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• Reprieve in the media

Reprieve in the media

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• ‘Please close Guantanamo Bay jail so I can see my Daddy and give him a hug’ (Independent, 30 June 2007 by Robert Verkaik) Johaina Aamer last saw her father, Shaker as bombs started to fall on Afghanistan in 2001. Shaker was separated from his family who had to flee to Pakistan and later returned to London.
• The poems of Guantanamo (Independent, 21 June 2007 by Leonard Doyle) Poems from Guantanamo: the Detainees Speak is due to be published later this year by the University of Iowa. The article includes poems by Reprieve clients Sami al-Haj and Usama abu Kabir.
• The dangerous distraction of Guantanamo (Guardian, 16 June 2007 by Philippe Sands) Review of Bad Men: Guantanamo Bay and the Secret Prisons by Reprieve Legal Director Clive Stafford Smith. Phillipe Sands QC describes the book as “a quintessentially British account, mixing wry humour with irony and understatement, written by a campaigning participant with years of hard-edged experience in dealing with the mundanities and excesses of US prison life”.
• The London chef who was forsaken for five years in Guantanamo (Times, 16 June 2007 by Sean O’Neill) Back with his family in Morocco, Ahmed Errachidi speaks of his time in Guantanamo Bay and the difficulties of adjusting to normal life. He tells the Times how he took inspiration from a solitary ant struggling for life in his cell.
• Guantanamo inmate told: You can’t return to UK, you’ve been away too long (Independent 15 June 2007 by Ben Russell) Jamil el Banna has been cleared for release from Guantanamo by the US authorities. However the Home Office may try to prevent him from returning to the UK because he has been out of the country for over two years. His son Anas, 10, a British citizen will deliver a letter to Gordon Brown asking him to allow his father to return in time for Father’s Day.
• Reporting on life behind the wire: The Sudanese journalist held in Guantanamo Bay (Independent, 9 June 2007 by Andrew Buncombe) Al Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Haj has been detained without charge in Guantanamo Bay since 2002. He is determined to continue reporting from inside Guantanamo, through his lawyers. Meanwhile his wife, Asma, campaigns for his release while raising their six year old son alone.
• UK provided base for rendition flights, says European inquiry (Independent, 9 June 2007 by Robert Verkaik) A report by the Council of Europe shows that the British island of Diego Garcia was used as part of the CIA’s renditions programme. Reprieve Legal Director Clive Stafford Smith said: “Reprieve has been in possession of flight logs showing CIA planes flying in and out of the island for more than a year… and what has the British Government done? Behaved like an ostrich with its head in the sand.”
• Inside the dark world of rendition (Independent, 8 June 2007 by Peter Popham and Jerome Taylor) As CIA agents go on trial for the abduction and rendition of an Egyptian cleric in Italy the Independent provides an in-depth look at the US renditions programme which has been operating since the 1990s. Reprieve’s Clara Gutteridge describes the methodology used by CIA operatives when rendering a suspect.
• US accused over ‘ghost detainees’ (BBC News, 7 June 2007) Six human rights groups, including Reprieve have asked the US to reveal the whereabouts of 39 missing people last known to have been in US custody. The missing people are believed to have been rendered and held in secret prisons by the CIA.
• In Guantanamo, men shadow-box for their lives (Independent, 7 June 2007 by Zachary Katznelson) Reprieve’s Senior Counsel Zachary Katznelson describes the terrible conditions at Guantanamo and the hopelessness felt by the detainees. Reprieve client and former British resident Ahmed Belbacha has been cleared by the US for release. However his native Algerian government cannot guarantee his safety from their own personnel should he be returned to Algeria and the British government have washed their hands of him as he is not a citizen.
• Abandon the Guantanamo trials fiasco, Bush is urged (Daily Mail, 6 June 2007) The Guantanamo military commissions process suffered further setbacks when US Military judges dismissed charges against the first two detainees to be put on trial. Zachary Katznelson of Reprieve said, “It just goes to show that they can’t even get the show trials right.” George Bush was said to be furious at the decision.
• Firm to be sued over torture flights (Guardian, 4 June 2007 by Ian Cobain) Reprieve is bringing a lawsuit on behalf of client Binyam Mohamed against Jeppesen Dataplan, a subsidiary of Boeing. The lawsuit alleges that Jeppesen arranged the flight that rendered Mr Mohamed to Morocco where he was brutally tortured before being taken to Afghanistan and then to Guantanamo.
• Worst of the worst? (The Scotsman, 2 June 2007 by Michael Pye) Review of Bad Men: Guantanamo Bay and the Secret Prisons by Clive Stafford Smith. “[Clive Stafford Smith] has written a most useful book, but it must be said: the book cannot ever match his courage.”
• Guantanamo ‘suicide’ was in maximum security cell (Independent, 1 June 2007 by Rupert Cornwall) Saudi detainee Abdul Rahman Maadha al-Amry was found dead in his maximum security cell in Guantanamo, allegedly by suicide. This is the fourth reported suicide in Guantanamo Bay. Reprieve had previously warned that more suicides were inevitable.
• Plea from Guantanamo for Johnston (BBC News, 29 May 2007) Sami al Haj, an Al Jazeera cameraman held without charge in Guantanamo has called for the release of Alan Johnston, the BBC reporter abducted by militants in Gaza last March. Mr Haj said “While the United States has kidnapped me and held me for years on end, this is not a lesson that Muslims should copy.”
• Stark choice for Guantanamo detainee: stay in jail or face torture in home country (Guardian, 28 May 2007 by Vikram Dodd) The UK government has come under pressure to allow Jamil el Banna to return to Britain where his wife and children, all British citizens, live. Mr Banna has been cleared for release from Guantanamo Bay after five years detention without charge or trial and faces a risk of torture if he returns to his native Jordan.
• It’s laughter in the face of torture (thelondonpaper, 17 May 2007 by Andy Jones) Bill Bailey leads a star studded cast at the Gallows Humour comedy event in aid of Reprieve. Bailey has waived his fee for the event saying “There is a grim absurdity that we sub-contract people to commit this torture on people…It’s like things with the council- no we won’t do it ourselves, lets send it to Guantanamo.”
• Whatever happened to habeas corpus? (Daily Mail, 14 May 2007 by Christopher Hudson) Review of Bad Men: Guantanamo Bay and the Secret Prisons by Clive Stafford Smith. Hudson writes: “For those who believe our civil liberties have been unduly eroded during Tony Blair’s ‘War on Terror’, this book serves as a warning of how a nation with liberty at the heart of its written constitution is helpless to prevent a determined administration from overriding them.”
• Family greet London chef after Guantánamo ordeal (Times, 4 May 2007 by Sean O’Neill). Ahmed Errachidi, who was released from Guantánamo Bay appeared before a Moroccan court on Wednesday. He was released after Reprieve lawyers showed that he was working as a chef in London at the time that he was alleged to have been at an Al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan.
• Chef who was held on false claim vanishes into Morocco (Times, 28 April 2007 by Sean O’Neill). Ahmed Errachidi, who worked as a chef in London for 16 years has been released from Guantánamo Bay and secretly flown to Morocco. His lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, fears for Ahmed’s safety and urges the British government to establish his whereabouts and seek assurances about his treatment.
• Guantánamo Bay prisoners’ lawyers condemn Bush administration (Independent, 27 April 2007 by Andrew Buncombe). Lawyers representing prisoners at Guantánamo Bay have condemned the Bush administration’s latest attempt to make it more difficult to visit their clients. The US justice department has requested that federal courts tighten restrictions on lawyers, arguing that they are a threat to security at Guantánamo . Clive Stafford Smith of Reprieve said, ‘It’s being done to stop any journalists finding out what they did to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others.’
• Brain-damaged Briton needs Blair plea to save him from firing squad (Times, 23 April 2007 by Richard Lloyd Parry). British citizen Le Manh Luong has lost his final appeal against his death sentence for drug trafficking in Vietnam. Mr Luong suffers from brain damage as a result of an injury to his skull when an American bomb hit his home during the Vietnam War. His only hope is for Tony Blair to appeal to the Vietnamese President to commute his sentence.
• Have you received your gift pack? (Observer, 22 April 2007). Extract from Reprieve Legal Director Clive Stafford Smith’s new book ‘Bad Men: Guantánamo Bay and the Secret Prisons’. The US military have placed strict controls on media visits to Guantánamo Bay. The only journalist with real access is Sami al-Hajj, the Al Jazeera cameraman detained there.
• No fairytales allowed (Guardian, 21 April 2007). Extract from Reprieve Legal Director Clive Stafford Smith’s new book ‘Bad Men: Guantánamo Bay and the Secret Prisons’. Clive Stafford Smith talks about the levels of secrecy at Guantánamo Bay and the difficulties in getting reports of prisoner abuse declassified. Certain books, including volumes of fairy tales, have been refused for no obvious reason while the military attempt to undermine prisoners’ confidence in their lawyers.
• Brain-damaged man faces death for drug smuggling (Independent, 5 April 2007 by Robert Verkaik). British citizen Le Manh Luong could be executed by firing squad in Vietnam if his appeal fails. Mr Luong was convicted of masterminding a drug-smuggling operation. However a medical report commissioned by Reprieve shows that he could not have played such a pivotal role due to brain damage sustained as a child the US bombed his town.
• Freedom for British resident after five years in Guantánamo (Independent, 1 April 2007 by Ian Griggs). Bisher Al Rawi returns to his family in New Malden after five years in Guantánamo Bay. His MP, Edward Davey, welcomes his release. Zachary Katznelson of Reprieve calls upon the British government to intervene on the behalf of the other British residents.
• Drugs, death and a Briton on trial for life (Observer, 1 April 2007 by David Rose). Neill Revill has spent six years awaiting trial for a brutal double murder in the US. If convicted he faces the death penalty. Evidence suggests that the crime was actually committed by drug gangs. Clive Stafford Smith of Reprieve will ask Tony Blair to support a petition for the prosecutors to drop their insistence on the death penalty.
• Camp Delta inmate ‘who helped MI5’ to be released (Independent, 30 March 2007 by Robert Verkaik). Bisher Al Rawi is to be released from Guantánamo Bay after five years without charge or trial following an agreement between the British and US governments. Mr Al Rawi was arrested in the Gambia in 2002 while on a business trip with his brother. Other British residents remain in Guantánamo Bay.
• Pentagon clears UK detainees at Guantánamo (Observer, 18 March 2007 by David Rose). British residents Ahmed Errachidi and Ahmed Belbacha have been cleared for release from Guantánamo Bay after five years imprisonment. However, the UK government is refusing to allow them to return to Britain.
• Regime ‘undermines legal case against terror suspects’ (Independent, 16 March 2007 by Ben Russell). The military tribunal of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed provides evidence of the ‘injustice, inhumanity and illegality at Guantánamo Bay’ says Reprieve Legal Director Clive Stafford Smith.
• Trials of Guantánamo suspects begin without a lawyer or reporter in sight (Independent, 9 March 2007 by Andrew Buncombe). The US have begun trying prisoners by Combat Status Review Tribunals held in secret. Clive Stafford Smith of Reprieve said ‘They are trying to stop anyone saying anything about the way they have been abused or which countries they were abused in.’
• Marine’s last stand on death row (Observer, 21 January 2007 by David Rose). This week marks the 20th anniversary of Kenny Richey’s death sentence. Despite the overturning of his conviction in January 2005 he remains on death row as that victory was reversed.
• The stories in After Innocence were horrifying - case after case of wrongful imprisonment (Guardian, 18 January 2007 by Lucy Managhan) A review of the documentary ‘After Innocence’ about people who have been exonerated from death row in the US. One of the cases included was that of Nick Yarris, now a Reprieve spokesman, who spent 23 years on death row before DNA evidence proved his innocence.
• Why is my Dad far away in that place called Guantánamo Bay? Young Boy’s plea to Tony Blair/ Five years on, no end to the horror that is Guantánamo (Independent, 9 January 2007 by Ben Russell, Andrew Buncombe and Andy McSmith). The first three pages of the paper were devoted to the fifth anniversary of Guantánamo Bay. Articles focused on the family of British Resident Jamil El Banna, the protests held around the world and the plight of other British Residents.
• After five years of torture, Bisher is slowly slipping into madness (Guardian, 9 January 2007 by Brent Mickum). Guantánamo lawyer Brent Mickum talks about the appalling treatment of British Residents Bisher Al Rawi and Jamil El Banna.
• How Britain shackles Guantánamo inmates (Guardian, 7 January 2007). Letter from Reprieve Legal Director, Clive Stafford Smith, former Guantánamo prisoner, Moazzam Begg and others concerning the Hiatt Corporation, a Birmingham based company that manufactures shackles for Guantánamo Bay.
• Pinochet is gone but his methods are still with us (Guardian, 13 December 2006 by Adnan Siddiqui and Victoria Brittain). A new report from British monitoring group Cageprisoners reveals the extent of the practice of ‘extraordinary rendition’ by the US and the countries where terrorist suspects have been held in secret locations.
• MP to plead Death Row Scot’s case (Scotsman, 2 November 2006). Kenny Richey’s MP Alastair Carmichael has written to the Governor of Ohio asking him to grant clemency.
• How Guantánamo ’s Prisoners were sold (New Statesman, 9 October 2006 by Clive Stafford Smith). President Musharraf of Pakistan has published memoirs that tell how hundreds of terrorist suspects who fled from Afghanistan to Pakistan were sold to the US. This sheds light on the process that has led to many innocent people being detained at Guantánamo and elsewhere.
• Britain to US: we don’t want Guantánamo nine back (Guardian front page, 3 October 2006 by Ian Cobain and Vikram Dodd). The British government have refused to allow the nine British residents held in Guantánamo to returned to the UK.
• ‘I thought Britain stood for justice but they just abandoned us’ (Guardian 3 October 2006 by Ian Cobain and Cynthia O’Murchu). Profiles of the nine British Residents in Guantánamo Bay.
• ‘This is the last chance to save my brother’ (Guardian, 27 September 2006 by Emine Saner). Tony Blair is due to meet President Musharraf. Mirza Tahir Hussain’s brother, Amjad, talks about his brother’s plight.
• Falconer condemns ‘shocking’ Guantánamo (Guardian, 13 September 2006 by David Fickling). Lord Falconer calls Guantánamo a ‘shocking affront to the principles of democracy.’ Reprieve’s Zachary Katznelson says that the British residents would be released immediately if the British Government agreed to take them.
• Death Sentence for Independence (New Statesman, 11 September 2006 by Clive Stafford Smith). Mirza Tahir Hussain faces the death penalty in Pakistan despite the strong case for his innocence. His execution may go ahead because President Musharraf does not want to be seen to bow to foreign pressure.
• CIA still hiding ‘ghost’ captives (Sunday Times, 10 September 2006 by Stephen Grey and Sarah Baxter). The US claim to have emptied their secret prisons but ‘dozens’ of terrorist suspects have disappeared entirely. Reprieve believes that they are being held in ‘joint custody’: imprisoned in countries such as Afghanistan and interrogated by CIA interrogators.
• The Good List 2006 (Independent, 5 September 2006). The Independent compiled a list of 50 people who are making the world a better place. Clive Stafford Smith, founder and Legal Director of Reprieve, was number 10.
• Calling time on Guantánamo (New Statesman, 10 July 2006 by Clive Stafford Smith). Welcomes the Supreme Court decision that military commissions are unconstitutional. The problem with military commissions in the case of Binyam Mohamed.
• UK Charity in Fight to Free Guantánamo ’s British Residents (The Lawyer, 3 July 2006 by Jon Parker), With special reference to Mohammed El Gharani, aged 14 when seized and Ahmed Errachidi who was working in Britain at the time that the Americans allege he attended an Al-Qaida training camp.
• Briton could be ‘next dead body’ at Guantánamo (Guardian, 14 June 2006 by David Fickling). Ahmed Errachidi, former British resident, is moved into higher security due to fear that he is a suicide risk.
• Human Rights: the Silent World of Sami (New Statesman, 12 June 2006 by Clive Stafford Smith). Describes the situation of Sami al-Hajj, the Al Jazeera cameraman detained in Guantánamo and how the US have clamped down on Al Jazeera following its criticism of the Iraq war.
• A tunnel without end (Guardian, 12 June 2006 by Zachary Katznelson). Condemns the US response to the Guantánamo suicides. Describes the desperate situation of the prisoners and calls for them to be brought to trial or released.
• Reprieve Benefit Evening (Evening Standard, 6 June 2006 by John Aizlewood). Review of Reprieve Benefit Evening at the Globe. Rated 4/5 stars.
• Reprieve at the Globe (Time Out, June 2006) Preview of Reprieve fundraising event at the Globe Theatre featuring a music and comedy line-up. Selected as a critic’s choice.
• Camp deportee may fight decision (BBC News, 2 June 2006). Former British resident, Jamal Kiyemba, released from Guantánamo to Uganda may fight decision banning him from UK. Reprieve’s Zachary Katznelson speaks against the decision that prevents Jamal Kiyemba from returning to his family in Britain.
• Fight to save death row Briton who was acquitted of murder (Times 19 May 2006). British government makes appeal on behalf of Mirza Tahir Hussain who faces the death penalty in Pakistan. Hussain was acquitted in 1989 but was later sentenced to death again by Sharia Court.
• Britain pleads with Musharraf to spare tourist condemned to hang (Observer, 14 May 2006). Foreign Secretary Margaret Becket will make personal plea to President Musharraf of Pakistan on behalf of Mirza Tahir Hussain. Pakistani judge describes his conviction as ‘miscarriage of justice’.
• Rookie lawyer set to be death row apprentice (The Sunday Post, 9 April 2006 by Euan Duguid). Steven Veitch from Motherwell is getting ready to be a Reprieve Volunteer with death row defence organisation in the US. Description of the Reprieve Volunteer scheme.
• Interview with Sabah Sunnogrot (Guardian, 18 March 2006 by Diane Taylor). The wife of British resident Jamil El Banna describes how life has been for herself and her five young children since her husband was sent to Guantánamo.
• For the First Time, the inside story of Britain’s shadowy role in the Guantánamo scandal (The Independent, 16 March 2006) The story of British Residents Bisher Al Rawi and Jamil El Banna. How Mr Al Rawi had at one time worked for M15 and how later he and his friend were betrayed by the British intelligence services.
• Back home but still imprisoned: the shadow of Guantánamo (Independent, 9 March 2006 by Danae Brook). Released prisoners Asif Iqbal, Shafiq Rasul and Ruhel Ahmed speak about their time in Guantánamo and the difficulties of settling back into normal life.
• Death row Scot’s appeal overturned by Supreme Court (Times, 29 November 2005 by Time Reid and Shirley English). Kenny Richey’s case suffers a setback after Supreme Court refuses to quash his conviction.
• Hunger strikers pledge to die in Guantánamo (Guardian 9 September 2005 by Audrey Gillan). More than 200 prisoners at Guantánamo Bay are on hunger strike including British resident Omar Deghayes. Family members fear for his life.
• UK firm picketed over Guantánamo ‘torture’ shackles (Guardian 9 September 2005 by Audrey Gillan). Demonstrators from Reprieve and other groups protest outside Hiatt Corporation in Birmingham. The company makes shackles used in Guantánamo.
• The young Britons who do time on death row (Times, 24 May 2005 by Clive Stafford Smith). About the Reprieve volunteer and fellowship programmes. The difference made by the young volunteers who assist death row defence offices in the US.
• Prisoner restraints (Guardian 9 September 2005). Letter to the editor concerning Guantánamo hunger strike and the Birmingham based Hiatt Corporation supplying shackles to Guantánamo . Signed by Moazzam Begg, Amani Deghayes (sister of prisoner, Omar), Clive Stafford Smith of Reprieve, Lynne Jones MP, Clare Short MP and Dr David Nicholl.
• Death Row defender (The Scotsman, 9 August 2005 by Susan Mansfield). Lorilei at the Edinburgh Fringe. Clive Stafford Smith talks about Lorilei Guillory and Ricky Langley.
• Defending residents of death row (The Scotsman, 23 May 2005 by Michael Howie). Reprieve volunteers. Scottish law graduate Paula Black is going to spend three months at a death row defence office.
• Scots banker on death row wins appeal (Times, 12 March 2005 by Gillian Harris). Ian Millar, sentenced to death in Nigeria has his sentenced quashed.
• Lorilei (Times, 22 February 2005 by Ian Johns). Lorilei Review: 4/5 stars.
• How Lorilei forgave her son’s murderer (Guardian, 22 February 2005 by Michael Billington). Review of Lorilei: 4/5 stars.
• Forgiving, not forgetting (Evening Standard, 21 February 2005 by Fiona Mountford). Lorilei review.
• Not guilty- the Briton who has spent 18 years on death row for murder (Guardian 26 January 2005 by Kirsty Scott). Kenny Richey had his sentence overturned after 18 years on death row.
• American freed from death row says Britons saved my life (Guardian 28 August 2004 by Audrey Gillan). Ryan Matthews spent five years on death-row, convicted when he was just 17. His case was taken up by Reprieve and he was exonerated after being proved innocent.
• ‘I’m not afraid of dying. I’m just angry’ (Guardian, 26 July 2004 by Alex Hannaford). Linda Carty speaks to the Guardian. Article includes the history of her case.
• ‘In the US who you kill is more important than who you are.’ (Guardian 15 June 2004 by Diane Taylor). Interview with Clive Stafford Smith about his 26 years of death row defence.
• A mum on death row (Independent, 5th April 2004 by Robert Verkaik). British citizen Linda Carty was sentenced to death in 2002 for a crime many believe she didn’t commit. Her daughter asks Tony Blair to intervene on her behalf.