tagged w/ omar deghayes
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Around a dozen British men who were detained at Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba will today be given millions of pounds in compensation from the government following weeks of negotiations. The settlements were reached, as the government on the advice of the security forces, did not dare to take the risk of exposing thousands of documents in open court on how Britain co-operated with the US on the so-called extraordinary rendition of terrorist suspects.The exact amounts paid out to the former detainees may never be known, but at least one detainee is understood to be in line for a payout of more than £1m.At least six of the men alleged UK forces were complicit in their torture before they arrived at Guantanamo.Bisher al-Rawi, Jamil el Banna, Richard Belmar, Omar Deghayes, Binyam Mohamed and Martin Mubanga were among those who had begun High Court cases against the government.
The men had claimed that UK intelligence agencies and three government departments were complicit in their torture and should have prevented it.
In May, the Court of Appeal ruled that the government was unable to rely on "secret evidence" to defend itself against the six cases.Then, in July, the High Court ordered the release of some of the 500,000 documents relating to the case.
At least 60 government lawyers and officials have been working through the documents.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said of the payments: "It's not very palatable but there is a price to be paid for lawlessness and torture in freedom's name. There are torture victims who were entitled to expect protection from their country.
"The government now accepts that torture is never justified and we were all let down - let's learn all the lessons and move on."
To watch an interview with some of these former Guantanamo detainees please check out our brilliant documentary Life After Guantanamo.
Around a dozen British men who were detained at Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba... more
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The government’s attempts to delay the current proceedings that have yielded highly classified documents for public consumption have received a rebuttal out of court. The failed attempt to suppress the information out of court, a ’spin-off’ hope from the appeal court’s dismissal of the same case in May, has dented the coalition’s plans to restore confidence in the British Intelligence service who have been implicated in the torture of British citizens in Guantanamo and Afghanistan.
http://www.spectacle.co.uk/spectacleblog/guantanamo/government-tried-to-prevent-disclosure-of-detention-manual/The government’s attempts to delay the current proceedings that have yielded... more
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An official report of an interview with Omar Deghayes confirmed his testimony, that British Intelligence were complicit in his torture during interrogation at a US airbase in Afghanistan.
http://www.spectacle.co.uk/spectacleblog/guantanamo/measured-antipathy-and-treachery-by-british-intelligence/
The report formally recognises Deghayes complaints that he suffered internal bleeding, and showed considered revulsion at Deghayes’ health visibly deteriorating during repeated visits to interrogate him in US custody, “Throughout the interview Deghayes expectorated rather disgustingly into a tissue as if he were still tubercular. These moments usually coincided with those answers were he was most evasive.”An official report of an interview with Omar Deghayes confirmed his testimony, that... more
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“Public opinion has on the whole shown little concern about the welfare of the British detainees, or the legal terms of their detention. But the issue is clearly of sensitivity to Muslim opinion in the UK and abroad.”
The source of this quote is a memo circulated to the junior Foreign Office ministers, the Foreign Office press office and the department’s senior legal advisor, Sir Michael Wood on 4 January 2002, and refers to a number of British citizens and residents who at the time were being detained by US forces.
http://www.spectacle.co.uk/spectacleblog/guantanamo/no-ones-really-bothered-keep-going/“Public opinion has on the whole shown little concern about the welfare of the... more
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Clive Stafford-Smith has published a letter sent to Sir Peter Gibson – the man elected by David Cameron to lead the inquiry into whether the UK has been complicit in the torture of terrorism suspects – that calls for him to renounce his position. The letter was written on behalf of Reprieve (http://www.reprieve.org.uk/), an organisation which represents prisoners held ‘beyond the rule of law’ or those facing the death penalty, and which represented Binyam Mohamed in the trial which cleared his name of any connections with any terrorist acts.
http://www.spectacle.co.uk/spectacleblog/guantanamo/reprieve-ask-sir-peter-gibson-to-stand-down-from-inquiry/Clive Stafford-Smith has published a letter sent to Sir Peter Gibson – the man... more
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"MI5 officers interviewed Omar Deghayes in Afghanistan Kabul for three hours on the evening of 3 July 2002. He commented that he was treated better by the Pakistanis."
You can hear Omar Deghayes talk about his ordeal in his own words in the documentary 'Outside the Law: Stories from Guantanamo'
http://www.spectacle.co.uk/outside-the-law-stories-from-guantanamo
A lot of extra interviews can be watched online, for example Omar Deghayes speaking on Torture and British Intelligence:
http://www.spectacle.co.uk/projects_page.php?id=309"MI5 officers interviewed Omar Deghayes in Afghanistan Kabul for three hours on... more
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