- Last Saturday I went to see Polly Nash and Andy Worthington's
harrowing documentary 'Outside the Law, Tales from Guantánamo' at
London's BFI.
-
- The film knits together narratives so heart-wrenching
I half wish I had not heard them. Yet the camaraderie between the detainees
and occasional humorous anecdotes, such as Binyam Mohammed's false confession
that he tried to induce nuclear fission on April 1st, provide a glimpse
into the wit, courage and normalcy of the men we are encouraged to perceive
as monsters.
-
- Nash and Worthington's film also explores the legal and
pragmatic implications of our transatlantic freefall into ethical bankruptcy.
It asks how we might navigate our way out of a situation that doesn't legally
exist. The answer is: with great difficulty. With lawyers like Clive Stafford-Smith
working tirelessly to defend people who have not been accused of a crime
and have no evidence against them to refute, the courtroom has become the
domain in which we watch the dream of European multiculturalism imploding.
Here we see UK Muslims struggle to exert Enlightenment-based Common Law
against a so-called civilized, liberal government who would apparently
prefer the Magna Carta had never been written. (1)
-
- Two weeks ago the Foreign Secretary David Miliband lost
his long legal battle to suppress a section (known as paragraph 168) from
a court decree revealing that MI5 officers were involved in the torture
of ex terror suspect and British resident, Binyam Mohamed. Up until now
the testimonies of released British Residents Omar Deghayes, Mozzam Begg
and Binyam Mohamed have not been fully absorbed by the British public.
This is despite the fact Omar Deghayes entered Cuba with two eyes but came
home with one. Many news consumers prefer to maintain that detainee accounts
of asphyxiation, physical torment, sexual and religious abuse, were either
deserved, fabricated or necessary. Others can not contemplate that a nation
proudly branding itself on civil liberties, tolerance and 'fair play' could
willfully throw us back into the medieval barbarism of the Norman Conquests.
Yet, as Miliband's credibility crumbles in the light of his failed cover-up,
so the plausibility of Binyam Mohammed's testimony gains ground. The tide
is changing.
-
- Recently Court of Appeal also stated that it withstood'unprecedented
bullying' from the Foreign and Home Secretary to withdraw 168 from its
ruling. However, Miliband's plee was overturned by independent judges and
we now know the report stated that British treatment of Binyam Mohammed
was "at the very least cruel, inhuman, and degrading". David
Miliband dismissed the testimony of this particular British resident, whose
torments included having razzor blades applied to his penis, as 'ludicrous
lies.'
-
- The independent judge apparently dissagrees with our
delightful foreign secretary. He warns that the integrity our government
is now under serious dispute and suggests that Miliband has an undisclosed
agenda.
-
- "Not only is there an obvious reason for distrusting
any UK Government assurance, based on SyS (secret services) advice and
information, because of previous "form", but the Foreign Office
and the SyS have an interest in the suppression of such information."
-
-
- Shaker Aamer, the Witness from Battersea.
-
- Perhaps the most disturbing and crucial aspect of 'Tales
fromGuantánamo' is that it spotlights the continuing illegal incarceration
of South Londoner, Shaker Aamer. All British residents have been discharged
from Guantánamo. Yet despite being officially cleared for release
in 2008, Aamer remains impounded in a 6 foot by 8 foot cell, tortured,
humiliated and, according to reports, force fed through a pipe routed to
his stomach via his nose. At 8 stone, he has lost over half his body weight.
His wife, the mother of their 4 children continues to live in London where
she has been treated for a succession of nervous break downs since her
husband was seized.
-
- There is no justification offered as to why this Aamer
has been singled out. No evidence has transpired to counter his claim that
he was in Afganstan in 2002 to help construct schools as part of his religious
duty of zakat. It is believed that Aamer's conspicuous eloquence, linguistic
talents and charisma identified him within the gates of Guantánamo,
as a exceptional case. He orchestrated collective hunger strikes, translated
fluetnly between Arabic and English and inspired his fellow inmates to
demand their rights. He was treated by detainees as a holy man, a leader.
He was punished accordingly.
-
- Speculation surrounding Aamer's continued detention pivots
on the numerous 'suicides' he is alleged to have seen, the severity of
the torture he has endured and his claims that it was, in part, executed
on the behest of British agents. It is widely believed that should Binyam
Mohammed's case progress, Shaker Aamer would be a leading witness against
British authorities, cementing evidence that could transfer the label of
'criminal' from the defendant to the accuser: namely Whitehall. Back in
November last year the Independent's law editor Robert Verkaik predicted
Aamer's release would be detrimental to the reputation of the UK government.
-
- "The case is potentially more damaging to Britain
than that of former Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed because British
agents are accused of being present during Mr Aamer's alleged torture.
In one allegation an MI5 agent is said to have been present when Mr Aamer's
US interrogators banged his head against a wall."
-
- As calls for a full judicial inquiery gather pace, we
may well ask why on earth Miliband persists in attempting to thwart evidence
in this degrading farce we call Justice. His CV so far for defending the
interests of Britain abroad, is not great. Since he took the job he gave
Britain's blessing to Israel's masacre in Operation Cast Lead (2), he maintained
Britain abstain from voting agaisnt the Goldstone Report, he intervened
in Polish domestic politics slandering a popular MEP as an 'anti-Semite'
and he has stood limply in the wings giving lip servace to the Mossad's
use of British passports in their assaination last month. Worringly, it
seems the concerns of British soveriengty do not feature high on Miliband's
list of priorities. If they did we could expect that, instead of pushing
for a re-write of the law to enable war criminal Tzipi Livni tio visit
the UK without charge, Miliband might consider adhering to the law that
has protected our rights for the last 800 years and allow Shaker
Aamer to come home.
-
- (1) Magna Carta Libertatum (the Great Charter of Freadoms)
is and English legal charter, orrigionally issued in 1215. Among other
things it explicity supported what became the writ of habious corpus, allowing
appeal against unlawful imprisonment.
-
- (2) Less than a month before Israel launched its assult
on Gaza Miliband visited the Israeli town of Sderot. He said "Israel
should, above all, seek to protect its own citizens. It's very important
that counties like mine and others show solidarity with the people of Sderot.
Israeli people need to know that the British people know of Sderot, and
we know of the tragedy they are facing, and we stand with them."
-
- To write to David Miliband requesting the safe return
of Shaker Aamer click here.
-
- To find out where you can see 'Outside the Law, Tales
fromGuantánamo' click here.
-
- HTTP://WWW.GILAD.CO.UK/WRITINGS/SUPRESSING-EVIDENCE
-DAVID-MILIBAND-AND-UK-COMLICITY-IN-TORTU.HTML
|
