Guantanimo anniversary

Guantánamo Bay – 9 Years Old Today! 

In January 2010, we said “no more anniversaries!” yet today, Tuesday 11 January 2011 marks nine years of the illegal regime of torture and arbitrary detention at the US-run prison camp at Guantánamo Bay. The London Guantánamo Campaign will be holding two actions to mark this event and urges you to take action by writing to your MP.
 
1 – Delivery of letter to Downing Street – am
2 – Protest vigil Beyond Words: Silent Witness to Injustice – 1-2pm, Trafalgar Square
3 – Write to your MP (letter provided)
 
1 – Delivery of letter to Downing Street
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 letter and the full list of signatories are at the end of this communication.
The Guardian newspaprt printed a shorter version of this letter today: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/11/guantanamo-closure-obama-deadline
 
2 – Protest vigil, 1-2pm, Trafalgar Square
If you are in London and free at lunchtime, please join us in Trafalgar Square, outside the National Gallery, in a silent protest to mark nine years of Guantánamo Bay. 173 prisoners at Guantánamo have spent the last 9 nines there without charge or trial and any idea of why they are held there. We ask for just one hour, or less, of your time. The protest will be joined by Jeremy Corbyn MP and messages of support have been sent by Green London Assembly Members Jenny Jones and Darren Johnson, Lib Dem MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford and Labour MP Karen Buck.
Please join us if you can!
 
3 – If you are unable to join us or do not live in London, please send the following letter (or a modified version) to your MP today – you can find their contact details by entering your post code at www.theyworkforyou.com
 
Dear MP,
 
Guantánamo Bay has now been open for nine years. During that time, all but two former British residents have returned to the UK. Almost a year after the expiry of President Obama’s own deadline to close Guantánamo, the facility still holds some 174 prisoners.
 
Recent efforts have been made by Foreign Secretary William Hague and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to raise the case of Shaker Aamer, the last 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. I urge you to demand that the Prime Minister David Cameron intervenes 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. I ask you to urge the government to 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.
 
Support for the closure of Guantánamo Bay has been expressed by all the main political parties. I further ask you to demonstrate your support for its closure by signing, if you have not already done so, EDM 1093 on Guantánamo Bay tabled by Caroline Lucas MP
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=42093&SESSION=905
 
I look forward to your reply.
 
Yours faithfully,
 
London Guantánamo Campaign
london.gtmo@gmail.com
11 January 2011
 
Open Letter to Prime Minister and 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