Save Shaker Aamer Campaign

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Dear SSAC activist & supporter,

from Save Shaker Aamer Campaign - Last Londoner in Guantanamo (SSAC)
This message:

SSAC WRITES TO THE GUARDIAN AGAIN: KAFKAESQUE NIGHTMARE...GREAT CONCERN FOR SHAKER’S MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH

Pentagon blocking Guantanamo deals to return Shaker Aamer and other cleared detainees

MORE URGENT ACTION REQUIRED FROM YOU ALL!!!

PLEASE WRITE STRONGLY WORDED LETTERS TODAY TO PRESIDENT OBAMA, PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERON and US OFFICIALS

ADDRESSES OF US Administration & UK Government OFFICIALS

THE MILITARY IGNORES OBAMA’S ORDER TO RELEASE SHAKER FROM GUANTANAMO

GUANTANAMO: Radio 4: THE REUNION - next Sunday16th August

URGENT ACTION REQUIRED: WRITE TO CAMERON & OBAMA

US REFUSES MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF SHAKER

LATEST: SSAC letters to UK press, and to President Obama

Future action, vigil and meeting dates:

28th August (Friday): SSAC leaflet session - Lewisham & Kent Islamic Centre, meet 12.30pm outside the Mosque

7th September: SSAC Organising Meeting: PCS HQ, 160 Falcon Road, Clapham Junction, Battersea, London, from 5.30pm

9th September: Next SSAC VIGIL ‘END THE TORTURE AND ABUSE’ - PARLIAMENT SQUARE - Wednesday 9th SEPTEMBER - 1pm-3pm, plan now to join us if you can…

9th September: next meeting of the Shaker Aamer All Party Parliamentary Group - SSAC Committee will attend this meeting.

12th September: SSAC campaign stall at BATTERSEA, St Johns Road, Clapham Junction, London SW11, meet opposite or beside Starbucks at 11.30am, sessions ends 1.30pm.

See full details of all the above, and more ….. further below.

1. SSAC WRITES TO THE GUARDIAN AGAIN: KAFKAESQUE NIGHTMARE...GREAT CONCERN FOR SHAKER’S MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH

SSAC Chair, Joy Hurcombe’s letter to the Editor of the Guardian

Dear Editor,

Your report, “Shaker Aamer return blocked by Pentagon”, (Guardian 14.8.2015), reveals the Kafkaesque nightmare of the legal black-hole that is Guantanamo.

It is now time for the UK Government to do more to demand the release and return of Shaker Aamer to the UK.

The Prime MInister and senior officials from the Foreign Office should go to Washington and demand the immediate release of this legal British resident.

The UK has diplomatic, trade and security and intelligence agreements with the US. Perhaps it is time to reconsider these and the one-sided special relationship with the US.

The UK has made many appeals for Shaker Aamer’s release. David Cameron has raised Shaker Aamer’s case with President Obama on many occasions.

A delegation of MPs led by Jeremy Corbyn, David Davis, Andrew Mitchell and Andy Slaughter, met with key US Senators and US officials to appeal for Shaker Aamer’s release.

The House of Commons unanimously voted to call on the US to release Shaker Aamer and allow him to return to his family in the UK and an All Party Parliamentary Group for Shaker Aamer has called for his immediate release. There is now great concern for Shaker’s mental and physical health.

Campaigners for Shaker Aamer raise their voices outside Parliament at a weekly vigil. Despite all these initiatives and growing public protests, Shaker still waits in chains in a steel cell losing hope of ever seeing his family again. He faces no charge or trial. He has been cleared to leave Guantanamo for more than 8 years.

Everyone, please do something today to call for an end to this cruel injustice.

Pentagon blocking Guantanamo deals to return Shaker Aamer and other cleared detainees

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/13/pentagon-blocking-guant anamo-transfer-shaker-aamer

The Guardian article (see link above) claims "
The Pentagon is blocking the return of UK permanent resident Shaker Aamer and two other longtime Guantánamo Bay detainees for whom the US Department of State has completed diplomatic deals to transfer home”. Spencer Ackerman’s article reveals that according to "multiple sources", American and UK diplomats reached an agreement in late 2013 for the return of Shaker Aamer. Ackerman writes that "Pentagon chief Ashton Carter, backed by powerful US military officers, has withheld support for sending Aamer back to the UK.” It is understood that former US officials "who consider the detainees a minimal threat” are angered by the Pentagon’s role in blocking Shaker release. They regard such a decision as "undermining relations with Britain and other foreign partners" while "subverting from the inside" Obama’s aim of closing Guantanamo.

Ackerman explains that "White House rules depend on full administration consensus”. Hence for Shaker to be released it means that Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter and the Pentagon must agree to this. Under US law, says Ackerman, "the US defense secretary must sign off on the transfers, which occur 30 days after the Pentagon chief’s signature.” There was a seeming reluctance, and resistance by the former Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel to release Guantanamo prisoners, and Ashton Carter is fast being seen in the same light. The recent UK ‘Delegation to Washington' of four MPs, Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Andy Slaughter, and Conservative MPs David Davis and Andrew Mitchell raised Shaker’s case with US politicians and the Administration’s officials. They were promised that those they met would collectively raise Shaker’s case with President Obama. Prior to the MPs visit to Washington, Obama had promised Prime Minister David Cameron to prioritise Shaker’s case. Is Obama really listening? Why is Shaker still in Guantanamo? If the Guardian sources are right then the blockage holding up Shaker’s release stems from the Pentagon's opposition.

As SSAC Chair, Joy Hurcombe, has said in her most recent letter to the Guardian’s editor, it is imperative that a high ranking UK Government delegation should go to Washington, and “demand the immediate release” of British resident Shaker Aamer. Prime Minister David Cameron must let the world know that the UK is demanding in no uncertain terms Shaker’s freedom, and for the US to return him to his family where he belongs. The Guardian article informs us that “US officials said they reached a deal with their British counterparts on transferring Aamer at a meeting in Washington in October 2013”. It is well known that Shaker has been tortured, abused and beaten and his health failing. It is common knowledge that the US has twice cleared Shaker for release, in 2007 and 2009, and he is currently one of 52 prisoners again said to be cleared to leave Guantanamo. Earlier in the year the House of Commons sent a powerful message to both the US President and the UK Prime Minister by voting unanimously for Shaker to be released and returned to the UK. In the UK alone, thousands upon thousands have signed petitions, and hundreds of thousands of UK citizens, through their political, religious, community, Trade Union and human rights organisations, call for Shaker to be freed and for his human rights reinstated. For some time now the UK has publicly stated its request for Shaker to be released and returned to the UK “as a matter of urgency”, and the Foreign Office has said many times that Shaker’s case “ remains a high priority for the UK Government". If this is genuinely the position of the UK Government then, SSAC asks, where is the high priority URGENT action that the Government should be taking to back up its statements? Time would seem to pass - now well over thirteen torturous years - without any visible signs of movement. Mr Cameron and his Government must raise their voices louder, both must engage in urgent and effective negotiations and insist that Shaker be immediately released to his family before it is too late. This action must be on the level of a full Government delegation to Washington to meet with President Obama. There are no reasons why Shaker should be held in a Guantanamo cell another day, another hour, another second. Cleared for release and ready to be released , he must be safely returned to the loving care of his family and his many friends back here in the UK.


PLEASE WRITE STRONG WORDED LETTERS TODAY TO PRESIDENT OBAMA, PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERON and US OFFICIALS……


Write to PM David Cameron and Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond

The Right Hon David Cameron, The Prime Minister, 10 Downing Street, London SW1A 2AG

The Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond MP, The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, King Charles Street, London SW1A 2AH email private.office@fco.gov.uk

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Tobias Ellwood MP, same address as above for Philip Hammond MP.

Home Secretary, Theresa May MP, The Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF email public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk


Write to US Officials

US Ambassador Matthew Barzun, US Embassy, 24 Grosvenor Square, London W1A 1AE……...Your Excellency Matthew Barzun,

Honorable Paul Lewis, Special Envoy for the Closure of Guantanamo, Dept of Defence, 1400 Defense Pentagon, Washington DC 20301-1400 USA, ………...Dear Special Envoy Paul Lewis,

President Barack Obama, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20500, USA………………..Dear President Obama,

Honorable Ashton Carter, US Secretary of Defense, 1400 Defense Pentagon, Washington DC 20301-1400, USA…………….Dear Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter,

Honorable Loretta Lynch, US Attorney General, US Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20530-0001, USA ………..Dear Attorney General Loretta Lynch,

Honorable Lee.S.Wolosky, Special Envoy for the Closure of Guantanamo, US State Department, 2201 C Street NW, Washington DC 20520, USA ………..Dear Special Envoy Lee Wolosky,

The Honorable John F. Kerry, Secretary of State, US Department of State, 2201 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20520 ……………..Dear Secretary of State John Kerry,

2. THE MILITARY IGNORES OBAMA’S ORDER TO RELEASE SHAKER FROM GUANTANAMO

CLIVE STAFFORD SMITH of REPRIEVE says…….

"REcent history demonstrates that if President Barack Obama, arguably the most powerful person on planet Earth, wants to prioritize almost anything – from pardoning 46 CONVICTED DRUG FELONS TO BOMBING A FOREIGN COUNTRY without the consent of Congress – little can stand in his way. Why, then, is Shaker Aamer not home in London with his wife and four children?”

Extract "On Thursday, we came a little closer to understanding the reason that Aamer’s youngest child, Faris – who was born on Valentine’s Day 2002, the day that Aamer was rendered to the detention center at Guantánamo Bay – has never even met his father. The Guardian revealed that “the Pentagon [is] blocking Guantánamo deals to return Shaker Aamer and other cleared detainees.” President Obama, it seems, has personally ordered Aamer’s release, and his subordinates have ignored and thwarted his order.”

Extract "If General Dempsey took the time to learn the facts, he would discover that Aamer is no more a terrorist than the general himself is. Aamer loudly protests his detention without trial; all he wants is to be back with his children in London."

Full article by Clive Stafford Smith here:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/14/military-ignores- obamas-order-release-shaker-aamer-guantanamo

3. SSAC CAMPAIGN ACTIONS

Please note SSAC supporters in the capital will be leafleting at London Mosques during August. Again SSAC well received on 14th August: SSAC LEAFLET SESSION - at Balham Mosque, London SW12. Good people flocked to our campaign stall to sign our petition and take away leaflets and postcards to send to President Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron.

Future SSAC Events:

28th August (Friday): SSAC leaflet session and campaign stall at Lewisham Mosque, Lewisham and Kent Islamic Centre, 363-365 Lewisham High St, London SE13 6NZ - meet outside the Mosque at 12.30pm.

7th September (Monday): SSAC Organising Meeting: PCS HQ, 160 Falcon Road, Clapham Junction, Battersea, London, from 5.30pm - 7.45pm

9th September (Wednesday): Next SSAC PROTEST VIGIL ‘END THE TORTURE AND ABUSE’ - PARLIAMENT SQUARE - Wednesday 9th SEPTEMBER - 1pm-3pm, plan now to join us if you can…

12th September: SSAC campaign stall at BATTERSEA, St Johns Road, Clapham Junction, London SW11, meet opposite or beside Starbucks at 11.30am, sessions ends 1.30pm.

and please note the next ….

Shaker Aamer All Party Parliamentary Group meeting takes place on 9th September.

SSAC's Committee, along with representatives from a number of other campaigning groups will be attending this meeting.

SSAC regularly brings proposals to this meeting of Members of Parliament working for Shaker’s release from Guantanamo and return to his family in the UK.

Please note:

1) SSAC Protest Vigils at Parliament Square restart on Wednesday 9th September and will continue through the Autumn. Dates to be announced.

2) If you can organise leaflet sessions or campaign stalls in your area then please do contact SSAC with details.

3) Campaign resources (leaflets, postcards, petition sheets, badges, T-shirts) can be ordered by leaving an appropriate message on, or sending a text to 07756493877. You will need to state clearly - your name, contact details and a delivery address…we will then contact you to discuss.

4. SSAC ORGANISING MEETING: MONDAY 7th September

Our next SSAC Organising Meeting takes place on

Monday 7th September at the PCS HQ, 160 Falcon Road, London SW11 at 5.30pm.

All are welcome to attend our ‘Organising' meetings to help plan future actions of SSAC. With news of 'Obama's plan' to close Guantanamo and a vote in US Congress likely to take place in September, the US President’s previous promise to PM David Cameron to prioritise Shaker’s case, and earlier this year the flurry of media talk of Shaker’s possible release during the summer months, there is much to discuss. We will need to plan our future actions to take account of these developments so as to increase the pressure put on the US President and UK Prime Minister.

Their must be no more excuses or delays - Shaker must be freed back to the UK. Our meeting will also receive a campaign update and reports from activists. Please note the venue is right beside Clapham Junction Station.

If you wish to raise an initiative or proposal to be added to our ‘actions & ideas’ sheet, or anything urgent for our Committee to consider, then please do send your ideas, comments, proposal to SSAC by email reply or if brief wording text to 07756493877

5. LONDON GUANTANAMO CAMPAIGN (LGC) : OBAMA CLOSED BAGRAM SO WHY NOT GUANTANAMO

LGC says:

"Ahead of Obama's latest plan to close Guantánamo next month, in my latest article, I take a look at why Obama was able to close Bagram (very quietly) at the end of last year but not Guantánamo, as well as in light of recent US court cases”.
https://onesmallwindow.wordpress.com/2015/08/14/obama-closed-bagram-so -why-not-guantanamo/

A lot of this information is not so well known.

6. MUST LISTEN: GUANTANAMO: RADIO 4: SUNDAY 16th August

Next Sunday on Radio 4, former prisoners at Guantanamo, Moazzam Begg and Sami al Hajj, are joined by Colonel Mike Bumgarner, head of the guard force at Guantanamo, and lawyer Clive Stafford Smith of Reprieve. SSAC anticipates and looks forward to an in-depth 45 minute discussion with hopefully references made to Shaker Aamer's ordeal, tortured, abused, beaten and still incarcerated in Guantanamo after 13 years even though cleared for release with President Obama promising to prioritise his case. We understand the programme will refer to the inhuman way prisoners have been mistreated, both in Guantanamo and prior to arriving at the prison. It is well known and reported that prisoners have been abused and tortured. The former prisoners tell of the appalling torture methods and some of the terrible things that they have seen on route to Guantanamo. Views of prisoner hunger strikes, and the force-feeding of prisoners are expressed.

Listen to the programme, BBC Radio 4, 11.30, Sunday 16th August.

BBC Radio 4 says of the programme:

Guantanamo Bay: The Reunion

Sue MacGregor speaks to former detainees and the head of the guard force at Guantanamo Bay.

In 2002, a detention camp was hastily built in a remote corner of Cub, to house the men captured in America's "war on terror". Thirteen years later, it is still there. And in the intervening time, Guantanamo Bay has become a byword for controversy, a place Amnesty International called "the gulag of our time".

Now Sue MacGregor reunites two of the men held there. Sami al Hajj, a Sudanese cameraman with the news organisation Al Jazeera, was picked up in Afghanistan. He says he was covering America's war with the Taliban. Moazzam Begg, who is British, was living with his family in Pakistan when he was arrested. He claims he was handed over for bounty money. They are joined by Colonel Mike Bumgarner, head of the guard force at Guantanamo, and lawyer Clive Stafford Smith.

Sami al Hajj spent eight years in the camp. He describes being beaten and forcibly kept awake. He went on hunger strike and says he was force fed until he threw up, in an attempt to break his strike. But the worst torture was being kept away from his family, particularly his baby son. Moazzam Begg was detained for three years. He says he saw two men beaten to death by American soldiers in Afghanistan on his way to Guantanamo.

Colonel Mike Bumgarner describes how little guidance was given to those in charge of running the camp and points out that, while force feeding is unpleasant, detainees can't just be allowed to die. Clive Stafford Smith reveals the black humour at the heart of Guantanamo, recalling a detainee who was accused of being an Al Qaeda financier purely as a result of mistranslation.

Producer: Kate Taylor Series Producer: David Prest A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b065rvpv

and to draw your attention again to ……..

7. SSAC LETTER SENT TO PRESS - COURT ORDER FOR URGENT MEDICAL EXAMINATION REFUSED BY US

Please note SSAC’s most recent letter sent to the press. See the letter further below. The campaign’s letter begins "
British Resident Shaker Aamer, still held in Guantananamo, is seriously ill. His US lawyers have obtained a court order for him to have an urgent medical examination. The US has refused on the grounds that if permission was given, Shaker would be entitled to the status of “prisoner of war” with rights protected by the Geneva Conventions.
”

See news reports 6th August for reports on US refusing to allow Shaker to be medically examined:

Extract "Today we reveal how, in the latest act of inhumanity to take place at Guantanamo Bay, the Londoner Shaker Aamer has been refused a medical examination to see if he is suffering from psychiatric problems.

After 13 shameful years of detention without trial, it would be astonishing if Aamer's mental state wasn't very fragile.

Yet the Obama administration – despite all its lofty rhetoric about wishing to set an 'example to the world' on the treatment of terror suspects – says establishing a medical panel to visit Aamer would put such an 'extraordinary burden' on the US Government as to be unacceptable.

Depressingly, the President's lawyers have also reverted to calling the father of four an 'enemy combatant' – a phrase they have not used since 2009, when George Bush's futile, misguided war on terror, during which America practised torture, was brought to an end."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3186522/DAILY-MAIL-COMMENT-B roken-promises-shame-Barack-Obama-s-presidency-include-refusal-grant-B ritain-s-Guantanamo-Bay-inmate-medical-exam.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3186511/Now-denies-sick-Briton -Guantanamo-medical-test-Officials-claim-difficult-independent-doctors -assess-him.html

It is imperative that all SSAC supporters at this time immediately write to Prime Minister David Cameron and President Obama.

Write to them at The White House, Washington, and No. 10, Westminster - addresses here…….

President Barack Obama, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20500, USA

The Right Hon David Cameron, The Prime Minister, 10 Downing Street, London SW1A 2AG

With Guantanamo set up outside of International law, and with all that has been reported about Guantanamo, and Shaker’s own and his lawyers statements, as well as the US President’s own words and promises about Guantanamo, the US refusal to allow a medical examination of Shaker should be condemned outright. Shaker must be given back his human rights and freed back to the UK, and returned to his family where he belongs. That is the only course to take, it is in the arms of his family where he will be safe, and able to receive the love, care, and support he needs, including the urgent medical attention he requires.

Call NOW for Shaker Aamer’s immediate release and for him to be returned to the UK. Demand from the Prime Minister David Cameron that he does more, much more, to secure Shaker’s release. Polite requests made so far have clearly not been successful. The UK Prime Minister needs to use the ’special relationship’ which is so often mentioned when describing the close bond that exists between the US & UK. Mr Cameron must demand that the US President honours his promises to prioritise Shaker’s case and use his executive powers to free Shaker. Prime Minister David Cameron has said he wants Shaker back in the UK as a matter of urgency, but what we now need to see is that urgent action that leads to Shaker’s freedom quickly taken by both Mr Cameron and Mr Obama.

No more delays, no more excuses.

Joy Hurcombe, Chair of SSAC wrote ……..

Dear Editor,

British Resident Shaker Aamer, still held in Guantananamo, is seriously ill. His US lawyers have obtained a court order for him to have an urgent medical examination. The US has refused on the grounds that if permission was given, Shaker would be entitled to the status of “prisoner of war” with rights protected by the Geneva Conventions. Men like Shaker Aamer are held in Guantanamo in violation of all international laws.

Shaker is now very sick. He needs immediate medical treatment. Over thirteen years of torture and abuse have caused a serious deterioration in his mental and physical health. His mental distress must be unbearable knowing that he has been cleared to leave Guantanamo for over eight years and that he faces no charge or trial.

Prime Minister David Cameron should call President Obama at once and demand Shaker Aamer’s immediate release and return to the UK where his urgent medical needs can be adequately met. Shaker is locked up and chained in a steel cell, subjected to daily acts of brutality, denied any acts of respect and kindness which is the right of all, in the most expensive prison in the world! This latest act of cruelty comes at a time when we had real hopes that the years of injustice suffered by Shaker Aamer would soon be at an end. We appeal to the US to end the torture of this poor sick man and let him come home to his family in the UK.

Those who have the power to act should make this happen as a matter of absolute urgency.

Please use the content above to inform your own letter when writing to PM Cameron and President Obama ...

SSAC has also alerted the Shaker Aamer All Party Group (SA APPG) of the US Administration’s refusal to allow medical professionals to examine Shaker.

SSAC said….

Shaker Aamer has been refused an urgent medical examination as ordered by the court because this would give him entitlement to rights that he is presently denied!

This is absolutely shameful. Prime Minister David Cameron should call President Obama at once and demand Shaker Aamer’s immediate return to the UK where his urgent medical needs can be adequately met. Shaker has been locked up for over 13 years, subjected to daily acts of brutality, denied any acts of respect and kindness which is the right of all, in the most expensive prison in the world. This latest act of cruelty comes at a time when we had real hopes that the years of injustice suffered by Shaker Aamer would soon be at an end. We appeal to the US to end the torture of this poor sick man and let him come home to his family in the UK. Those who have the power to act should make this happen as a matter of absolute urgency.

Also note: Health Survey being carried out at Guantanamo re. carcinogens at the Guantanamo site.

A Carol Rosenberg article...

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo  /article30336105.html

8. FILM SHORT: SHAKER AAMER VIGIL - LONDON MAY 2015

Short film placed on Youtube for Shaker.

Shaker Aamer - a London resident, is still in Guantanamo after thirteen years, without charge or trial. This all day protest vigil, 14 HOURS FOR 14 YEARS, held in Trafalgar Square, London in May 2015 raised significant funds to help send a delegation of four Members of Parliament, Jeremy Corbyn, David Davis, Andy Slaighter, and Andrew Mitchell to Washington USA asking for his release - yet again. The video tells us what happened to Shaker and the delegation. Please watch the video and share.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RPOCJ7T7NY&feature=youtu.be

9. FORCE FEEDING AT GITMO

Democracy Now reports that the American Psychological Association (APA) voted almost unanimously in favour of a resolution prohibiting its members from participating in national security interrogations. Retired Col. Larry James, the former top Army intelligence psychologist at Guantanamo, had the only dissenting vote.

The APA has tended to keep its ethics policy inline with the US Defence Department 'interrogation goals’ even though it is known that CIA health professionals have criticised the force-feeding programme at Guantanamo. Its important to note that following the damning report, the result of a seven-month investigation instigated by APA and carried out David Hoffman, a lawyer with the firm Sidley Austin—the APA issued an apology and renounced its 2005 ethics guidelines. Top officials at APA then announced early retirements.

A former APA president, for instance, offered an opinion to the CIA that sleep deprivation did not constitute torture. The former APA president is reported to have "later took equity in a consulting company that oversaw the interrogation program “.

"APA’s Council of Representatives passed a resolution today prohibiting psychologists 'from working at Guantanamo Bay, from the CIA black sites, and any other setting that the UN has declared to be in violation of international law, excepting those psychologists who are performing no task other than offering treatment to fellow soldiers.' The vote was 156 yes, 1 no, 7 abstentions and 1 recusal.”

Read more at:

http://www.newsweek.com/psychology-association-votes-bar-members-parti cipating-interrogations-360878

http://www.newsweek.com/psychology-association-votes-bar-members-parti cipating-interrogations-360878

10. REPORT ACCUSES OBAMA OF DRAGGING ITS FEET

The Organization of American States human-rights commission in a new report on the U.S.’s Guantanamo Bay policy has accused the Obama administration of dragging its feet in closing the detainee facility. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights published the 137-page report this week, days after the administration missed its own target to present Congress with a new plan to shutter the prison. White House officials now say they don’t expect to finish the plan before lawmakers return in September from an August recess. The report included recommendations regarding the operation and eventual closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. The panel adopted its findings in June, but needed time to edit and translate the document before releasing it.

The commission called on Congress to repeal a bar on transferring detainees to the U.S. mainland for prosecution, incarceration or medical treatment, and to loosen restrictions on repatriating or resettling prisoners overseas.

See Wall Street Journal comment here

http://www.wsj.com/articles/guantanamo-bay-report-takes-aim-at-u-s-143 8976710

11. SSAC PROTEST VIGIL: OVER 13 YEARS OF TORTURE AND ABUSE:

NO MORE DELAY, NO MORE EXCUSES: WEDNESDAY 9th SEPTEMBER:

Please note - there are currently no SSAC Vigils planned for PARLIAMENT SQUARE during August (Parliamentary recess), we will restart our Vigils in PARLIAMENT SQUARE on 9th September.

Ray Silk Sec. Save Shaker Aamer Campaign - Last Londoner in Guantanamo (SSAC)
07756493877

Order SSAC POSTCARDS? ring mobile number above - leave message with full details.

(Please leave clear message and we will get back to you).

Follow us on Twitter @SaveShakerSSAC

Listen to PJ Harvey song http://www.uncut.co.uk/hear-pj-harveys-new-protest-song-shaker-aamer-n ews

Roger Waters (musician, singer/songwriter...) beautiful tribute to Shaker

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=747127365331071=


MUST WATCH VIDEOS:

RT UK interviews JEREMY CORBYN ON SHAKER: RT UK Exclusive: 'This man has suffered' Jeremy Corbyn on Shaker Aamer

http://goldsilvermarkets.com/rt-uk-exclusive-this-man-has-suffered-jer emy-corbyn-on-shaker-aamer/

RT Going Underground interviews VICTORIA BRITTAIN

http://rt.com/shows/going-underground/255853-guanta

SSAC’s ’14 HOURS FOR 14 YEARS’ all day protest at Trafalgar Square https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RPOCJ7T7NY&feature=youtu.be

Order your T-Shirt - call 07756493877 leave message with your contact details, or reply to this email.

[Frazzel]

24 Oct | London | Protest vigil to demand Shaker Aamer's release
Shaker Aamer's 5,000th day in Guantanamo
Protest vigil to demand his release
Saturday 24 October | 2-4pm
Opposite Downing Street | London

Organised by: Save Shaker Aamer Campaign

The US has informed Shaker Aamer and David Cameron that Shaker will be released from Guantanamo and returned to his home and family in the UK. The 30-day notice period to the US Congress ends on October 24th. We demand his release the very next day.

Join us to make sure the UK and US Governments honour this pledge. No more delay, Bring Shaker home today.

Speakers, music, street theatre - Make a great noise for Shaker. Join us and bring your banners.