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UK Guantánamo Newswire Archive

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Ahmed Belbacha: Guantánamo to Algeria? Frying Pan into Fire?

28-07-2010 11:22

Ahmed Belbacha
A ruling by the US Supreme Court on 17 July paves the way for the remaining Algerian prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay to be returned there. All are innocent and cleared for release, but have chosen to stay at Guantánamo as Algeria is so dangerous. One man has been returned: he "disappeared" promptly on return and has now resurfaced under "judicial supervision" and subject to unspecified charges. Take action!

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British Betrayal

16-07-2010 14:11

One of the hallmarks of the Labour government’s counter-terrorism policies in the last decade was the promotion of the concept of Britishness and British values. For almost ten years, the British public was subjected to endless speeches and lectures by government ministers propagating the importance of British values, responsible citizenship and the pressing need for integration. The target audience was of course, the Muslim community, whose loyalties to the UK were perceived as being susceptible to manipulation at best, and completely absent, at worst. Muslim community leaders were influenced with generous amounts of funding to promote the ideology of supporting and celebrating “our boys” fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Muslim youth were tarnished with the discussion-stifling label of “extremism” if they dared to believe in the supremacy of Shariah law over British law. No stone was left unturned in the Labour government’s efforts to consummate this forced marriage of Britain’s Muslims with the concept of Britishness. The message was clear: You were British first; your Muslim identity had to be suppressed.

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Inquiry Confirms UK Collusion in Torture

15-07-2010 14:51

Highly classified documents have been disclosed that detail the involvement of Tony Blair's government in the torture of its own citizens. The documents not only support claims by six former Guantánamo detainees that British Intelligence were complicit in their mistreatment but also implicates the previous government in a number of illegal operations and thwarting attempts by Foreign Office officials to try the suspects in the UK.

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Report: 26 June Demo in Solidarity with Victims of Extraordinary Rendition

29-06-2010 11:47

On a hot Saturday afternoon at the end of June, as the British media and government sought to use British troops as a weapon on the home front to defend their senseless warmongering in faraway lands on Armed Forces Day, the London Guantánamo Campaign took a stand against the indefensible and marked a far more poignant anniversary with a demonstration in solidarity with victims of extraordinary rendition outside the US Embassy in Mayfair on UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

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26 June:International Day Against Torture:Demo in Support of Rendition Victims

23-06-2010 17:46

26 June is international day in support of victims of torture - please come and support a demonstration outside the US Embassy in Mayfair, London, calling on the US administration to end its policy of kidnap and torture around the world, AKA extraordinary rendition

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26 June:Demonstration in Solidarity with Victims of Extraordinary Rendition

10-06-2010 11:12

26 June is international day in support of victims of torture. Over the past decade, up to 200,000 people all over the world have been swallowed alive into the black hole of extraordinary rendition - torture, kidnap, simulated live burial, sensory deprivation, physical, psychological and sexual torture...all in a day's work for the torturers

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Bring Shaker Aamer home now! Demo in Parliament Square, Tue 25 May

19-05-2010 12:25

Shaker Aamer has been imprisoned without charge or trial in Guantánamo Bay for over eight years. He is a legal permanent resident of the UK, married to a British national, with four British children (the youngest of whom he has never met) living in Battersea, south London.

Next Tuesday (25 May), on the day of the state opening of Parliament, a demonstration and rally in Parliament Square has been organised by the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign:  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=82639210948

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Five new UK screenings of “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantanamo”

16-05-2010 11:29

Between May 21 and June 2, in London, Oxford and Brighton, there will be five screenings of the new documentary film, "Outside the Law: Stories from Guantanamo," followed by Q&A sessions with former prisoner Omar Deghayes and journalist and co-director Andy Worthington. Come along and find out how to put pressure on the new government to secure the release from Guantanamo of Shaker Aamer..

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Shut Down Guantánamo! demonstration, Friday 7 May, 6-7pm, US Embassy

05-05-2010 10:42

Join us at our monthly demonstration (6-7pm) on the first Friday of each month to call on the US government to close down Guantánamo Bay and other illegal prisons, end the use of torture, arbitrary detention and extraordinary rendition, and ensure freedom and justice for prisoners. Respect for human rights and the rule of law. Liberty and Justice for All...

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London Shut Down Guantanamo Protest

09-04-2010 21:45

Some photos from the 9th April 2010 protest held outside the US Embassy in London demanding the closure of Guantanamo, Bagram and the other secret CIA prison camps.

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Shut Down Guantanamo! Monthly Demo - Friday 9 April, 6-7pm, US embassy, London

08-04-2010 21:03

US Embassy, Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, London (nearest tube: Bond Street / Marble Arch), 6-7pm
Map:  http://www.usembassy.org.uk/ukembmap.html

Join us for just ONE HOUR for our monthy demo outside the US embassy to call for the closure of Guantanamo, Bagram and secret CIA prisons, the return of British resident Shaker Aamer to the UK, the release of other prisoners not facing any charges to countries where they will not face persecution, and an end to the US practice of kidnap, torture and indefinite detention without charge or proper trial.

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Guantánamo/extraordinary rendition:questions for candidates before the election

01-04-2010 16:40

Local candidates in national elections: they want your vote, they want your adoration, they want your X in the box on the ballot paper… but what are they going to do about Britain’s involvement in Guantánamo Bay and extraordinary rendition?

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British Involvement in Extraordinary Rendition and Torture (20 April, SOAS)

01-04-2010 16:35

A pre-election on British involvement in extraordinary rendition and torture, asking representatives of the four main political parties what they would do about these matters. Come and join us as we discuss these topical issues.

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Omar Degayhes to speak at Univ of Canterbury- 18 March

12-03-2010 15:55


Former Guantamamo Bay inmate Omar Deghayes is to speak at an event at University of Canterbury 5pm Thurs 18 March.

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2009 Toll of Nato Air Strikes: 131 Dead Children

28-02-2010 17:04

Nato Air Strikes, 131 Dead Children
After an air strike that killed many kids in the beginning of 2010, shouts of ‘Death to America’ and to ‘the Afghan government’ could be heard throughout Afghan villages and perhaps in other Muslim communities around the world. Those local, regional and global anti-American, anti-NATO, and anti-Afghan government sentiments will only be more widespread and vicious now that a UN report found that some 346 children were killed in Afghanistan in 2009. 131 of those kids were killed in NATO air strikes. 22 more were killed in nighttime raids. And in the last few weeks alone, up to 50 civilians have been murdered. In essence, there have been more and more civilian casualties as the US/NATO forces attempt to ‘liberate’ the Afghan people. More are likely to come as well.

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"Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo." - New documentary on UK tour

23-02-2010 18:00

Focuses on prisoners whose torture has been exposed by UK courts and is being investigated by police

Former prisoner Omar Deghayes and journalist Andy Worthington will be speaking at screenings across the country

"Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo" is a new documentary film, directed by filmmaker Polly Nash and journalist Andy Worthington (author of The Guantánamo Files). The film focuses on the stories of three particular prisoners - Shaker Aamer (who is still held), Binyam Mohamed (released in 2009) and Omar Deghayes (released in 2007) - and the tour coincides with a mounting scandal involving British complicity in torture, which focuses on Shaker Aamer and Binyam Mohamed.

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Binyam Mohamed: Evidence of Torture by US Agents Revealed in UK

13-02-2010 00:15

Binyam Mohamed in July 2009, after his release from Guantanamo

Three senior UK judges on Wednesday ordered the British government to publicly disclose previously classified information that reveals how Binyam Mohamed, a British resident, was tortured by the CIA while in Pakistani custody in April and May 2002.

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Defending Moazzam Begg and Amnesty International

11-02-2010 23:31

Just when it seemed that Republicans in America had a monopoly on Islamophobic hysteria, the Sunday Times prompted a torrent of similar hysteria in the UK by running an article in which an employee of Amnesty International — Gita Sahgal, head of the gender unit at the International Secretariat — criticized the organization that employed her for its association with former Guantánamo prisoner Moazzam Begg.

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6 February:12-2pm:Downing Street:Demo:Shaker Aamer:8 Yrs in GTMO

04-02-2010 10:37

Early February marks 8 years since British resident Shaker Aamer, who has a British family in south London, was sent to Guantánamo Bay among the first group of prisoners. 8 years on, no charge, no trial, no release date. Why? The British government, recently implicated in his torture, asked for his release in 2007, but he is still there. Join us as we demand the government takes action to see him return home to his family

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Eight Years of Guantánamo: Reports and Round Ups

13-01-2010 19:45

protesters outside the US Embassy
Eight years on...no let up in the regime of torture, arbitrary detention and indefensible justifications...