World Guantánamo Newswire Archive

A second parliamentary report in a week criticises the government over its involvement in torture and rendition, at the end of last month, a legal charity brought a court case against the government over its involvement in rendering foreign nationals through British territory, on Friday the High Court revealed further MI5 involvement in torture in Morocco and today Miliband and Johnson write in the Telegraph in support of it...

"We don't give them a bail out on top of
a bail out, they'll run Americans into the
ground - is the for sure crime of extortion"

CIA's secret program: Paramilitary teams targeting Al Qaeda .... The agency had a plan after Sept. 11 for paramilitary forces to take out Al Qaeda figures overseas. Congress was never told. Reporting from Washington -- The secret CIA program halted last month by Director Leon E. Panetta involved establishing elite paramilitary teams that could be inserted into Pakistan or other locations to capture or kill top leaders of the Al Qaeda terrorist network, according to former U.S. intelligence officials. The program -- launched in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- was never operational. But officials said that as recently as a year ago CIA executives discussed plans to deploy teams to test basic capabilities, including whether they could enter hostile territory and maneuver undetected, as well as gather intelligence and track high-value targets.

They believe in justice, they believe in the rule of law and this country doesn't get involved in torture...so where are the two remaining British residents in Guantánamo Bay? Before Miliband & Co. disappear for their lengthy summer holidays (until October), please drop them a daily email and ask them where Shaker Aamer and Ahmed Belbacha are...

The LGC and Cageprisoners held a public meeting in support of Shaker Aamer, the last London resident in Guantánamo Bay. Attended by 100 people, it is essential that action is taken now to bring Shaker and Ahmed Belbacha, from Bournemouth, back to the UK immediately!

Has Obama's Shelf-Life Expired?

With less than six months now to make good on his promise to close Guantánamo Bay, the fate of the remaining 220+ prisoners at Guantánamo is as uncertain as ever. President Obama must close Guantánamo Bay and ensure that prisoners are released to safety after their very long and illegal ordeals. No more indefinite detention without trial or charge...freedom and justice for all!

In a leak that seems designed to gauge public opinion - and that of lawyers and other relevant parties around the world - anonymous officials in the Obama administration have told the New York Times about a proposal, in draft legislation to be submitted to Congress, which, as the Times put it, "would clear the way for detainees facing the death penalty [in Guantánamo] to plead guilty without a full trial."

As independent bloggers observed, key suspect in the case should be former CEO of the Szczytno- Szymany airport, i.e. the airport where the flights from Kabul with kidnapped Iraqis were landing. A CIA prison, according to media accusations, was located in the CIA base in Stare Kiejkuty, 50 kilometers from the airport. It is there where Iraqi citizens were illegally tortured by people employed by US government.

In a series of articles following, Andy Worthington, journalist and author of The Guantánamo Files, follows up on a Parliamentary meeting in the House of Commons on Monday, March 30th 2009 - "Britain's Guantánamo? The use of secret evidence and evidence based on torture in the UK courts," chaired by Diane Abbott MP - with four articles examining how and why the British government has turned its back on the principles of open justice, and five statements made by prisoners held on the basis of secret evidence.

Monthly demonstration outside the US Embassy, London, calling for the closure of Guantánamo Bay and all other illegal CIA-run prisons around the world. Freedom and Justice for all.

A month ago, when Britain's Law Lords ruled that three men who have each spent between six and eight years imprisoned without charge or trial, or held without charge or trial under strict bail conditions amounting to house arrest, could be deported to their home countries, even though there was a risk - or, perhaps, even a probability - that they would be tortured or subjected to ill-treatment, the British media briefly woke up to the story. This was almost exclusively because one of the men was Omar Mahmoud Othman (more commonly known as Abu Qatada), a man routinely described as "al-Qaeda's spiritual ambassador in Europe," even though this claim has never been tested in a court of law.

Over the past few weeks, evidence has been emerging and pressure has been growing for an independent inquiry into the UK's involvement in extraordinary rendition, both of British nationals/residents and foreign nationals with no ties to the UK, by being complicit in torture, facilitating the "rendition" (kidnap and torture) of individuals in Iraq, Pakistan, Gambia, etc. and allowing "rendition" flights to stop over, fly over or refuel on British territory. Calls have been made by politicians, including Conservative Party leader David Cameron, for an independent inquiry.
Take action - write to your MP and the Foreign Office now and demand a full independent public inquiry!

Should George W. Bush Be Arrested in Calgary, Alberta, To Be Tried For International Crimes? ... Serious allegations of criminality are swirling around ex-US President George W. Bush and current Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. In late February of 2009 it was reported that the Hague-based International Criminal Court was preparing to issue a warrant for al-Bashir alleging his culpability for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. As the documents were being prepared against Sudan’s head of state, ex-President Bush was preparing to initiate a series of high-paying speaking engagements beginning in Calgary Alberta on March 17. Bush’s visit to Alberta’s oil capital tests the consistency and authenticity of the Canadian government’s "unequivocal" position that "Canada is not and will not become a safe haven for persons involved in war crimes, crimes against humanity or other reprehensible acts."

Demonstration against Judicial Corruption, Unlawful Imprisonments, Convention Rights Violations, Institutional Failures and unaccountability in the UK; weekly every Saturday outside HMP Wormwood Scrubs, Du Cane Road, London W12 0AE; commencing from 12pm until 3pm.

There is a shrinking group of free people, people who believe in a context with everyone’s equal worth. This group still dreams about a society where everyone is included and for this, one is prepared to struggle.

The hours are not enough. Daddy Obama tries every night to give Natasha and Malia some of his time. The hours are not enough. That is just the way it is. Part of the job, the assignment. Much has been promised and every promise has to be kept.

07/02/09: Attempted arson on cars
06/02/09: Administrative building of the police attacked with butyric acid
05/02/09: Attack against the CDU offices
01/02/09: „Car-Lofts“ attacked with stones and color
01/02/09: Several buildings spraypainted
31/01/09: Again two arsons against upperclass cars
30/01/09: CDU offices trashed
30/01/09: Porsche torched
28/01/09: Action against DHL: letter boxes painted olive green
28/01/09: BMW burned
27/01/09: Again a car burned in Berlin: state security investigates

The Israeli government has moved quickly to quash protests over the appointment of the army's senior adviser on international law to a teaching post at Tel Aviv University. Col Pnina Sharvit-Baruch is thought to have provided legal cover for war crimes during the recent Gaza offensive.

At the centre of this weekend’s 45th Munich Security Conference was the speech given by the new US Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday. His speech had been keenly anticipated by the assembled audience of 300 leading politicians and state officials, including 13 heads of government and state and 50 ministers. They were eager to hear of the new content of US foreign policy under President Barack Obama and evinced a desire for the revival of transatlantic collaboration.

The first Democratic president in the modern era to be elected on an anti-war ticket is also, to the relief of neocons and the liberal belligerati, a hawk. Committed to escalation in Afghanistan, his foreign policy selections also indicate bellicosity towards Sudan and Iran. During his first week in office he sanctioned two missile attacks in Pakistan, killing 22 people, including women and children. And his stance on Gaza is remarkably close to that of the outgoing administration. The question now is how Obama will convince his supporters to back that stance. Bush could rely on a core constituency whose commitment to peace and human rights is, at the very least, questionable. Obama has no such luxury. In making his case, he will need the support of those "liberal hawks" who gave Bush such vocal support.