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demo outside Omar Deghayes and Jamil El-Banna's extradition hearing on Thursday

info@save-omar.org.uk | 11.02.2008 14:03 | Terror War | London | South Coast

Hearts and flowers to ward off the Spanish Inquisition: campaigners from save omar will be demonstrating outside Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday, February 14th from 9.30am (meet 8am sharp at Brighton Station to travel up to London with us).

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Press release 11/02/08

Omar Deghayes and Jamil El-Banna, both released with no charge from Guantánamo Bay in Dec 2007, will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court, Horseferry Road, London on Thursday, February 14th at 10am. The hearing is in connection with a request from Spain for their extradition to face charges there.

Members of the Save-Omar Campaign, a community campaign based in Brighton for their fellow resident Omar Deghayes, will be travelling to London where they will be joined by supporters from the National Guantánamo Campaign in a demonstration of Hearts and Flowers outside the court from 9.30am and again after the hearing.

Campaign member Jackie Chase said:

"Omar and Jamil have been wrongfully detained, obscenely tortured and treated despicably for over five years by the United States at Guantánamo and other secret prisons. The Spanish authorities provided the US with the photograph which led to Omar's wrongful detention and was proven to be of a different man. It is time to leave these men alone and let them return to some semblance of a normal life. Omar has many medical issues, including an eye blinded by the guards at Guantánamo, which are at last receiving attention. It would be inhumane to continue to harangue these men any further. The US military should apologize for its mistakes and return its dealings with suspected criminals to an honourable and transparent system of due process, so rebuilding trust and respect."

On the eve of the protest there will be a public meeting with Moazzam Begg, Omar’s brother Abubaker Deghayes, Caroline Lucas MEP and Chris Nineham. The meeting will be at Brighton Friends Meeting House, on Wednesday, February 13th, at 7.30pm.

ENDS
For more details on Omar Deghayes’ case, or comments on the latest developments please contact: Jackie 07799 564620

info@save-omar.org.uk
e-mail: info@save-omar.org.uk
Homepage: http://www.save-omar.org.uk

Additions

photo's of Worthing demo for Omar

11.02.2008 14:22

photo's of Worthing demo for Omar

save omar

Eastbourne support for Omar

11.02.2008 14:28

Eastbourne Herald: Omar’s Release (published)

Dear Editor

Now that the Brighton resident Omar Deghayes, after so many years incarceration at Guantanamo Bay, is at last safe at home with his family, his friends and supporters can justly feel relieved and proud that their persistent and dedicated campaigning has helped to bring him release from torture. However, Omar's treatment on arrival in Britain has still been a shocking betrayal.

It is likely that Omar, and possibly Jamil el-Banna too, may be extradited to Spain on terrorism charges. If so, they may face up to two more years of imprisonment in a foreign country before even being tried.

The detainees' lawyers are confident that the only 'evidence' against them is laughably weak. Like thousands of other people, Jamil met the 'radical muslim cleric' Abu Qatada once. A photo supposedly of Omar as a Chechen rebel is demonstrably of someone else. As the Reprieve lawyer Clive Stafford Smith reminded us, these men have been tortured. Eleven year old Anas el-Banna, who for years has campaigned bravely for the release of his father, recently won a New Statesman Person of the Year award for his efforts. All these men and their families have suffered unimaginably, and it is time that all their nightmares - if they can recover psychologically - be finally brought to an end.

Many men, moreover, remain in legal limbo in the US torture camp. Amongst them is Binyam Mohamed, a British resident from Kensington, who suffered unspeakable torture in a CIA-backed prison in Morocco, and is now reported to be close to suicide.

We may never know if many of these men are terrorists, because they have been tortured and cannot hope for anything like a fair trial. Guantanamo is a medieval monstrosity, and all its prisoners should be released to safe countries or given prompt but fair trials. This is the twenty-first century, for goodness sake. We campaigners will not rest until Guantanamo and all the 'dark prisons' are no more than a shameful, nightmarish episode in history. And we will campaign for Omar until he is cleared of all charges and can truly begin to rebuild his life again with his family.

Michael Bentley and Angie Roche

save omar