Two Sides, One Story - Cageprisoners National Tour

Guantanamo Bay stands as one of the most potent symbols of unlawful detention in the world today. The detention of suspected terrorists as the prison camps has evoked emotion from those seeking its closure and continuance.

Cageprisoners presents Two Sides – One Story­, a tour of the UK that brings those on opposite sides of wire at Guantanamo together for the first time.

Chris Arendt, a former guard at the base has agreed to speak about his experiences in detaining suspected terrorists and bring new insights into the way the US administration carried out policies against them.

Also for the first time the detained Al Jazeera journalist Sami El Haj will be speaking with Moazzam Begg as they both reflect on life at the prison on the opposite to Chris.

This unique tour is a historic moment in the continued War on Terror and will be launched on 11th January 2009, exactly seven years after the first transfers to Guantanamo Bay.


11/01 – Friends’ House, Euston, London, Doors open 6:30pm

12/01 - Bristol
with Bristol Stop the War Coalition and Bristol Amnesty International
Kuumba Centre,
20-23 Hepburn Road (off Stokes Croft),
BRISTOL, BS2 8UB
7.30pm
Map:  http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=bs2+8ub&countryCode=GB
Contact:  bristolstopwar@hotmail.com

13/01 - Reading
With Reading Peace Group, Reading University Amnesty International Group, Reading Muslim Council.
Room 27,
Humanities and Social Sciences Building,
Reading University,
Whiteknights Campus,
Shinfield Road,
Reading, RG6 6UR.
Campus map at
 http://www.reading.ac.uk/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.asp?lID=21511&sID=89072
Doors open 7.15pm. 7.30pm- 9.45pm
Contact: 0118 958 8281.

14/01 - Brighton
with Brighton Against Guantanamo
Friends Meeting House, Meeting House Lane, Brighton
7pm

15/01 - Cambridge
with Cambridge Stop the War Coalition

16/01 - Birmingham,
7pm
The Rex Centre
430-434 Coventry Rd, Small Heath Birmingham,
West Midlands, B10 0UG.
Parking available on Wright Street.

19/01 - Nottingham
University of Nottingham

20/01 - Sheffield
With Sheffield Guantanamo Campaign, Sheffield Hallam University Islamic Society, Sheffield Stop the War Coalition, Stop Islamophobia Society Sheffield University
Grosvenor House Hotel,
Charter Square,
(Opposite Debenhams),
Sheffield, S1 3EH
Doors open 7pm
Open to all.
Contact: 07972 206218

21/01 - Manchester
Geoffrey Manton Building
Lecture Theatre 1 & 2
Manchester Metropolitan University
All Saints Building,
Oxford Road
All Saints,
Manchester, M15 6BH
Doors open 5:30pm, 6pm start
Contact: 07809505764


22/01 - Liverpool
with Merseyside Stop the War
The Great Hall, at the Cornerstone Theatre, Hope University, 1 Haigh St, near Staples (of Islington & Shaw St), Liverpool City Centre
7pm
Contact:  merseysidestopthewarcoalition@blueyonder.co.uk

23/01 - Blackburn
with Woman's Voice and ExChange
2pm - 3:30pm
Blackburn Cathedral,
Cathedral Close,
Blackburn
BB1 5AA
Contact: 07903731106/01254 503081

23/01 - Bolton
5pm
5pm - 7:30pm
Bolton Council of Mosques
Conference Suite,
1 Vicarage Street ( off Cannon St)
Bolton
BL3 5LE
Contact: 01204 363680 /  saima@thebcom.org

26/01 - Leeds, with Leeds University Islamic Society
Conference Auditorium 1
University of Leeds,
Leeds LS2 9JT,
6-9pm

27/01 - Hull, with Hull Peace Campaign
Quaker Meeting House Bean Street Hull HU3 2PR
Contact: John Beardmore and Martin Dean, 01482 327574
 johnsbeardmore@quakermeeting.karoo.co.uk

28/01 - York
University of York

29/01 - Newcastle
with Newcastle Stop the War Coalition
Contact: 0771 994 6814/  nestopwar@yahoo.co.uk

30/01 - Glasgow
with SACC

31/01 - Edinburgh
with SACC and Stop the War Edinburgh

01/02 - Edinburgh

03/02 - Belfast

04/02 - Cardiff

For further information:
07973-264-197
 contact@cageprisoners.com
 http://www.cageprisoners.com/tour


CHRISTOPHER ARENDT

At the age of 17, Chris Arendt joined the United States Army National Guard due to limited options that he faced in his life. Three years later, Arendt was one of a number of soldiers who were given orders to be deployed at Guantanamo Bay. In January 2004 he began his tour of Guantanamo where he was given the responsibility of feeding the detainees and ensuring that toilet paper was properly dispensed on the prison blocks.

Arendt’s time with the prisoners was cut to two months at which point he was placed at the detentions operations centre as the escort control. He had been moved from his former position due to his interaction with the prisoners who he would speak with in order to keep some sense of his humanity.

Arendt’s dislike for the way in which the detainees at Guantanamo were treated transferred through to his release from service. He has now become an outspoken advocate against the unlawful detentions at Guantanamo Bay choosing to contact former detainees in order to express his regret at having been involved in their detention.


SAMI MUHYIDEEN AL HAJ

Working as a cameraman for Al Jazeera, Sami was given an assignment to cover the US conflict in Afghanistan after war broke out in 2001. Upon entering Pakistan to renew his visa, Sami was detained by the Pakistan authorities apparently at the behest of the US.

After several months detention in Afghanistan, Sami was rendered to Guantanamo Bay where he was detained until his release in 2008. During the six years of his unlawful detention, he was never charged with any crime and or tried in court. Due to the pressure of such a process, he forced himself to go on hunger strike during the last 16 months of
his detention.

On 1st May 2008, Sami was repatriated to Sudan where he was reunited with his wife and seven year old son who he had never met. He has now been re-employed by Al Jazeera and has made it his primary aim to help those in Guantanamo and those who suffer human rights abuses worldwide.


MOAZZAM BEGG

As a former Guantanamo detainee and spokesman for the prisoner human rights organisation, Cageprisoners, Moazzam appears extensively both in the media and around the UK, lecturing on issues surround torture, anti-terror legislation and community relations. He has authored several pieces that have appeared in national and international newspapers, and a book detailing life as a Muslim living in the UK and his further experience in Guantanamo. "Enemy Combatant" is the first book to be published by a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner.