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January 11^th 2008



The Right Honourable Gordon Brown PM

10 Downing Street

London,

SW1A 2AA





Dear Prime Minister,



We, the undersigned, welcome last month’s release of the British residents, Jamil El-Banna, Omar Deghayes and Abdennour Sameur and applaud the government’s intervention in securing their release from Guantánamo Bay. At long last their ordeal has come to an end and, hopefully, they will be able to truly begin to rebuild their lives with their families.



It is, however, with great concern that we note the UK government failed in securing the return of two remaining long-term prisoners who hold strong ties to this country, Binyam Mohamed al-Habashi and Ahmed Belbacha. This is particularly disquieting since we are aware that the Foreign Secretary had included Binyam Mohamed in the initial request made this August to his US counterpart.

We believe Binyam Mohamed sought asylum in the UK in 1994 and that he was granted leave to remain here. The circumstances surrounding the seizure, extraordinary rendition and imprisonment of Mr. Mohamed, as described by him in Guantánamo Bay through his legal representatives, are horrific to say the least. Part of his testimony describes how he was interrogated in Morocco for 18 months, evidently at the behest of US intelligence. During this time it states, amongst other things, that he was stripped naked and a scalpel used to repeatedly cut his chest and genitals.

In July 2003 two British citizens, Moazzam Begg and Feroz Abbassi, were amongst the first men to be designated for trial by military commission in Guantánamo. Many senior British law lords said the proposed procedure was highly objectionable. Lord Steyn, described it as ‘a mockery of justice…derived from the jumps of the kangaroo…’ The then Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, himself finally intervened stating that military commissions process was wholly inadequate for the purposes of administering a fair trial and, demanding in the absence of a just system, that the men be repatriated. In January 2005 the last of the UK citizens, including Begg and Abbassi, were returned home.

It is a strange paradox that Binyam Mohamed remains in Guantánamo only because he is now being put through the very process whose objectionable nature had once provoked the decision to pursue freedom for British men held unjustly.

In the case of Ahmed Belbacha, we have learned that he lived and worked in Bournemouth since 1999 and was cleared to work at a Labour party conference there. He even received a letter of thanks from the then Deputy Prime Minster, John Prescott, for his services. Mr. Belbacha was cleared by the US military for release but, he cannot safely return to Algeria where he would be at serious risk from both militants and a government known for human rights abuses. Without intervention by the United Kingdom, Mr. Belbacha may face a fate worse than Guantanamo Bay.

We therefore kindly request once again that the British government intervenes on behalf of these men who have been subjected to the violations of incarceration without trial for so long.

Today, the Guantánamo Bay prison centre has reached the six year mark since inception. Hundreds of men continue to be held there without access to due process and the rule of law. The chorus of voices calling for the closure of this place grows stronger by the day. In June last year, former U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, stated,

‘…we have shaken the belief the world had in the American justice system…by keeping a place like Guantanamo open and creating things like the military commission. We don't need it and it is causing us far more damage than any good we get for it’.

He also said,

‘…if it were up to me I would close Guantanamo not tomorrow but this afternoon’ and ‘…I would get rid of Guantanamo and the military commission system.’

We request too that the British government joins this call and unequivocally asks its closest ally to close down the Guantánamo prison centre.

Thank you.

Moazzam Begg, former Guantanamo detainee and spokesman for Cageprisoners

Zachary Katznelson, Reprieve, Counsel for detainees in Guantanamo

Baroness Helena Kennedy QC

Baroness Sarah Ludford, MEP

Lord Nazir Ahmed

Sir Geoffrey Bindman, Bindman & Partners, British Institute of Human Rights, Professor of Law, UCL

Ruhal Ahmed, former Guantanamo detainee

Tarek Dergoul, former Guantanamo detainee

Amani Deghayes, sister of ex-Guantanamo detainee Omar Deghayes

Yvonne R. Bradley, Esq, Detailed Military Defense Counsel for Binyam Mohamed

Gareth Peirce, Lawyer, Birnberg Peirce

Jean Lambert, MEP

Caroline Lucas, MEP

Corin Redgrave, Actor and Campaigner

Kika Markham, Actress

Bianca Jagger

Dr Adnan Siddiqui, Cageprisoners

Tony Benn, MP

Clare Short, MP

Mark Oaten, MP

Dianne Abbott, MP

David Howarth, MP

Desmond Turner, MP

Norman Baker MP, Lib Dem Shadow Secretary of State for Transport

Helen Bamber OBE, Clinical Director, Helen Bamber Foundation, Working for Survivor of Gross Human Rights Violations

Anjum Anwar MBE, Blackburn Cathedral

Victoria Brittain,

Yasmin Ali Bhai Brown, Journalist, The Independent

Alastair Lyon, Birnberg Peirce Solicitors

Ismail Patel, Chair, Friends of Al-Aqsa

Anas Altikriti, Spokesman, British Muslim Initiative

Aki Nawaz, Artist and activist, Muslim Defence League

Richard Hermer, Doughty St Chambers

Muddassar Arani, Arani Solicitors

Imran Khan, Imran Khan & Partners Solicitors

Ibrahim Hewitt, Head of Al Aqsa School

Naeem Malik, Birmingham Guantanamo Campaign

Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra

Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC)

Muhammad Umar, Chairman, Ramadhan Foundation

Sue Conlan, Peace & Progress

Richard Haley, Scotland Against Criminalising Communities

Dr David Nicholl, Birmingham Guantanamo Campaign

Shahreen Khanom, Arani Solicitors

Mary Pearson, National Secretary, Troops Out Movement

Ali AlHadithi, President, Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS)

Azad Ali, Muslim Safety Forum

Muhammad Habibur Rahman, President, Islamic Forum Europe

Shakeel Begg, Imam of Lewisham Islamic Centre

Solange Mouthaan, Lecturer, Law School, University of Warwick

Louise Christian, Christian Khan Solicitors

Natalia Garcia, Tyndalwoods Solicitors

Yasmin Khan, Justice4Jean Campaign

Dr Azzam Tamimi,

Yvonne Ridley, Journalist

John Pilger, Journalist

Andy Worthington, Author, The Guantanamo Files

Fareena Alam, Journalist, Q News

Liz Davies, Chair, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers

Frances Whittle, Birmingham Guantanamo Campaign

Adrienne Burrows, Peace and Justice

Linda Rogers, Peace and Progress

Pat Fawcett, Arts Officer, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

Tony Whelan, Universities and Colleges Union, London School of Economics

Dr Taj Hargey, Chair, Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford

Nafeez Ahmed, Associate Tutor International Relations, University of Sussex, Executive Director of the Institute for Policy Research and Development

Asad Rehman, Human rights activist, Chair of Newnham Monitoring Project

Dr Kamal Al Helbawy, Centre for the Study of Terrorism

James Yee, former US Army Chaplain, Guantanamo

Sajida Malik, Solicitor, Birnberg Peirce