Dale Farm, a former scrapyard between Wickford and Billericay in Essex, the largest Traveller site in the UK is under threat of eviction.
About one-third of the site is authorised. After redesignating the remainder as greenbelt, Basildon borough council has refused planning permission to the 90 families who own plots/yards there. The council has asked central government for up to £10m for an eviction which may take three weeks. Once the 28-day quit or be evicted notices are served,…
On 10 November, Amnesty International urged a criminal investigation into the role of former US president George W Bush and other officials in the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques”. In his memoirs, Bush confirmed his personal involvement in authorizing “water-boarding” and other techniques against “high value detainees”.
“Under international law, the former president’s admission to having authorized acts that amount to torture are enough to trigger the USA’s obligations to…
As a US student spending a semester abroad, British coverage of my own country has been an eye-opening experience. Everything from November’s tumultuous mid-term elections to the national joke that is Glenn Beck gets airplay on this side of the pond, usually with a bit more perspective than the knee-jerk coverage we get back home. Perhaps a little distance is necessary to provide proper context.
So I’d like to return the favour. So here’s an outsider’s perspective on the most…
On 14 June, 24 Witness Against Torture activists were acquitted in a Washington DC court of “unlawful entry with disorderly conduct” during protests at the US Capitol on 21 January – the date by which US president Obama had promised to close the Guantanamo detention camp.
During the demonstration, people dressed as Guantanamo prisoners were arrested on the steps of the Capitol holding banners reading: “Broken Promises, Broken Laws, Broken Lives”.
Inside, where deceased…
On 23 May, Mordechai Vanunu, imprisoned for 11 years in 1986 for revealing the truth about Israel’s nuclear bomb, was returned to jail for speaking to foreigners. Amnesty International called Vanunu a prisoner of conscience and said: “Mordechai Vanunu should not be in prison at all, let alone be held in solitary confinement in a unit intended for violent criminals.”
Ellen Chademana and Ignatius Muhambi, employees of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ), were arrested on 21 May on charges of possessing obscene material and of undermining the authority of the president. While in detention, the two were tortured by police. On 26 May, police raided the home of Chesterfield Samba, the director of GALZ, and a former council member of War Resisters International.
Ellen and Ignatius were released on 28 May, and are scheduled to stand trial in July. Ellen…
On 11 May, nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu lost his final appeal against a sentence passed for talking to foreign journalists and thus breaking Israeli restrictions on talking to foreigners. Amnesty International declared Vanunu a prisoner of conscience for the first time when he started his three-month sentence on 23 May. Mordechai refused an offer of community service in West Jerusalem instead, after his request to do it in East Jerusalem was denied.
In a new British film, Cul-de-Sac, Iranian actress Kiana Firouz plays a lesbian seeking asylum in Britain. The Home Office rejects her application and sends her back to Iran, where homosexuality receives the punishment of flogging, execution, or both. The film mirrors Kiana’s life, At the time of writing, Kiana is “in incredible danger, not only because she’s clearly gay but because the film does not show the Iranian authorities in a good light. They will probably seek to make an example of…
Allegations of British complicity in the torture and abuse of detainees in Afghanistan are being scrutinised at a judicial review in the high court, as PN goes to press. The review, brought on behalf of PN columnist Maya Evans, is challenging the policy of transferring persons captured by UK forces in Afghanistan into Afghan custody. The ten-day case is scheduled to last until 29 April.
Detainees transferred from UK custody have allegedly suffered a wide range of abuses at the…
On 21 January, 14 people were arrested after holding a memorial service, in the US capitol building in Washington DC, for three men tortured to death at Guantanamo. They were taking part in a day of action against Obama’s broken promises to close Guantanamo by 22 January and end torture.
Rossporter jailed
One of Barack Obama’s first pledges upon becoming president at the beginning of this year was to close the illegal prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, by 22 January 2010. Now, with only weeks to go before the deadline, this is proving to be easier said than done.
Several dozen prisoners have been released during this year, including two who were captured at the age of 14, yet more than 200 still remain. Their situation is more precarious than ever. The US has been reluctant to…
In 1975, the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia and embarked on a four-year reign of terror and genocide. During this period, over 14,000 so-called “traitors” were processed through the secret prison S-21 set in a former school, with confessions extracted under torture. As part of the process, captives were photographed prior to execution.
S-27 is a play inspired by these real events. May’s job is to take the photographs. We follow her as she begins to question what she is doing,…
Last month, a Qatari ex-Guantanamo prisoner, a Palestinian human rights leader, a Lebanese newspaper editor and a British MP were all prevented from entering other countries.
Jarullah al-Marri, who was released from Guantanamo last year after seven years’ imprisonment, was detained at Heathrow, ostensibly because he failed to notify the government of his time in Guantanamo.
Al-Marri, who was planning to attend a reunion of ex-Guantanamo prisoners, was instead extradited to…
Cageprisoners is a human rights organisation that raises awareness of the plight of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other detainees held as part of the “War on Terror”. It has the backing of both Muslim and non-Muslim lawyers, activists, former detainees, families of prisoners and academics.
Its aim is to educate the public by being a comprehensive resource of information on Guantanamo Bay and other detainees held as part of the “War on Terror”, highlighting their plight and…
On 24 July 2008, Binyam Mohamed will be 30 years old. Unlike most other people aged 30, on that day, Binyam will have spent one out of every five years of his life in illegal American detention.
Arrested in Pakistan in 2002, he was transferred to CIA custody. A victim of the “extraordinary rendition” programme, he was tortured in Morocco for 18 months, where the torture technique used involved making multiple incisions all over his body with a scalpel, including his penis. Binyam…
