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Shut Down Guantanamo and Bagram! Afghan War 10th anniv. demo, 7 Oct, 6-7pm

London Guantánamo Campaign | 21.09.2011 10:12 | Guantánamo | Anti-militarism | Repression | Terror War | World

Friday 7 October: 6-7pm: Shut Down Guantánamo and Bagram! demonstration – Afghan War 10th Anniversary Special

US Embassy, Grosvenor Square, London W1A 1AE (nearest tube: Bond Street / Marble Arch)

Friday 7th October 2011 marks the 10th anniversary of the start of the war in Afghanistan. Ten years on, thousands of civilians have died and many more face the threat of death through strikes by US unmanned drone attacks. The end of the war seems no closer.

Before there was Guantánamo, there were black sites and torture prisons in Afghanistan where such practices continue to be carried out today. Nearly all the prisoners held at Guantánamo had been "processed" and held at the prisons at the Bagram Air Base, Kandahar and the Dark Prison in Kabul before being taken to Guantánamo Bay.

Former British prisoner Moazzam Begg described Bagram as being worse than Guantánamo. Hundreds of prisoners have been held at Bagram, which has grown in size and prisoner numbers since Barack Obama became president in 2009. The Oscar-winning documentary film Taxi to the Dark Side charts the torture and demise of a prisoner gratuitously beaten to death by American soldiers in 2002. Countless individuals have also been flown to Afghanistan and tortured and abused in prisons as part of the CIA's extraordinary rendition programme.

To mark this sombre tenth anniversary and to show solidarity with the prisoners, their families and victims of torture, we invite you to join our demonstration outside the US Embassy on Friday 7th October, from 6-7pm.

Also on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=190285371044962#!/event.php?eid=190285371044962

Join us as we continue to demand justice for former British residents Shaker Aamer, Ahmed Belbacha and others who continue to be held indefinitely without charge or trial at Guantánamo Bay, Bagram and elsewhere.

Also, look out for us and the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign at the Anti-War Assembly in Trafalgar Square on Saturday 8th October.
 http://www.antiwarassembly.org


OTHER EVENT:

Tuesday 4 October: 7:45pm, Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, Waterloo, SE1

The Afghan Monologues, a new production by Actors for Human Rights

This new documentary play from Ice and Fire Theatre brings to the stage the real words of men and women from across Afghan society, as well as Western commentators from the front line.

Ten years. Billions of pounds per year. 140,000 serving foreign troops. Over 11,000 miltary casualties. 9,000 civilians dead. 7.5 million refugees. For millions of citizens and returning refugees, Afghanistan remains home. Afghan Monologues takes us into their lives, including a doctor; a former presidential advisor; a young woman; and a British photojournalist who travels through Afghanistan and follows the stories of Afghan civilians.

Presented by Ice and Fire Theatre and scripted by Christine Bacon
Tickets: £10 – for more details:  http://ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/literature-spoken-word/tickets/afghan-monologues-60840

London Guantánamo Campaign
london.gtmo [at] gmail.com

London Guantánamo Campaign
- e-mail: london.gtmo [at] gmail.com
- Homepage: londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com

Additions

8th Oct: 10 Hours for 10 Years DEMO for Shaker Aamer at Anti-War Assembly

22.09.2011 13:08

On 8 October, as part of the Stop The War Coalition's Mass Anti-War Assembly in Trafalgar Square to mark ten years of the war in Afghanistan, the London Guantánamo Campaign will be supporting the following action to mark ten years of British resident Shaker Aamer's illegal detention, first in Afghanistan and then at Guantánamo Bay. Please join the action if you are taking part.

The Save Shaker Aamer Campaign (SSAC)

will be taking part in the

Mass Anti-War Assembly

Afghanistan 10 Years On

Organised by

Stop the War Coalition

Saturday 8th October 2011
Trafalgar Square

Please join us, at any time from 10am to 8pm

in Trafalgar Square for our

TEN HOURS FOR TEN YEARS DEMONSTRATION

We invite you to visit our stall, sign SSAC petitions, postcards and letters,

make your protest and spend time in a GUANTANAMO CAGE

The Shaker Aamer Campaign urges the UK Government to demand the immediate release of British Resident Shaker Aamer to the UK as a matter of great urgency. The news that Shaker is once more on hunger strike can only lead us to suspect that his health is deteriorating and his life may be in danger. We urge the UK Government to insist on access to Shaker Aamer by an independent medical team with a view to his fitness to travel back to the UK. Shaker's health has suffered from the long years of physical and mental abuse both in Guantanamo and in Afghanistan. He has alleged that he was tortured in Bagram and Kandahar. We call for Shaker to be returned to the UK. Shaker is a UK resident, he has been cleared for release in 2007 and faces no charges or trial. He has been outspoken in his defence of other detainees against the injustice in Guantanamo. After nearly ten years, he is still in Guantanamo, punished for demanding basic human rights denied to those who still remain in Guantanamo. The US and UK Governments must act to bring him home before it is too late.

LGC
mail e-mail: london.gtmo [at] gmail.com
- Homepage: http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com


Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

Bagram prison: The 'other Guantanamo'

29.09.2011 19:03

'Human rights lawyers often refer to it as "the other Guantanamo," "Guantanamo's evil twin" or "Obama's Gitmo" — an attempt to raise the profile of the U.S. detention facility in Afghanistan that few know about.'

Read full article here:
 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/09/21/f-bagram-detention-facility.html

dv


Bagram, Omar Khadr film, demo pics

09.10.2011 18:45

Some relevant recent articles and reports:

1. Justice Obstructed At Bagram As At Guantanamo: Ten Years Is Too Long! – OpEd

October 5, 2011

By Brian Terrell

Despite ten years of occupation and untold millions of dollars spent on rebuilding Afghanistan’s broken judicial and criminal justice system, the Afghan courts are “still too weak,” the Washington Post reported on August 12, for the United States to relinquish its control over the Parwan Detention Center on Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. On September 21, the same paper reported that the U.S. military is seeking contractors to significantly increase the capacity of the prison there.

Read more:
 http://www.eurasiareview.com/05102011-justice-obstructed-at-bagram-as-at-guantanamo-ten-years-is-too-long-oped


2. As 10-Year Afghanistan Anniversary Approaches, Bagram Detainees Still Without Due Process

Washington, DC – Today, ahead of tomorrow’s 10-year anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Human Rights First is calling on the Obama Administration to finally begin to provide due process for the thousands of suspected insurgents the U.S. military holds without charge or trial at Bagram Air Base.

Read more:
 http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/2011/10/06/as-afghanistan-anniversary-approaches-bagram-detainees-still-without-due-process


3. Guantánamo film shows plight of Canadian national detained at 15

Filmed interrogation raises ethical questions over treatment of Omar Khadr, arrested in Afghanistan in 2002 and still in custody

Peter Walker
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 5 October 2011 16.43 BST

Read more:
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/05/guantanamo-film-rights-child-soldier

4. “Ten Hours for Ten Years”: Demonstration for Shaker Aamer, the Last British Prisoner in Guantánamo, as Part of Protest Against the Afghan War in London on Saturday

Andy Worthington - 7 Oct 2011

On Saturday October 8, 2011, to mark the 10th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, the Stop the War Coalition is holding a Mass Assembly in Trafalgar Square, from 12 noon to 4 pm, to call for an end to the war, which continues to haemorrhage lives and money at an alarming rate, despite the arrogance and futility of trying to save Afghanistan from its own people, fuelled by the obvious lies of politicians, who insist on claiming — in defiance of all logic — that the presence of British soldiers is keeping al-Qaeda off the streets of Britain, when what the “insurgents” actually want is for us to get out of their country.

Read more:
 http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2011/10/07/ten-hours-for-ten-years-demonstration-for-shaker-aamer-the-last-british-prisoner-in-guantanamo-as-part-of-protest-against-the-afghan-war/

5. Ten Years On - Stop The War Coalition in London (Photos and report)

Ten years after the invasion of Afghanistan, the Stop The War Coalition, CND and MAB held a lengthy mass rally in Trafalgar Square before marching to Downing Street to demand an end to the war. London, UK. 08/10/2011

 http://www.demotix.com/news/864374/ten-years-stop-war-coalition-london


6. Shut Down Guantanamo demonstration outside the US Embassy - London

Activists demonstrate against Guantanamo Bay and Bagram Air Force Base on the Afghanistan War 10th anniversary outside the US Embassy in London. UK. 7th October 2011

 http://www.demotix.com/news/861617/shut-down-guantanamo-demonstration-outside-us-embassy-london


7. Anti-war demo highlights plight of British Guantanamo detainee

Thousands of people will head to Trafalgar Square on Saturday for a mass assembly against 10 years of the war in Afghanistan.

As part of the assembly, a group calling for the return of the last British resident still held at Guantanamo Bay will stage a novel protest against his continued confinement.

Read more:
 http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/content/view/full/110435

dv
- Homepage: http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com