Post by Cageprisoners1 on Jul 7, 2005 11:27:50 GMT -5
"The whole place appears to be one giant human experiment."
(Baher Azmy, US lawyer for Guantanamo detainee, Murat Kurnaz)
Free Monear Eldrissy, British Prisoner of Faith Jailed in Azerbaijan
Monear Eldrissy (27) a British citizen, was arrested and detained in Baku, Azerbaijan on 15 October 2005 , a day before he was due to return home to Britain . The same night, Anti-Terrorist Police in London raided Monear’s home, his mother’s home and his in-laws home. The raids took place at 11pm and Monear’s entire family including his 2 year old son and 12 year old sister were forced out of their home by the Police while the search took place. They were not allowed take any money with them and were left to roam the streets of London until 4 am when they reached Monear’s home. They were allowed to return three days later only to find the locks of their home had been changed.
Some eight months later, Monear was sentenced to 12 years in prison, after being found guilty of charges related to terrorism in a secret 'trial', denying the most basic requirements of due process.
We have very serious concerns about the relationship between the British and Azeri authorities in detaining Monear. The British government has at best failed to protect the rights of a British citizen abroad and at worst, colluded in the entrapment and detention of a British citizen in a foreign prison notorious for its use of torture and mistreatment. Monear is being held in the notorious Bailov prison which has been routinely condemned by human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. In his 2000 report, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture concluded that torture in Azerbaijan was widespread and that detainees assumed that they would be tortured. Contrast the minimalist role played by the Foreign Office in Monear’s case with its extremely active efforts to secure the release of another British citizen, Almas Guliyeva, who was arrested in Baku in early June 2005. After three weeks, Mrs Guliyeva was released by the Azeris following extreme public and private pressure from the Foreign Office. Mrs Guliyeva is not a Muslim; Monear is.
Monear is only the latest in a long line of British Muslims who have been abandoned by the British government. We must act immediately as he has only until 11th July to appeal. Click here to find out what you must do to help.
Click here to read more about Monear's case and links to articles on torture and human rights abuses in Azerbaijan
Interviews
Interview with Victoria Brittain
Victoria Brittain is a journalist and a research associate at the London School of Economics. She co-wrote the play “Guantanamo: Honour Bound to Defend Freedom”, which weaves together the personal narratives of Guantanamo detainees and their families together with legal and political debate. The play was a critical success and after opening at the Tricycle Theatre, it hit the West End and then opened in New York. Victoria Brittain is also well known for her articles in the Guardian Newspaper, with a focus on African and Middle Eastern politics.
Events
The Hostages of the War on Terror Forum
09-07-05, 3:30pm, Sydney, Australia
The Hostages of the War on Terror forum brings legal representatives and victims of counter-terror, together with campaigners and organisations, to share strategies for justice. Some Australian victims of the war on terror include: David Hicks, Ahmed Aziz Rafiq, Talaal Adree, and Mamdouh Habib.
From Behind Bars
To the Audience at the G8 Alternative Summit
by Babar Ahmad
The summit of the world leaders that is being held in Gleneagles is wrongly named. It should be called the G7 Summit, because in effect Britain has become the colony of the U.S. It is spineless to make independent sovereign decisions without being dictated to by the U.S.
Downloads
Truth - The First Casualty of War
by Dr. Adnan Siddiqui, 19/03/2005.
The Exceptional and the Draconian Becoming the Norm
by Statewatch
EU and G8 counter terrorism plans are unveiled. Another step towards a police state with little civil liberties?
Articles
The Experiment
by Jane Mayer
The military trains people to withstand interrogation. Are those methods being misused at Guant?namo?
Putting Islam on the Stand
by Vanessa Blum
In a recent criminal trial in Virginia, the prosecutor told the jury that the defendant couldn't be trusted to tell the truth, that he would lie to their faces — all because of his religious beliefs.
Flouting Our Founding Fathers' Ideals
by Marie Cocco
In this time of celebrating our Independence Day, the Italians are showing us up. Not with their food or fine design, but with their insistence on keeping faith with the rule of law.
From Downtown to Guantanamo
by Scott Russell
Nicole Moen, a Downtown resident and attorney, has done a number of client interviews in her relatively young career, but never with her client shackled to the floor, in a foreign country, translating in French.
Secret Anti-terrorism Unit Pairs CIA, Europeans
by Dana Priest
When Christian Ganczarski, a German convert to Islam, boarded an Air France flight from Riyadh on June 3, 2003, he knew only that the Saudi government had put him under house arrest for an expired pilgrim visa and had given his family one-way tickets back to Germany, with a change of planes in Paris.
Revealed: Grim World of New Iraqi Torture Camps
by Peter Beaumont
Secret torture chambers, the brutal interrogation of prisoners, murders by paramilitaries with links to powerful ministries... Foreign affairs editor Peter Beaumont in Baghdad uncovers a grim trail of abuse carried out by forces loyal to the new Iraqi government
Island Paradise or Torture Chamber?
by Lynda Hurst
From satellite pictures, Diego Garcia looks like paradise. A perfect hideaway. But no one is allowed to set foot on it.
How the Nightmare From George's Mind Has Come Alive
by Asim Qureshi
To say that Orwell's nightmare has come alive now in 2005 is by no means an exaggeration.
The Stain of Torture
by Burton J. Lee III
Having served as a doctor in the Army Medical Corps early in my career and as presidential physician to George H.W. Bush for four years, I might be expected to bring a skeptical and partisan perspective to allegations of torture and abuse by U.S. forces. But I cannot do so.
More Questions on Missing Imam
by Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
If the CIA did abduct Abu Omar in Italy, the timing suggests his rendition was connected to the upcoming war in Iraq.
[More Articles at Cageprisoners.com]
News
GUANTANAMO
55 Nation Group: U.S. Should Close Guantanamo Prison
Court Asked To Halt Teen's Interrogation in U.S. Jail
Jordanian Prisoner Freed From Guantanamo
Guantanamo Fuels Hatred - Europe Report
Guant?namo Detainees 'Defy, Attack Guards', Records Show
U.N. Questions Ex-Detainees
C4 To Make Guant?namo Drama
Pakistan Releases 45 Prisoners Repatriated From Afghanistan
Kuwait Court Clears Former Guantanamo Detainee
GHOST DETAINEES
US Suspected of Keeping Secret Prisoners on Warships: UN Official
Prime Minister Defends Egypt's Role in Taking Terror Suspects
Italy Demands US Explanation Over Kidnapped Cleric
Italy Knew About Plan To Grab Suspect
Expert: U.N. Seeks U.S. Detention Centers
UK
Hamza Appears At Start of Trial
Extradition Law Criticised By MPs
Home Secretary 'Snubs' Babar Ahmad's Family
MISCELLANEOUS
More Taliban Suspects Freed in Reconciliation Drive
UK Aid Funds Iraqi Torture Units
Lawyer in Assassination Plot in Catch 22
[More News on the War on Terror at Cageprisoners.com]
(Baher Azmy, US lawyer for Guantanamo detainee, Murat Kurnaz)
Free Monear Eldrissy, British Prisoner of Faith Jailed in Azerbaijan
Monear Eldrissy (27) a British citizen, was arrested and detained in Baku, Azerbaijan on 15 October 2005 , a day before he was due to return home to Britain . The same night, Anti-Terrorist Police in London raided Monear’s home, his mother’s home and his in-laws home. The raids took place at 11pm and Monear’s entire family including his 2 year old son and 12 year old sister were forced out of their home by the Police while the search took place. They were not allowed take any money with them and were left to roam the streets of London until 4 am when they reached Monear’s home. They were allowed to return three days later only to find the locks of their home had been changed.
Some eight months later, Monear was sentenced to 12 years in prison, after being found guilty of charges related to terrorism in a secret 'trial', denying the most basic requirements of due process.
We have very serious concerns about the relationship between the British and Azeri authorities in detaining Monear. The British government has at best failed to protect the rights of a British citizen abroad and at worst, colluded in the entrapment and detention of a British citizen in a foreign prison notorious for its use of torture and mistreatment. Monear is being held in the notorious Bailov prison which has been routinely condemned by human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. In his 2000 report, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture concluded that torture in Azerbaijan was widespread and that detainees assumed that they would be tortured. Contrast the minimalist role played by the Foreign Office in Monear’s case with its extremely active efforts to secure the release of another British citizen, Almas Guliyeva, who was arrested in Baku in early June 2005. After three weeks, Mrs Guliyeva was released by the Azeris following extreme public and private pressure from the Foreign Office. Mrs Guliyeva is not a Muslim; Monear is.
Monear is only the latest in a long line of British Muslims who have been abandoned by the British government. We must act immediately as he has only until 11th July to appeal. Click here to find out what you must do to help.
Click here to read more about Monear's case and links to articles on torture and human rights abuses in Azerbaijan
Interviews
Interview with Victoria Brittain
Victoria Brittain is a journalist and a research associate at the London School of Economics. She co-wrote the play “Guantanamo: Honour Bound to Defend Freedom”, which weaves together the personal narratives of Guantanamo detainees and their families together with legal and political debate. The play was a critical success and after opening at the Tricycle Theatre, it hit the West End and then opened in New York. Victoria Brittain is also well known for her articles in the Guardian Newspaper, with a focus on African and Middle Eastern politics.
Events
The Hostages of the War on Terror Forum
09-07-05, 3:30pm, Sydney, Australia
The Hostages of the War on Terror forum brings legal representatives and victims of counter-terror, together with campaigners and organisations, to share strategies for justice. Some Australian victims of the war on terror include: David Hicks, Ahmed Aziz Rafiq, Talaal Adree, and Mamdouh Habib.
From Behind Bars
To the Audience at the G8 Alternative Summit
by Babar Ahmad
The summit of the world leaders that is being held in Gleneagles is wrongly named. It should be called the G7 Summit, because in effect Britain has become the colony of the U.S. It is spineless to make independent sovereign decisions without being dictated to by the U.S.
Downloads
Truth - The First Casualty of War
by Dr. Adnan Siddiqui, 19/03/2005.
The Exceptional and the Draconian Becoming the Norm
by Statewatch
EU and G8 counter terrorism plans are unveiled. Another step towards a police state with little civil liberties?
Articles
The Experiment
by Jane Mayer
The military trains people to withstand interrogation. Are those methods being misused at Guant?namo?
Putting Islam on the Stand
by Vanessa Blum
In a recent criminal trial in Virginia, the prosecutor told the jury that the defendant couldn't be trusted to tell the truth, that he would lie to their faces — all because of his religious beliefs.
Flouting Our Founding Fathers' Ideals
by Marie Cocco
In this time of celebrating our Independence Day, the Italians are showing us up. Not with their food or fine design, but with their insistence on keeping faith with the rule of law.
From Downtown to Guantanamo
by Scott Russell
Nicole Moen, a Downtown resident and attorney, has done a number of client interviews in her relatively young career, but never with her client shackled to the floor, in a foreign country, translating in French.
Secret Anti-terrorism Unit Pairs CIA, Europeans
by Dana Priest
When Christian Ganczarski, a German convert to Islam, boarded an Air France flight from Riyadh on June 3, 2003, he knew only that the Saudi government had put him under house arrest for an expired pilgrim visa and had given his family one-way tickets back to Germany, with a change of planes in Paris.
Revealed: Grim World of New Iraqi Torture Camps
by Peter Beaumont
Secret torture chambers, the brutal interrogation of prisoners, murders by paramilitaries with links to powerful ministries... Foreign affairs editor Peter Beaumont in Baghdad uncovers a grim trail of abuse carried out by forces loyal to the new Iraqi government
Island Paradise or Torture Chamber?
by Lynda Hurst
From satellite pictures, Diego Garcia looks like paradise. A perfect hideaway. But no one is allowed to set foot on it.
How the Nightmare From George's Mind Has Come Alive
by Asim Qureshi
To say that Orwell's nightmare has come alive now in 2005 is by no means an exaggeration.
The Stain of Torture
by Burton J. Lee III
Having served as a doctor in the Army Medical Corps early in my career and as presidential physician to George H.W. Bush for four years, I might be expected to bring a skeptical and partisan perspective to allegations of torture and abuse by U.S. forces. But I cannot do so.
More Questions on Missing Imam
by Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
If the CIA did abduct Abu Omar in Italy, the timing suggests his rendition was connected to the upcoming war in Iraq.
[More Articles at Cageprisoners.com]
News
GUANTANAMO
55 Nation Group: U.S. Should Close Guantanamo Prison
Court Asked To Halt Teen's Interrogation in U.S. Jail
Jordanian Prisoner Freed From Guantanamo
Guantanamo Fuels Hatred - Europe Report
Guant?namo Detainees 'Defy, Attack Guards', Records Show
U.N. Questions Ex-Detainees
C4 To Make Guant?namo Drama
Pakistan Releases 45 Prisoners Repatriated From Afghanistan
Kuwait Court Clears Former Guantanamo Detainee
GHOST DETAINEES
US Suspected of Keeping Secret Prisoners on Warships: UN Official
Prime Minister Defends Egypt's Role in Taking Terror Suspects
Italy Demands US Explanation Over Kidnapped Cleric
Italy Knew About Plan To Grab Suspect
Expert: U.N. Seeks U.S. Detention Centers
UK
Hamza Appears At Start of Trial
Extradition Law Criticised By MPs
Home Secretary 'Snubs' Babar Ahmad's Family
MISCELLANEOUS
More Taliban Suspects Freed in Reconciliation Drive
UK Aid Funds Iraqi Torture Units
Lawyer in Assassination Plot in Catch 22
[More News on the War on Terror at Cageprisoners.com]