Medics condemn Government over Guantanamo

[AQSA]

Medics condemn Government
over Gitmo in new letter


called on the UK to intervene for eight UK residents held at Guantánamo Bay. Amnesty International called for the government to act over "forgotten" prisoners from the UK held at the US detention centre in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, on Monday.


The call came after the publication of a new letter - signed by 120 medical health professionals - condemning the government for its failure to seek independent medical examinations for the eight Gitmo detainees. The letter, published in The Times newspaper, pecifically singles out the Foreign Office for criticism in refusing to respond to a BMA request to send UK doctors to assess the medical needs of the men at Guantánamo. It also makes ****ing remarks about the failure of the Foreign Office’s own medical panel to discuss the plight of the detainees.


Signatories to the letter include Dr Charles Clarke (a member of the Foreign Office’s medical panel) and Dr David S Halpin (also a penal member), as well as Dr William Hopkins (Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture), Dr Adnan Siddiqui (CAGE Prisoners) and Dr Ihtesham Sabri (Muslim Doctors Association). Another signatory is US doctor Steven H Miles, a noted expert on medical ethics and human rights who has also published a book on the USA’s breach of medical ethics in its ‘war on terror’.


Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said: "It’s shameful that in four and half years the government has not insisted on independent medical examinations for long-term residents of the UK held in the black hole of Guantánamo. "These men - some of whom are refugees that the UK has acknowledged to be vulnerable people - have essentially been left to rot in Guantánamo’s cells. They’re Guantánamo’s forgotten prisoners."


Dr David Nicholl, a consultant neurologist at the City Hospital in Birmingham, coordinated The Times letter. He said: "Many doctors I speak to every day are outraged by the government’s heartless attitude to these eight Guantánamo prisoners. "They simply can’t accept that men trapped at Guantánamo should be denied independent medical assistance because the government is hair-splitting about ‘nationality’ versus ‘residency’ status. The case is straightforward: these men are vulnerable and they need to be examined by a team of independent physicians."


None of the eight UK residents held at Guantánamo has ever been openly and independently examined, despite longstanding concerns about the physical and mental impact of long-term incarceration without charge or trial at the camp. One of the detained UK residents - Omar Deghayes – is believed to have been blinded in one eye after Guantánamo guards reportedly forced a finger into his eye while repeatedly pepper-spraying him in the face.



There are also concerns for the mental health of some of the Guantánamo prisoners, concerns that were heightened after three detainees died –apparently from self-inflicted injuries - in June.



There are believed to be at least eight UK residents currently held at Guantánamo (nine British nationals having previously been released).

Besides Omar Deghayes, these are: Binyam Mohamed, Shaker Aamer, Bisher al-Rawi, Jamil el- Banna, Ahmed Errachidi, Ahmed Belbacha and Abdennour Sameur.Using the argument that they are UK residents and not UK nationals, the UK government is currently refusing to offer any formal legal or medical help to the men - with the exception of Bisher al-Rawi, who has apparently been accorded separate status by the UK government because of his supposed links to the UK intelligence services.



Following the recent transfer of 14 prisoners from secret CIA detention to Guantánamo, approximately 460 prisoners of some 35 nationalities are being held at the prison camp; the vast majority have not been charged with an offence.Though some detainees have now been held for four and a half years, no-one has yet received a proper trial.


(The Muslim Weekly- UK News)

[Muezzin]

Please provide a link if you have one.

[MH-UK]

:sl:

The Muslim Weekly - Medics condemn Government
over Gitmo in new letter

[Keltoi]

Articles like this don't have a clear understanding of American or international law. An enemy combatant can be held as long as the hostilities still commence. As for those who the U.S. feels pose no threat, they have released. Hundreds of them.

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[Zulkiflim]

Articles like this don't have a clear understanding of American or international law. An enemy combatant can be held as long as the hostilities still commence. As for those who the U.S. feels pose no threat, they have released. Hundreds of them.

Salaam,

Perhaps it is you who do not grasp international laws.or your own coutnry.

You do know that the UN have said to close guantanamo and the courts have said it is illegal to hold humans as prisoner wihout charges.

As you have said,until the US fell no threat,i am vry sure with every innocent prisoner in Abu Ghraid and Guantanamo is released you ahve made a new enemy.

So you are just building your own coffin.

Perhaps as long as Iran or Al Qaeda feel it is threathened then it has the same national and international right to hold back US soldiers..is that ok for you?

Also,it is clear to many the hyprocrisy of the US goverment on torture.
As Bush say WE DO NOT TORTURE,but now admits to scret prison and what not BUT NOT ON United States land.

Some are even sent to Syria,which is "evil" ....but becasue they torture it is right to send them there...

Hyprocrisy...

[Keltoi]

Salaam,

Perhaps it is you who do not grasp international laws.or your own coutnry.

You do know that the UN have said to close guantanamo and the courts have said it is illegal to hold humans as prisoner wihout charges.

As you have said,until the US fell no threat,i am vry sure with every innocent prisoner in Abu Ghraid and Guantanamo is released you ahve made a new enemy.

So you are just building your own coffin.

Perhaps as long as Iran or Al Qaeda feel it is threathened then it has the same national and international right to hold back US soldiers..is that ok for you?

Also,it is clear to many the hyprocrisy of the US goverment on torture.
As Bush say WE DO NOT TORTURE,but now admits to scret prison and what not BUT NOT ON United States land.

Some are even sent to Syria,which is "evil" ....but becasue they torture it is right to send them there...

Hyprocrisy...

No hypocrisy. The U.S. has the right to detain enemies as long as deemed necessary. The problem arises because these people aren't soldiers of a particular nation, so the government is attempting to find the correct legal framework to deal with this reality. As for what Al-Qaeda will do, I don't think any soldier or any civilian has any illusions about what will happen to them if they are captured. They will be beheaded, shot, tortured, etc, whatever lot they draw. This naive belief that terrorists will change their murderous ways because the U.S. does...whatever you want them to do, is a fallacy.

[Hawa]

This naive belief that terrorists will change their murderous ways because the U.S. does...whatever you want them to do, is a fallacy.

Perhaps it is also naive to believe that if the US stopped funding and propagating terrorist activities in the middle east then acts of terror would cease altogether?

[Geronimo]

All of these medics codemn Gitmo yet not one have been there to inspect it. I condemn the Iman at the mosque down the street because I heard they said they hated Native Americans once:rollseyes

[AQSA]

All of these medics codemn Gitmo yet not one have been there to inspect it.

I think they have attempted many times, along with lawyers/solicitors, human rights & peace activists.

Dont you think if they were 'allowed' to do so by the american government, then they would by all means go there not only to inspect...........but brake the detainees out of there........... due to the physical & mental torture being inficted on them in this unjustifiable and illegal restrainment.............(without charge!)

No hypocrisy. The U.S. has the right to detain enemies as long as deemed necessary. The problem arises because these people aren't soldiers of a particular nation, so the government is attempting to find the correct legal framework to deal with this reality.

And does that justify the inhumane conditions they're being held in