Extradition To Spain Hearing: Jamil el-Banna & Omar Deghayes Demo
Date: Wednesday 9th January
Time: To be confirmed (most likely) 9.30 am
Venue: Westminster Magistrates Court, Horseferry Road, London
Please do try to attend!
:jkk:
Save Omar campaigners explained why they were again concerned about the treatment of Omar Deghayes:
Spokesperson Jackie Chase stated:
“Last year when Omar marked his fifth year of detention in Guantanamo his was one of the cases featured in an Amnesty film Taking Liberties. We all hoped that the uncertainty for his safety would end once he got out of Guantanamo but it hasn't. Today we are saying ‘Stop Taking Liberties.’ As far as we understand, the authorities in Guantanamo, not known for their leniency, were aware of allegations from Spanish sources and did not take them seriously. Omar spent five years of his life in isolating conditions and separated from his family on the basis of suspicion, which was then simply disregarded. Isn’t all this bad enough? Why was there no extradition while Omar was in Guantanamo? Why wait till now? We can only think the whole Spanish case, and especially its timing is a put-up, politically rather than legally motivated. It saves a few faces.”
Sally Griffin, who at the height of the campaign for Omar’s release from Guantanamo walked from Brighton to London to deliver letters to Downing Street calling for his return, will be participating in Brighton protests. She stated:
“Once again we are standing in solidarity with the Deghayes family. Omar has been the victim of vicious maltreatment should not put through this ordeal. We are disappointed but we should not have been surprised. There have been other attempts to sully the name of released detainees, underhand attempts to justify the illegality of internment and torture.”
Press contact Jackie 07799 564620
remember the brothers and their families in your duaas
subhanallaah almost 6 years in gitmo..they've only been back 2 weeks and now this :(
may Allaah SWT shower His mercy and blessings on the brothers and their families and reward them immencly (sp?) for their sabr, aameen!
Guantánamo Britons Resist Spanish Extradition Order
Recovering from their ordeal in Guantánamo, returned British residents Jamil El-Banna and Omar Deghayes began their struggle to resist a Spanish extradition request in a London court. Andy Worthington, author of “The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison,” reports.
On Wednesday January 9, in a crowded court room at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, a short hearing took place as the next step in the request for the extradition of two former Guantánamo detainees, Jamil El-Banna and Omar Deghayes, which, with astonishing insensitivity, was submitted by the Spanish government on the men’s return from Guantánamo last month after more than five years in US custody.
The weakness of the Spanish case – alleging that both Mr. El-Banna and Mr. Deghayes were members of an al-Qaeda cell in Madrid, which provided recruits for militant training camps in Afghanistan and Indonesia – was discussed at length in a previous article ( http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/12/388337.html).
In this hearing, as the men returned to court after three weeks with their families, their lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, QC, launched a withering attack on the Spanish government, telling the court, “The Spanish authorities are deeply implicated in the ordeal of the last five years. They acquiesced to, and facilitated, their interrogation at Guantánamo and indeed participated in that interrogation process. They took no steps or adequate steps to say, ‘we want them for trial in Spain.’ They left them to be interrogated in Guantánamo, and now – after they have been exonerated by US authorities, after English police have said they don't wish to bring any charges – the Spanish authorities are saying, ‘we want to question them on the self-same charges.’” He added that it would be an “obvious oppression” to extradite them now “for the same allegations that have been fully investigated in Guantánamo.”
The judge, Timothy Workman, who had already shown compassion to the men before Christmas, when he granted them bail, and noted that prosecution concerns about doing so were “outweighed by the detailed review carried out in the US,” extended their bail, and ordered them to return for a more lengthy hearing on February 14.
Outside the court, as Mr. El-Banna and Mr. Deghayes mingled with well-wishers, there was a palpable optimism on the part of the lawyers, a feeling, perhaps, that the Spanish can be persuaded to drop their ludicrous claims before they embarrass themselves.
Both Mr. El-Banna and Mr. Deghayes seemed well, although this was clearly a day for a show, and it was impossible to discern the fears and anxieties that must be troubling both men after their long imprisonment in horrendous conditions.
With his hair and beard trimmed since his court appearance in December, when, with his long grey hair, he appeared, perhaps aptly, to be a recently rescued castaway, Mr. El-Banna smiled tentatively, taking his supporters by the hand and thanking them warmly.
Mr. Deghayes, too, seemed in good spirits. Engaged and talkative, he was accompanied by a group of supporters from the Save Omar campaign, who had worked assiduously for his release, and had travelled from his home town of Brighton to show their solidarity. His mother, whose distress was apparent in photographs taken before his release, was smiling and glancing over at him, clearly still elated at her beloved son’s return.
For more on the stories of the British residents, see my book The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison ( http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/?page_id=17).
Andy Worthington
e-mail: andy@andyworthington.co.uk
Homepage: www.andyworthington.co.uk
vBulletin® v3.7.4, Copyright ©2000-2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.