture and other ill-treatment would be widely understood as purposeful toleration of illegal activity - and as a way of leaving the door open to future abuses.

A failure to investigate would also demonstrate to the nation and to the world that, despite promises of institutional reform, the Justice Department is unable to insulate itself from political influence, Human Right Watch said.

Several treaties ratified by the United States, including the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, require that all states investigate and, if appropriate, prosecute those responsible for serious international crimes such as torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

"By opening an investigation into the grave abuses carried out since September 11, you would begin the process of bringing the United States into line with its international obligations, and remedying the harm done to the US reputation abroad by its use of torture," Roth said in the letter.

Source: www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/07/20/us-investigate-bush-era-interrogation-abuses

Benamer Benatta & The Anatomy Of A Canadian Rendition

I was the subject of an "extraordinary rendition" from Canada to the United States, where I was held for nearly five years and tortured as a terror suspect, even though I was innocent. An extraordinary rendition is a transfer from one jurisdiction to another without lawful authority. When Canadian officials put me in the back of a car against my will and drove me over the border during the night of Sept. 12, 2001, and handed me to the Americans without legal authority, their actions fit with the definition of extraordinary rendition.

July 20th marks a bitter anniversary: three years in my struggle to get answers as to how and why the Government of Canada could have done this to me, in violation of domestic and international law. On Sept. 5, 2001, I came to Canada seeking political asylum. I was fleeing my home country of Algeria, where I was scared that I would be killed if I stayed.

After spending seven days and nights in Canadian custody awaiting my refugee hearing, on the evening of Sept. 12, without telling me where I was going, giving me access to a lawyer or following laws of any kind, Canadian officials drove me over the border and handed me to the Americans.

You see, Canada thought I had something to do with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks because I was a Muslim man, I was in the Algerian military and had studied aeronautics as a university student. But they were wrong about me. I was innocent. I was even cleared by the FBI. I spent nearly five years in prison in the United States, where I was tortured and abused (according to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which produced a report about me).

Finally, I was released from prison and allowed to return to Canada to finish the refugee claim that I had started so many years before. That bitter anniversary of my "return" to Canada was three years ago today: July 20, 2006.

You would think that July 20 would be a happy anniversary for me, seeing as it was the day that I was released from prison. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but this anniversary is agony. On the day I was released, I had nothing – no money, no belongings and no family or friends to turn to.

When I arrived in Canada by prison escort, after being interviewed for hours by Canadian officials, I was allowed to leave with a U.S. Lawyer who had come to help me. We headed to the local Wal-Mart, me still in my prison uniform, to find some new clothes. I will never forget the frightened little girl who ran from me, or the cashier who eyed me like I was a criminal. It is these little indignities that stick with me.

So again, it is July 20. Three years have passed since that day and I still do not have any credible answers about why Canada handed me to the Americans. In fact, hurtfully, the Canadian government denies doing anything wrong in my case. But the government caused my nightmare.

Imagine being accused of the worst terrorist attack you can imagine, even though you are innocent. Imagine the injustice of facing torture (beatings, humiliation, sleep deprivation) and being imprisoned from the age of 27 to 32.

I have no redress for the ruination of my career, for post-traumatic stress and depression, for reliving the nightmares of my detention every time I close my eyes. In fact, I still do not even have an "I'm sorry" from the government. "I'm sorry" for throwing all the laws of the land out the window. "I'm sorry" we ruined your life.

Why hasn't the government done the right thing in my case? Why aren't Canadian citizens putting pressure on the government to do the right thing?

Maybe the government is more concerned about protecting its image than repairing the damage. Maybe, after the horrifying case of Maher Arar, Canadians can't accept that their government could be directly responsible for an extraordinary rendition (something reserved for more sinister nations, like the U.S. And Syria).

But it is true. It happened. And if Canada wants to continue forward as a nation that upholds the rule of law, and if Canadians want a government that promotes human rights, there must be acknowledgement of what happened. There must be redress. And least of all, even three long years since my return to Canada, there must be an "I'm sorry."

Source: www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/4400-benamer-benatta-and-the-anatomy-of-a-canadian-rendition.html

Speak Out On Afghanistan

As the casualty rate in Afghanistan soars there is now for the first time a national debate about whether the occupation should continue.

This weekend people are taking to the streets accross the country to collect signatures calling on the government to withdraw the troops. Please help out in this effort. It is vital for people in Afghanistan and for British soldiers and their families that the bloodshed is brought to an end.

There is an attempt to say the problem is too few helicopters or not enough troops. But the real issue is that foreign troops shouldn't be in Afghanistan in the first place. Life has got worse for Afghans since the occupation began and people have turned against the occupiers. (See ten reasons why we should get out of Afghanistan www.stopwar.org.uk/)

There is a list of petitioning activities accross the country on our website www.stopwar.org.uk/ Please check and get involved in your area. If you would like to organise your own local activity contact the Stop the War office on 020 7801 2768.

US Terror Policy Report Delayed

A key report on the detention of terrorism suspects ordered by US President Barack Obama will be delayed by six months, officials have said. Mr Obama commissioned the report as part of his efforts to close the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay by the beginning of next year.

Analysts say this delay raises doubts about his ability to meet the deadline. Officials attributed it to the need to ensure the review was comprehensive and to consult thoroughly with Congress. They said another report on the interrogation of suspects and their transfer to other countries would be delayed by two months.

However, a task force did send an interim report setting out legal goals for handling terrorism suspects in the future. "Where appropriate, prosecution of those responsible must occur as soon as possible, whether in federal court or before a military commission," the interim report said.

It also said justice could not prevail unless suspects were proved guilty "in a court of law that affords them a full and fair opportunity to contest the charges against them".

'Get This Right'

The reports were ordered in the wake of Mr Obama's announcement that he would close the Guantanamo Bay prison by 22 January 2010. Administration officials say that this deadline still holds. But, reports the BBC's Jane O'Brien in Washington, there are still a number of major problems - what to do with the remaining detainees being the biggest.

Fewer than 20 out of about 245 inmates have been transferred from the detention centre in the six months since Mr Obama signed an order to close it within a year, the Associated Press news agency reports. More than 50 inmates have been cleared for transfer overseas. Mr Obama has said others will be tried by modified military commissions or in US courts.

But some cannot be returned to their home countries because of concern they will be tortured - and finding countries prepared to take them has proved difficult. There is also the question of those who cannot be prosecuted under existing legal structures, yet who are deemed too dangerous for release.

Avoiding Uncertainty

The administration is open to the possibility of indefinitely holding these detainees, but says it needs a new legal system to authorise this.

In Washington lawmakers from both parties have opposed the idea of transferring detainees to US soil. Congress has asked the administration for a detailed plan on how Guantanamo will be shut before it releases funds for its closure.

Administration officials said delays over submitting reports were granted to conduct reviews that were as thorough as possible.

One unnamed official was quoted as saying the administration wanted to present a plan with "legal foundation". "We want to get this right and not to have another multiple years of uncertainty around these issues," the official said.

The Guantanamo Bay detention centre was set up in January 2002 to hold suspects deemed to be "enemy combatants". Human rights groups and some foreign governments have long criticised the prison.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8160297.stm

Take Action for Injured Control Order Detainee Mahmoud Abu Rideh

Cageprisoners
20th July 2009

On 18th July 2009, Mahmoud Abu Rideh was taken to hospital having severely self-harmed. After having spent years in detention without charge and then living life under a control order, he has found life unbearable. The repeated, horrific slashing of his left arm with a razor this weekend demonstrates the desperation this man feels at having been detained for so long on the basis of secret evidence and being denied the ability to leave the United Kingdom. Photos of his horrific injuries are below.

According to Moazzam Begg, Director of Cageprisoners, “Mahmoud Abu Rideh has been driven to attempting suicide several times over the past eight agonising years. Two days ago he nearly succeeded. He’s been barred from contact with ordinary human beings - except for the two or three cleared by the Home Office. He is man who is not permitted to communicate with me because I told his story on the Cageprisoners website. But, if I am not allowed to give him words of comfort and prevent him from further self-harm, then I urge everyone who can, to request clearance from the authorities to go and visit this poor, stateless, Palestinian Muslim, who has never been charged with a crime - here or abroad - and visit him before it’s too late.”

Update: Cageprisoners have been notified since issuing this alert that Mahmoud Abu Rideh has today received his travel document from the Home Office. The document was clearly issued on Friday but despite telephone calls requesting notification, his solicitors were not informed on Friday nor on Monday until the Treasury Solicitors were pressed. In consequence Mahmoud had a very difficult weekend as detailed above. He is now attempting to obtain a visa.

Take Action For Mahmoud Abu Rideh

1. Send a message of support to Mahmoud Abu Rideh by emailing contact@cageprisoners.com

2. Donate to support Mahmoud Abu Rideh’s family. Abu Rideh’s family left the UK in May after suffering for years as a result of his control order. Their passports were stamped, preventing them to return to the UK despite the fact that they remain British nationals. The impact on the family and in particular the children’s education was tremendous. The children are now ineligible for a free education in Jordan as they are British nationals. The family also need £700 to repay a loan for cargo costs to transfer their belongings from the UK to Jordan.

Account Name: Al Ikhlas Foundation
Account Number: 00449971
Sort Code: 30-96-88
SWIFT: LOYDGB21312
IBAN: GB72LOYD30968800449971

3. Apply to visit Mahmoud Abu Rideh via his solicitors at Birnberg Peirce and Partners. This will require vetting/clearance by the Home Office. Please contact Cageprisoners or the Muslim Prisoner Support Group for further information.

4. The Muslim Prisoner Support Group is devising a rota of brothers to spend nights with Mahmoud Abu Rideh. Please contact them if you would like to volunteer info@muslimprisonersupport.com / 07796 126 880

Chechnya's Dissenting Voice Silenced

The murder of Russian human rights activist Natalia Estemirova shows that life in Chechnya - although more peaceful than it was a decade ago - can still be brutal, says Rupert Wingfield-Hayes.

I cannot pretend to have been a friend of Natalia Estemirova. I met her only once, in April this year, in her little office in the Chechen capital Grozny. We sat for an hour sipping tea as she told me about the latest horrors she and her team had uncovered in the dirty war that is still going on in southern Russia.

Outside, a group of rough-looking country folk were sitting in the hallway, their faces strained, their eyes haunted. Natalia was the person they all came to, to tell of a missing son or husband, of a fresh abduction in the middle of the night, or a house burned in retribution for a rebel attack. Most recently, Natalia had been investigating a killing by a government death squad in a small village in southern Chechnya.

Last Words

Locals told her an old man had been accused of giving one of his sheep to the Islamic insurgents. On 7 July, government troops came to his home, dragged the old man to the village square, and then - as villagers looked on - they shot him in the head. "This," they were told, "is what will happen to any of you who help the rebels."

Now Natalia herself has become a victim of the brutality she had worked so fearlessly to document. At 0830 local time on Wednesday, four men dragged her from her apartment in the centre of Grozny. Passersby saw her being forced into a white Lada. She managed to shout out: "I am being abducted." They were the last words anybody would hear her say.

Nine hours later, her body was found 30 miles (50km) away, dumped in a forest. She had been shot in the head.

Sitting here in Moscow it is still very hard to comprehend how anybody could murder this softly spoken 50-year-old woman. The finger of blame has immediately been pointed at Ramzan Kadyrov, the 32-year-old warlord who now runs Chechnya at Moscow's behest. He has emphatically denied it, and has promised that he will personally take control of the investigation. That promise has been met with derision by friends and colleagues.

The truth is that Natalia was not short of enemies. She was born to a Russian mother and Chechen father. When the first Chechen war broke out in the mid-1990s, most with Russian blood fled Grozny. But she refused to leave.

Critics 'End Up Dead'

When Moscow began its second onslaught on the city in 1999, she fled. But a year later she returned and began documenting the abductions, torture and murders of thousands of young Chechen men by federal Russian troops.

Later - as Moscow handed its war to its Chechen allies - she took on the local regime. She was a thorn in the side of many, but particularly of President Kadyrov. And she is not the first of his critics to end up dead.

Three years ago a Chechen man called Umar Israilov turned up in Austria seeking political asylum. For several years he had worked as one of Mr Kadyrov's bodyguards. In testimony to Austrian authorities he said he had personally witnessed Mr Kadyrov taking part in torture sessions. He also said Mr Kadyrov kept a list of 300 enemies to be killed. On 13 January this year, Umar Israilov was shot dead outside his Vienna apartment.

Sulim Yamadayev is another of Ramzan Kadyrov's enemies to have met a sticky end. He used to be one of the most powerful military commanders in Chechnya. But last year he fled to Dubai after falling out with the Chechen president. On 30 March this year, Sulim Yamadayev was shot dead in the car park of his Dubai apartment. A week later the Dubai police issued an international arrest warrant for a man named Adam Delemkhanov.

It just happens that Mr Delemkhanov is Ramzan Kadyrov's right-hand man. In April when I went to the Grand Mosque in Grozny for Friday prayers, there he was kneeling down right beside Chechnya's president.

Culture Of Impunity

My guess is that it will never be proved who ordered Natalia Estemirova's killing. In Russia such murders are rarely solved. Look at the case of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, shot dead outside her Moscow apartment three years ago. Or of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov, gunned down in broad daylight in Moscow this January. They were both close friends of Natalia Estemirova.

There is what Amnesty International this week called a culture of impunity in Russia.

One by one, the voices of those still willing to stand up and speak out are being silenced. Without them the outside world will never know about the horrors still being committed in places like Chechnya.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8156433.stm

Bush's Key Men Face Grilling On Torture & Death Squads

America is bracing itself for a series of investigations that could see top officials from the administration of President George W Bush hauled in front of Congress, grilled by a special prosecutor and possibly facing criminal charges. Several investigations will now cast a spotlight on Bush-era torture policy and a secret CIA assassination programme, examining the role played by big names such as the former vice-president Dick Cheney and the former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

In one investigation into the controversial firing of federal prosecutors, Bush's political guru, Karl Rove, has already been forced to appear before Congress and give testimony behind closed doors. Another investigation, by the House of Representatives' intelligence committee, has already asked for documents from the CIA and has now announced that it will examine the legality of keeping a secret CIA hit squad hidden from Congress, something alleged to have been ordered by Cheney himself.

"I intend to make this investigation fair and thorough," said the committee's chairman, Texas congressman Silvestre Reyes late on Friday.

The moves reveal a long-awaited desire by elements of the Obama administration and Democrat-controlled Congress to examine alleged abuses of power by Bush officials. They also raise the prospect of a bitter political fight with Republicans, who are likely to portray any attempt to investigate leading Bushites as a witch-hunt.

The inquiries also seem to go against the wishes of some in the White House, including Barack Obama. The president has said he does not want to be distracted by the past and instead intends to focus on economic recovery and healthcare reform. "The White House is more in the mood for going forward on the issues, such as healthcare, by which they want to define their presidency," said Gary Schmitt, a former intelligence official under Ronald Reagan and a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute.

But Obama may not have too much say in what could be the most explosive investigation: one set to be launched by the attorney-general, Eric Holder. Holder is mulling whether to appoint a special prosecutor to examine CIA activities since 2001, focusing on the use of torture in interrogation of terror suspects. Any such prosecutor could have the power to bring criminal charges.

Obama has made clear that the final decision is Holder's alone and news reports last week indicated that Holder was "leaning" towards making such a move. The prosecutor's mandate could be narrowly focused on minor officials or broadened to reach the top levels of Bush's cabinet.

Holder's decision will be influenced by the results of numerous reports on his desk. One, a survey on interrogation techniques, carried out by the CIA's inspector-general, is due to be made public at the end of this month. Holder spent two days reading the report and friends have said he was "shocked and saddened" by its contents.

Another report, to be released in the next two months, is being compiled about top officials in the Justice Department who drew up legal advice that justified the new interrogation techniques. That probe focuses on John Yoo, a former deputy assistant attorney general and Jay Bybee, a federal judge.

Many insiders think public reaction to those two reports is likely to ensure that Holder eventually appoints a special prosecutor, similar to Kenneth Starr, who investigated Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. "I think it is likely that Holder will do that," said Larry Johnson, a former senior CIA official.

At the same time, other senior politicians in Congress are investigating the CIA's activities in the Bush era, especially allegations that it kept hidden a secret assassination squad aimed at top al-Qaida figures. The Senate could announce its own investigation alongside the House one already now going ahead. Both could subpoena officials, perhaps including Cheney.

One member of the House committee, New Jersey congressman Rush Holt, told his local newspaper that the inquiry should be as intense as the that of the committee which investigated Watergate. "I think any new investigation will produce revelations that are as jaw-dropping as those that were uncovered by the Church committee," Holt said.

These fresh investigations would add to some already under way. Rove is expected to be called again for further questioning later in the summer. Obama has ordered his national security officials to examine allegations that Bush officials resisted efforts to investigate a massacre of hundreds of Taliban prisoners in 2001 by an American-backed Afghan warlord. "I've asked my national security team ... to collect the facts for me that are known and we'll probably make a decision ... once we have all the facts," Obama said during his recent trip to Africa.

A series of hard-hitting investigations will be celebrated by many on the liberal wing of the Democratic party and human rights activists. "We have the right to be informed of our government's failed and egregious policies. Our recent history has taught us that the rule of law is meaningless if left unenforced," said Michael Macleod-Ball, a director at the American Civil Liberties Union. However, there could also be a political price. Many former intelligence officials are furious that the CIA is being dragged into politics. "It is pure politics. It is just crazy," said Johnson.

Others say protracted investigations will sap Obama's political capital at a time when he faces a difficult battle over healthcare reform. Indeed, some conservatives might relish the prospect of rehashing old debates over anti-terror tactics. Cheney himself, who led a secretive life in office, has been a happily public voice defending Bush policy since he left office and he has strong support from the conservative media.

One parallel might be the Iran-Contra hearings of the 1980s, when a secret plan to ship arms to Iran to raise money for Nicaraguan rebels made Colonel Oliver North - who helped craft the scheme - a patriotic folk hero. "Republicans will be happy if Democrats want to go down this road. They are happy to have a debate about national security. You could easily see someone have another 'Oliver North moment'," said Schmitt.

Source: www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/19/george-bush-dick-cheney-torture

Campaigners Are Requested To Write Letters Of Support To Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman

1. Summary

Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman’s health has deteriorated and his circumstances have become extremely straitened. With fourteen years of imprisonment so far, his experiences have been difficult, varying from strip searches and physical abuse to solitary confinement. In light of his blindness, this has a profoundly traumatizing effect. His health has deteriorated to such an extent that his family want him to return to Egypt so that they may be close to him during his final days.

Now in this critical time it is of greater urgency to express your support to Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman for the undue way in which he has been treated by the American justice system.

2. Background

According to recent reports, the health of Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, the elderly Egyptian sheikh imprisoned in the US in 1995 under sedition laws last used during the American civil war, has severely deteriorated. In the last reported telephone conversation with his family, he told them to pray for him.

Reports state that Sheikh Omar suffers from “chronic headaches whose cause has not been diagnosed and sleep disorders, as well as the effects of diabetes and old age”. Further, he “has difficulty getting around and so is confined to a wheelchair”.

Sheikh Omar has been reportedly held in solitary confinement for the past 13 years and has been physically abused on many occasions. He has had his religious rights violated and has been subjected to strip searches every time he had a visitor. He reportedly stated in the telephone conversation to his family that “There is nothing but the Quran to stave off the madness”.

Reports reveal that Sheikh Omar’s family had expressed their intention to request permission to visit him in USA, following President Obama’s election in November 2008, and intended to demand for him to be returned to Egypt. Reports also state that Sheikh Omar’s family requested to visit him in 2001 and 2004 but were denied in return.

Please visit Sheikh Omar’s campaign page to download campaign pack: www.ihrc.org.uk/show.php?id=2910

You can also visit Asharq Al-Awsat (London daily) article for more information: http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=14550*

[*IHRC is not responsible for the content of external websites, nor endorses them by providing their link.]

3. Action Required

Write to Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman personally. Letters should be addressed to:

Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman 34892-054
FMC Butner
Federal Medical Center
P.O. Box 1600
Butner, NC 27509
USA
___________

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.

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

Al-Jazeera Journalist Imprisoned In Guantánamo Bay To Sue George Bush

An al-Jazeera journalist who was imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay plans to launch a joint legal action with other detainees against former US president George Bush and other administration officials, for the illegal detention and torture he and others suffered at the hands of US authorities.

The case will be initiated by the Guantánamo Justice Centre, a new organisation open to former prisoners at the US base, which will set up its international headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, later this month.

"The purpose of our organisation is to open a case against the Bush administration," said co-founder Sami al-Haj, an al-Jazeera reporter from Sudan who was illegally detained by US authorities for over six years after being captured while he was working as a cameraman. He was freed in May 2008.

"We need to start our organisation first and then we will prepare a whole case. We don't want to do this case by case," said the 40-year-old journalist during a recent visit to Oslo."We are in the process of collecting information from all the people, such as medical evidence. It takes time," he said. He added: "I need them to go to court … we don't want [what happened to us] to be repeated again."

The legal action may be modelled on an action against General Augusto Pinochet, who was arrested in the UK in 1998 at the request of a Spanish prosecutor for the alleged murders of Spanish citizens in Chile under his dictatorship.

Al-Haj said: "I spoke to my lawyer, who advises me to do this in Europe. The courts do not have the power to bring [US officials] by force, but at least they can't visit European countries. If they do, [the authorities] would catch them and send them to court."

The Guantánamo Justice Centre, which will be led by British ex-detainee Moazzam Begg, will open a British-based branch this month in addition to its Geneva headquarters. Al-Haj, who is back at work for the Arabic satellite channel in Qatar, is in frequent contact with Guantánamo detainees, both past and present.

"Torture is continuing in Guantánamo," al-Haj said. "Obama needs to close Guantánamo immediately."

Al-Haj said he was questioned by British intelligence officers during his detention, once in Kandahar in March 2002, and another time at Guantánamo later that same year. He said: "They asked me questions about al-Jazeera, whether it had links with al-Qaeda. They asked me questions about the British detainees at Guantánamo. "They told me I should cooperate with the Americans and work as a spy," upon his release. He said he was not mistreated by the British intelligence officers.

Source: www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jul/17/guantanamo-bay-al-jazeera

Time is Running Out…

Report: “Shaker Aamer: the Last Londoner in Guantánamo Bay” (11 July 2009, Battersea Arts Centre)

The London Guantánamo Campaign and Cageprisoners held a public meeting on Saturday 11 July in Battersea to raise awareness about Shaker Aamer, the last London resident being held in Guantánamo Bay. Shaker Aamer, a 42 year old Saudi national, with a British family, including a 7 year old son he has never met, is one of two remaining British residents held at Guantánamo Bay. The other is Ahmed Belbacha, an Algerian asylum seeker from Bournemouth. Neither man has ever been charged or tried, nor are there any plans to bring them before a military or civilian court.

The British government sought the return of Mr. Aamer in August 2007 along with four other residents, all of whom have since returned to the UK. The British government now claims that assurances sought by the American government as to his treatment – restrictions on his freedom of movement, etc. – are hindering his return. This was the same pretext for the government’s delay in securing the return of the other British residents; however, they and the British nationals held prisoner there have never been charged or tried in this country. In Mr. Belbacha’s case, the government is refusing to allow him to return, claiming he is a failed asylum seeker. He has been free to leave Guantánamo Bay for the past two and a half years but does not have anywhere to return to; an asylum seeker in the UK, he has stated that he would rather remain in Guantánamo Bay than return to Algeria where his life would be at risk.

The meeting was chaired by the London Guantánamo Campaign and attended by nearly one hundred people, including half a dozen former Guantánamo prisoners and the family of Shaker Aamer. The audience was addressed by speakers including local MP Martin Linton (Lab, Battersea). Mr. Linton stated that he would like to see Mr. Aamer return to the UK. He also stated that when the seventh anniversary of Guantánamo Bay was marked at the beginning of this year, he had thought that Mr. Aamer would be released by now, however six months into his presidency and his pledge to close Guantánamo Bay down within one year, it does not appear that President Obama wants Shaker Aamer to return here.

A review panel is due to decide shortly on where to send Mr. Aamer: either to the UK or Saudi Arabia. The alternative options to the UK are bleak: a two year “re-education” programme in Saudi Arabia tantamount to another prison sentence without charge or trial or charges at Guantánamo Bay and a “trial” by military commission. Mr. Aamer’s release is taking longer than he had anticipated and is perpetuating the human tragedy: Shaker Aamer has a seven year old son he has never met and his oldest child remembers him only from photographs.

For no legal or apparent reason, a family has been split and torn apart for the past almost eight years. Mr. Linton called on local people to take action, to write to him about their concerns and for others to write to their own MPs to raise the issue with the Foreign Secretary; the more pressure put on the Foreign Office, the more they will in turn pressurise the American administration. Mr. Linton suggested that a deputation of local Battersea residents should meet the Foreign Secretary to voice their concerns and their demands for Mr. Aamer’s return. Following the meeting, work was commenced on putting this deputation together. Mr. Ray Silk, a local resident, agreed to coordinate local groups and individuals who would be interested in doing this. The deputation hopes to meet David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, before this parliamentary session end in two weeks’ time.

Cageprisoners director and former Guantánamo prisoner Moazzam Begg, who lived with Shaker Aamer in Kabul before the war in Afghanistan when they were both charity workers there, spoke of him as a smiling, caring and unforgettable person who was very well-known in the south London area. While Mr. Begg, who was released in early 2005, was one of the first prisoners put forward for trial by military commission, Shaker Aamer has never been tried or charged at all. Mr. Begg stated that he is being held due to his charismatic personality; guards have been instructed not to fraternise with him and he has been held in solitary confinement for far longer periods than other prisoners. Recently released Chadian child prisoner Mohamed El-Gharani reported that Shaker Aamer had taken him under his wing and looked after him while imprisoned together.

From within, Shaker Aamer has protested against the injustices at Guantánamo Bay, including the fact that despite being the rationale for its existence, not a single prisoner has ever been convicted of any crime in relation to the 9/11 attacks. The hunger strikes, which Mr. Aamer has participated in, have been the last straw for the prisoners protesting their innocence. The UK has officially called for Mr. Aamer’s release; there is a real need for change on both sides of the Atlantic, a change which is tangible. Mr. Begg called for those responsible and those who colluded in what has happened at Guantánamo Bay to be brought to account. While President Obama has called for a new page to be turned, the current page must be read before being turned over.

Gareth Peirce, solicitor, whose firm represents Mr. Aamer, called his situation an “emergency”: parliament and the courts will close in a fortnight for a two month break, meaning that little progress will be made in his case until October unless the government takes action now. While the US wants Shaker Aamer to be returned to Saudi Arabia where he will have to undergo a lengthy “re-education” programme, the UK is also complicit in his ordeal and morally, our role has been worse. The British government has sought to keep its complicity secret and provided information about the British nationals and residents to the US. The UK must demand that Shaker Aamer comes back immediately and this will only happen when there is sufficient pressure. Mr. Aamer would have returned by now if enough pressure had been put on the US, however due to the UK’s complicity, including the involvement of UK agents in his torture during interrogations, there is no interest in pursuing this.

Ms. Peirce’s firm has brought a case against the British government for reparations on behalf of most of the British residents and nationals for its complicity in torture. The purpose of the case is not to seek compensation but to serve as a measure to prevent this happening again to others. The government was due to enter its defence in this case on Friday but failed to; instead it asked for more time. The government is also seeking to keep evidence, which may potentially incriminate it, secret in this case. Ms. Peirce called on MPs to seek answers from the Foreign Office and not let the issue fall out of the public eye. Britain must tell the US that all the other residents and nationals who have returned are living normal, ordinary lives and have reintegrated smoothly into their communities. In a lawless world, political pressure works and it must be applied now.

As well as being a legal tragedy, illegal detention at Guantánamo Bay is also a personal tragedy for family members, loved ones and communities. Ahmed Siddique, Shaker Aamer’s father-in-law spoke of the suffering of his family in Saudi Arabia; his sister recently passed away and his father also died recently, however Mr. Aamer has not been able to have contact with his family. His mother’s health has also deteriorated considerably; she has become ill and is becoming blind through the stress. He compared their situation to that of Jacob (Yaqoob), the father of Joseph (Yusuf), when his son was held on spurious allegations in jail in Egypt, and the suffering families must go through because of injustice. He asked why the British government was not pressurising the US for Mr. Aamer’s return and why there was a delay.

Mohammed El-Banna, the 11 year old son of Jamil El-Banna from north London, whose release was demanded at the same time as that of Mr. Aamer and who returned in December 2007, also addressed the audience. He stated that Mr. Aamer and his family had suffered for seven years for nothing. Mr. Aamer was innocent, just like his father, and no allegations could be proved against him. He stated that his father returned from Guantánamo Bay after five and a half years because people had campaigned for him. He urged the audience to campaign and demand the return of Shaker Aamer as well.

At the meeting, a letter demanding the return of Shaker Aamer and Ahmed Belbacha to the UK was signed by those attending. Sixty five people, including the family of Shaker Aamer, several former prisoners and several of their relatives, signed this letter to the Foreign Secretary.

The London Guantánamo Campaign urges everyone to take urgent action for Shaker Aamer and Ahmed Belbacha over the next fortnight. We call on everyone to:

1 – write to their MP

2 – write to the Foreign Office (letter attached)

3 – send regular emails to the Foreign Secretary (perhaps once a day) asking where Shaker Aamer and Ahmed Belbacha are and what progress is being made in their cases. A short, sweet message is enough. Email the Foreign Secretary at private.office@ fco.gov.uk

4 – write to Ahmed Belbacha (290) and Shaker Aamer (239), Guantánamo Bay, PO Box 160, Washington DC20053, USA

London Guantánamo Campaign
london.gtmo@gmail.com
www.guantanamo.org.uk

Baha Mousa Inquiry Shown Video Of Soldier Abusing Iraqi Detainees

A two-minute video of a British soldier abusing Iraqi detainees the day before one of the prisoners died from his severe injuries was shown at a public inquiry yesterday. In the film, Iraqi detainees could be heard moaning and crying out as they were forced to sit in painful "stress positions" while the soldier screamed abuse at them. Baha Mousa, 26, a hotel receptionist from Basra, was so badly beaten by troops from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment that doctors who examined his body identified 93 separate injuries, the hearing in London was told.

Gerard Elias, QC, the counsel to the inquiry, said the video showed hooded and handcuffed detainees being "softened up" before interrogation. One of the men was Mr Mousa. Mr Elias identified Cpl Donald Payne as the soldier in the film who was abusing and manhandling each captive in turn as they dropped to the floor, struggling to maintain their crouched stress positions. Cpl Payne could be seen standing over one detainee, yelling: "Get up you fucking ape, now. Get up now."

Mr Elias said: "Even if one considers only the video that we have just looked at, it may be thought to be entirely apparent that these detainees were being subjected to stress positions and prolonged hooding."

Mr Mousa died at about 10pm on 15 September 2003 after a "struggle" with Cpl Payne and another soldier, Pte Aaron Cooper, the hearing was told. Mr Elias said Mr Mousa's injuries might have been inflicted "with a greater degree of deliberation" than was previously thought. The inquiry, led by Sir William Gage, was told that before Mr Mousa died, Cpl Payne restrained him by putting his knee on his back and pulling his arm back to attach plastic handcuffs to him.

Mr Elias said: "It has been suggested that Baha Mousa's head was banged on the floor or wall as this was happening. But statements to this inquiry now suggest perhaps a greater degree of deliberation than has hitherto been described." Further allegations of abuse of other detainees included sleep deprivation, withdrawal of food and exposure to loud noises. One prisoner claimed that a soldier urinated on him, while another said he was forced to dance like Michael Jackson.

In July last year, the Ministry of Defence agreed to pay £2.83m in compensation to the families of Mr Mousa and nine other Iraqi men who were mistreated by British troops. In September 2006, Cpl Payne became the first member of the armed forces to admit a war crime when he pleaded guilty to inhumanely treating civilians. He was dismissed from the Army and sentenced to one year in a civilian jail.

Six other soldiers also faced courts martial but all were cleared in March 2007. They included Colonel Jorge Mendonca MBE, the former commander of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, which is now renamed as the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment. Several senior officers later strongly criticised the decision of the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, to take the cases to court.

Mr Mousa was working at Basra's Ibn Al-Haitham hotel in September 2003 when it was raided by British forces looking for weapons. In a safe, the soldiers found assault rifles and pistols that hotel staff insisted were used for security, but Mr Mousa and several colleagues were taken to the British base at Darul Dhyafa in the custody of infantrymen from the Queen's Lancashires. Mr Mousa's 22-year-old wife died of cancer shortly before he was detained. Their two young sons were orphaned.

The inquiry will investigate beyond the circumstances of Mr Mousa's death and the ill-treatment of the other detainees. Mr Elias said: "In particular, the inquiry is tasked to discover whether, and to what extent, conditioning techniques were used on these detainees and, if used, what the consequences were. Who, if anyone, in authority approved, sanctioned or condoned their use?"

The hearing was told that such techniques were banned by the Conservative prime minister, Edward Heath, in 1972 after public disquiet about the treatment of IRA prisoners detained in Northern Ireland under the controversial internment policy.

Source: www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/baha-mousa-inquiry-shown-video-of-soldier-abusing-iraqi-detainees-1744953.html

I've Seen 1,200 Torture Photos

This moment, in which the Attorney General of the United States claims to be considering the possibility of allowing our laws against torture to be enforced seems a good one in which to reveal that I have seen over 1,200 torture photos and a dozen videos that are in the possession of the United States military. These are photographs depicting torture, the victims of torture, and other inhuman and degrading treatment. Several videos show a prisoner intentionally slamming his head face-first very hard into a metal door. Guards filmed this from several angles rather than stopping it.

The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) of Australia revealed several of these photographs, video of the head slamming, and video of prisoners forced to masturbate, as part of a news report broadcast in 2006. But the full collection has not been made available to the public or to a special prosecutor, although it was shown to members of Congress in 2004. When these photos are eventually made public, I encourage you to take a good look at them. After you get over feeling ill, it might be appropriate to consider Congress' past 5 years of inaction. You'll be able to feel sick all over again.

In January 2004, the military seized photos and videos that were on computers and cell phones at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Those related to the abuse of prisoners amounted, as far as I know, to those in the collection I've looked at. So, this collection does not include images of torture or mistreatment that may have taken place at Abu Ghraib after that date or at other locations at any time. I have reason to believe that such photos also exist in large quantity and depict types of abuses we have not yet seen.

Most people have seen fewer than 100 photographs from Abu Ghraib. I have posted online many of those that have been made public. These are not a bad representative sample of the whole, but they are far from complete. There are, among the more than 1,200 photos, images of prisoners and of military personnel that have not been published. There are gruesome scenes here that we have not publicly seen a single image of. And the images that we have seen are, in most cases, a single image or two from a long series of photos of an incident. In many cases, the collection includes multiple series of images from one event shot with multiple cameras. The public images have in many cases been cropped and/or censored to hide faces or genitals. In the uncropped versions there are, in some cases, additional people in the frame.

Were these Abu Ghraib photos all made public, but those from other times and places kept hidden, and were we unaware of the executive orders, Justice Department memos, presidential signing statements, congressional reports, Red Cross reports, presidential and vice presidential televised confessions, and so forth, the military could still claim this was the isolated work of a few "bad apples".

But we would have a better understanding of what that work was. And making these images available to the public, or merely to a special prosecutor, would suggest an interest in seeking accountability for those responsible but not present in the photographs. On the other hand, hiding the evidence while prosecuting the soldiers who posed in some of the photos looks increasingly like scapegoating for the benefit of the Military Intelligence, CIA, and contractors who instructed the soldiers, as well as the commanders all the way up to the Secretary of Defense who encouraged torture, the lawyers who sought to provide immunity, and the president and vice president who gave the authorizations. Remember, for Attorney General Eric Holder to decide that our laws against torture can be enforced, he does not need to wait until each new piece of evidence is revealed and then respond appropriately. He already has all of this evidence and much more that we know about but have not seen.

The over 1,200 images that I've seen add to some stories we've seen sketched out before. We've seen the body of murdered prisoner Manadel al-Jamadi packed in ice. We've seen Spc. Charles Graner posing with it, and Spc. Sabrina Harman doing the same. But the fuller collection shows the process of cleaning the body up. A giant gash in the top of the man's head is stitched up, his eye patched, etc. Photos, some of which have been made public, show floors covered with the blood of this victim.

We've also seen a few images (one, two, three) of a man attacked and bitten by dogs. But the larger series of photos shows us much more of the wounds on his legs and arms, as well as his identification number: 153863.

Another prisoner with an ID (153399) is shown missing a good portion of his head. This is one of a number of dead bodies shown in the photographs. SBS (the Australian news outlet) found an Army report on his death and concluded that these dead prisoners had likely been shot by guards during a riot or murdered by guards in other circumstances. Others have claimed mortar attacks from outside the prison are to blame.

Charles Graner and Sabrina Harman appear quite a bit in these photos, posing and smiling, but also tending to wounds. Private Lynndie England appears in a relative few, the ones we've seen with a thumbs up and pointing at masturbating prisoners. Other photos show additional military personnel. In one shot, Graner and two other male soldiers are putting a bag on a prisoner's head. In one shot a possible private contractor wears an ID badge.

There are lots of photos among the over 1,200 showing naked prisoners, sometimes chained to bunk beds or with their legs stuck through bars. There's a naked prisoner face-down on the ground with blood beside him, and with an MP on his back and two more watching.

We have previously seen and heard about a prisoner who had lost his sanity and covered himself with feces, earning the moniker "shit boy." In the larger collection, we see him naked in the shower from the front, wearing white latex gloves. We see him pinned between stretchers but also standing, sandwiched between foam mattresses chained on him like a robe, with bags tied over his hands, and in other positions. And he is reportedly the same man shown slamming his head against a door.

We see a naked, hooded prisoner standing on two MRE boxes and bent over. We see photos shot from a balcony of two prisoners sitting or squatting with their hands behind their heads, one of them on the floor and the other on an MRE box. We see a prisoner with his ID number written across his naked chest in red marker, and red marker smiley faces drawn on his nipples. (His number, obscured by his hood, is 200_ _ 4, where the first missing number is 1 or 7 and the second is 9 or 4.)

Of course, we also see the simulated electrocution photos of a hooded prisoner standing on an MRE box with wires attached to him. And we see a prisoner apparently forced to stick a banana in his anus. We see this young woman lifting her shirt up, but without the cropping, fuzzing, and blacked-out eyes. We see her together with another young woman. We see a bunch of photos of these young women posing, fully clothed. We see the first one clothed and posing with Spc. Sabrina Harman, both smiling. According to SBS the story is that the two prisoners were picked up on the charge of prostitution.

There are three photos of a little boy, naked, in a robe, and fully dressed. While it is very disturbing to see this little child's photos in the middle of this revolting collection, I have no idea what they are doing there or whether he was mistreated, or whether anyone was threatened with his mistreatment. But I do know that the leading lawyer who facilitated our national torture campaign and famously said that a U.S. president has the right to crush a child's testicles is a professor at a prestigious university, while his boss is sitting as a life-time judge in the Ninth Circuit because Congress refuses to impeach him. The current excuse for delay is that the Justice Department plans to release its internal report (from the Office of Professional Responsibility) very soon, just as it has been promising for many months. If Holder finally releases the report and simultaneously announces the appointment of a special prosecutor, two things must happen.

1. We must not allow Congress to delay impeachment of Bybee any longer with the new excuse that a criminal investigation is underway.

2. We must pressure the special prosecutor to act without delay and without considering anyone to be above the laws written by Congress.

Source: http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23046.htm

MoD May Face Hundreds Of New Torture Claims

The inquiry into the death of Baha Mousa while held by the British Army begins tomorrow, with lawyers registering more claims of abuse

The Ministry of Defence faces the threat of hundreds of claims for alleged abuse and torture of Iraqi civilians by British soldiers. Lawyers say emerging evidence of abuses, including use of electric shocks, points to a systematic policy of sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation and beatings throughout the occupation of Basra, which must have been authorised by senior officers or politicians and known to hundreds of soldiers. Some 20 Iraqi civilians last week began a fresh round of legal cases claiming human rights abuses against the Ministry of Defence.

Sir William Gage will tomorrow begin his inquiry into the death of Baha Mousa, a recently widowed 26-year-old hotel worker and father of two small children, who was beaten to death by British soldiers while in custody in Iraq in 2003.

Mr Mousa's family, including his father, Dawood Mousa, a former colonel in the Iraqi army, and other civilians who were arrested and beaten at the same time, will travel to London to attend the proceedings in September. Mr Mousa said yesterday: "The questions still remain: Who? And Why? I am eager for this inquiry... we want to know who killed Baha and whether what was going on was part of a wider policy." He said he hoped "it will not be a whitewash" and that he was "speechless" when he was not allowed to take part in a military tribunal.

The MoD has already paid compensation for the death of Mr Mousa, who had 93 separate injuries on his body, although no soldier has been convicted for the killing. Seven soldiers did face court martial in 2006, but only one was convicted of inhumane treatment and sentenced to a year in prison. Corporal Donald Payne pleaded guilty after appearing in a one-minute video, shown at the court martial, in which internees could be seen forced to hold "stress positions" while wearing hoods.

Hooding was one of five techniques outlawed by the British government in 1972. The others were stress positions – where suspects are forced to squat in positions that become painful – sleep deprivation, constant noise and refusal of food and water. But it is emerging that the practices continued until last year; it is unclear when the ban was overturned, or by whom.

The latest cases – some of which are detailed below and which arose during five years of British military operations in Iraq – have similar complaints. They say homes were raided early in the morning by up to 60 British soldiers, men were beaten with rifle butts, plasticuffed and dragged to detention facilities where they were beaten, blindfolded, forced to wear ear muffs, hold stress positions, refused food and drink and not allowed to go to the toilet.

One man, Ali Nassih Mowannis, 24, claims wires were held to his tongue and feet and electric shocks administered. Another, Adil Abbas Fadhil Mohammad, says he was left hanging by handcuffs from a ceiling for an hour. Others say their wives or sisters were beaten, or they were stripped naked, while photographs were taken of them.

The MoD was forced last week to concede a further inquiry into allegations that Iraqis were tortured and killed by the British after what become known as the battle of Danny Boy in Maysan Province in May 2004. The MoD had claimed – in a case brought by nine survivors – that they had not complained at the time. But at the High Court last week government lawyers were forced to concede the case following the discovery of an email that the nine had in fact complained to the Red Cross and an investigation had been ordered. A draft letter outlining the complaints had been drawn up to be sent to Tony Blair. It is not clear if the investigation was ever carried out or the letter sent.

On Friday, Lord Justice Scott Baker condemned the MoD for its secrecy in the case and for making "partly false" statements in an effort to keep interrogation techniques secret under a public-interest immunity [PII] certificate. Until the MoD had demonstrated that "the whole content of such documents was scrupulously accurate" the courts should approach PII certificates from the MoD "with very considerable caution", he said.

Yesterday, Phil Shiner of Public Interest Lawyers in Birmingham, which represents many of the Iraqis, including Baha Mousa's family, as well as the nine Danny Boy claimants in court last week, said: "There are hundreds of cases of Iraqi torture and abuse at British detention facilities... The systemic reasons for this are completely under explored."

Mazin Younis, of the London-based Iraqi League, which carries out initial interviews with claimants, said there were at least another 30 or 40 potential claims. If jurisdiction reached beyond British bases, that number would double, he added. "I absolutely believe there have been incidents from 2004 until 2008," he said. "Thousands of soldiers have either witnessed abuse or co-operated in it. The stories are all very similar. The raid starts at home, they are kicked and beaten and hooded."

The MoD, which denies all allegations in relation to Danny Boy, said other cases had yet to be proven. In a statement, the armed forces minister Bill Rammell said: "Over 120,000 British troops have served in Iraq and the vast majority have conducted themselves with the utmost professionalism. All allegations of abuse are investigated... and where proven, those responsible are punished and complainants compensated. Allegations must not be taken as fact, and formal investigations must be allowed to take their course."

What the claimants say: 'We were beaten... blindfolded... threatened with dogs... forced to strip'

These are the allegations made in statements to British lawyers by some of the Iraqis seeking legal redress from the Ministry of Defence.

Ali Nassih Mowannis, 24, arrested January 2006

Ali was arrested with Nassih Mowannis Abdul-Ali, 45, and his teenage brother, Anwar, by 60 or 70 soldiers who raided their home at 2.30am. Nassih's wife was forced to strip her baby naked. Jewellery and £12,500 was taken and never returned. All were blindfolded and earmuffed and beaten. Ali had electric shocks administered to his tongue and feet.

Hussain Salman Muharib, 23, arrested April 2004

Claims he was beaten with rifle butts after going outside in his pyjamas to investigate gunfire. His father was shot in the arm and his brother in the neck. He was dragged back into the house by 30 soldiers who beat his family, including his mother, sister and children. He was taken to a detention centre, beaten for 19 hours, forced to strip and parade in front of six or seven soldiers who photographed him on mobiles. Released without charge after three weeks.

Mustafa Abdul Amir Haddada, 31, arrested March 2006

Mustafa was woken by the sound of his door being kicked. As he investigated, it was blown in with explosives. He was injured by shrapnel, including a serious wound to his eye. Soldiers kicked and beat him and his wife. He was handcuffed and blindfolded. He was denied medical care, which led to the loss of his eye. Released without charge after one year and four months.

Abbas Mowannis Abdul Ali, 34, arrested January 2006

Abbas was arrested during a night raid on his home. He was hooded in front of his children and pushed down the stairs. In detention he was hooded, earmuffed and beaten. Also claims he was urinated on and at one point shot in the leg at close range with a rubber bullet. Released in September 2007 without charge.

Badr Salman Muharib, 31, arrested twice, in April 2003 and April 2004

On both occasions Badr was hooded and beaten. On the first occasion he was released after 19 days with an apology. On the second he was repeatedly dragged across the ground, forced to strip and bend backwards and forwards while soldiers took photographs of him.

Adil Abbas Fadhil Mohammad, arrested March 2006

A night guard, Adil was approached by British troops, beaten and arrested while on duty. Repeatedly beaten and threatened with dogs. At one point he was forced to stand on a wobbly table, with cuffs tied to a hook on the ceiling. He could reach the table only on tiptoe. When it fell over he was left hanging from the ceiling for half an hour and beaten. He was later stripped and had his penis pulled. Tricked into believing he had been taken to Guantanamo Bay. Released without charge after 48 hours.

Tarek Hassan, 22, arrested April 2003

Detained by British forces during a raid on his family home. The soldiers were looking for Tarek's brother, Khadim, a high-ranking Ba'ath party official, and said they would hold Tarek until Khadim turned himself in. Four months later Tarek's body was found in the desert north of Baghdad. He had been shot eight times and his hands were tied with plasticuffs commonly used by British and US soldiers. Khadim is now seeking an inquiry at the European Court.

Kammash family, arrested April 2007

The family home was raided, and six men, including 70-year-old Jabbir Kammash, were arrested, hooded and handcuffed and beaten. Jabbir was released after a day with his son, and his other son four days later. The other three were held for several months, deprived of sleep, forced to go without clothes and sexually humiliated.

Muslim Abbod Mohammed and Najim Abbod Mohammed, arrested August 2006

The claimants were arrested at 2.30am by 20 soldiers and beaten so severely Najim's arm was broken. More than once he was dragged by his broken arm. Muslim was forced to stand in the sun for two hours in a stress position and had stones thrown at him. Both were deprived of sleep through banging and by pornographic films played loudly. Both released without charge after almost a year.

Moayaad Jabbar Ibrahim, Imad Oraibi Abdulla Al-Iqabi, Ali Jabbar Hassan, arrested August 2003

The three were beaten for 30 minutes in their homes and in front of children so severely one lost consciousness. They say soldiers smelled of alcohol. Released the following day and received a letter of apology.

Source: www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/mod-may-face-hundreds-of-new-torture-claims-1742761.html