Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Open Letter to Prime Minister David Cameron on Ninth Anniversary of Guantánamo

London Guntánamo Campaign | 11.01.2011 08:33 | Guantánamo | Terror War | World

The London Guantánamo Campaign, along with PeaceStrike, will this morning deliver a letter to Downing Street asking the Prime Minister David Cameron to take immediate action to secure the release and return to the UK of Shaker Aamer, seek the release of other prisoners to the UK on humanitarian grounds and help the US close Guantánamo Bay. The letter has been signed by 75 individuals and on behalf of organisations. Signatories include MPs Caroline Lucas and John McDonnell, MEPs Jean Lambert and Baroness Sarah Ludford, London Assembly Member Darren Johnson, Bruce Kent, Victoria Brittain, Andy Worthington, Lindsey German, Kate Hudson and many others.

The Guardian newspaper printed a shorter version of this letter today:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/11/guantanamo-closure-obama-deadline

Letter and full list of signatories (in alphabetical order):

 http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com/2011/01/open-letter-to-prime-minister-david.html

Dear Prime Minister,

Guantánamo Bay has now been open for nine years. During that time, your predecessors were successful in securing the return to the UK of all British nationals held there, and all but two of the former British residents. Nevertheless, they were knowingly complicit in the ordeal of the men and their families. Almost a year after the expiry of President Obama’s own deadline to close Guantánamo, the facility still holds some 174 prisoners.

We welcome recent efforts by Foreign Secretary William Hague and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to raise the case of Shaker Aamer, the last legal British resident in Guantánamo Bay, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. These measures must translate into his immediate and unconditional release and return to his family in the UK. Shaker has never been charged or tried for any crime, and no reasons have been given by the US for his continued detention, despite him being cleared for release in 2007. Shaker is, like you, a father, but his four children have had to grow up without their father for the past nine years, and his youngest son has never even met his father. We urge you to intervene personally in his case.

Guantánamo Bay will not close without concerted efforts by the international community, and Britain must play its part and follow the lead of other European countries that have accepted innocent prisoners on humanitarian grounds. One such man with links to the UK is Ahmed Belbacha, also cleared for release since 2007, who resided in Britain for two years. He cannot return to his native Algeria for fear of his life and liberty, so he continues to languish in Guantánamo. We would ask you to urgently request his return to the UK, and to offer to take other cleared prisoners awaiting release in order to make possible the early closure of Guantánamo.

A series of military tribunals at Guantánamo Bay over the past year, including that of a child soldier, Omar Khadr, show clear contempt for justice and the rule of law by our US allies. In 2011, four years away from the celebration of 800 years of the Magna Carta and the rule of law in England, influential in US and international law, the United Kingdom must show greater leadership in ensuring that basic legal and humanitarian principles are upheld.

We, the undersigned,

Len Aldis, secretary of Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society
Mark Barrett, Campaign for Real Democracy
Councillor Jonathan Bloch Lib Dem Councillor, Haringey Council
Victoria Brittain
Adrienne Burrows, Peace and Justice in East London
Chris Cole, Figtree
Liz Davies, Chair, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
Hilary Evans, Kingston Peace Council/CND
Maria Gallastegui, Peacestrike
Lindsey German, convenor of Stop the War Coalition
Richard Haley, Chair, Scotland Against Criminalising Communities
Noel Hamel, Chair, Kingston Peace Council
Maryam Hassan, Justice for Aafia Coalition
Desiree Howells, Peace and Justice in East London
Kate Hudson, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Joy Hurcombe, Brighton Against Guantánamo
Cllr Darren Johnson, Green Party member of London Assembly
Bruce Kent, vice-president of Pax Christi
Les Levidow, Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC)
Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion
Sarah Ludford, Liberal Democrat MEP
Aisha Maniar, London Guantánamo Campaign
Millius Palayiwa, Director, Fellowship of Reconciliation, England
Asim Qureshi, executive director of Cageprisoners
Milan Rai, co-editor of Peace News
Estella Schmid, Campaign Against Criminalising Communities
Ray Silk, Save Shaker Aamer Campaign
Walter Wolfgang, Labour CND
Rosemary Addington
Khadijah Al-Hilali
Dr Shahrar Ali, Green Party
Bisher Al-Rawi
Karima Azzouni
Abduljaleel Bain
Steve Barnes
Shaun Brown
Maude Casey
Manish Dhokia
Paschal Egan
David Ferrard
Aman Fida
Michael Fisher
Martin Francis
Anne Gray
C.C.H. Gwyntopher
David Harrold
Mary Holmes
Gillian Hurle
Miranda James
Ewa Jasiewicz
Zelda Jeffers
N.M. Kleinman
Ann Kobayashi
Sarah Lasenby
Christine MacLeod
Jim McCluskey
Simon Moore
Corinna Mullin
Anita Olivacce
Roshan Pedder
Mike Phipps
Malcolm Pittock
Ian Pocock
David Polden
M.A. Qavi
Emma Sangster
Daniel Viesnik
Sam Walton
Frances Webber
Adrian White
Adrian Windisch
Richard Wolff
Andy Worthington

London Guntánamo Campaign
- e-mail: london.gtmo [at] gmail.com

Comments

Hide the following comment

London vigil pics

11.01.2011 22:39

Silent vigil in Trafalgar Square
Silent vigil in Trafalgar Square







All images Copyright (c) 2011 D. Viesnik. They may be reproduced free of charge for non-profit use if credited. For profit use or for high resolution versions, please e-mail.

dv
mail e-mail: vd2012-imc [at] yahoo.co.uk


Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech