Write a letter

Letter writing is an important part of our campaign

See below some of the people to whom you could send a letter urging the closure of Guantanamo.  

Also further below, see some more letters written by GJC supporters.

Write to the US President Joe Biden and insist he close Guantanamo prison. 

Send your letter to: US President Joe Biden ,The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500.

Or try phoning: Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414

Or email your message via: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/#page  

Write to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and call on her to press the US President and his administration to close down Guantanamo, to respect international law on human rights and torture. 

Send your letter to: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, 10 Downing Street, London, SW1A 2AA

Or email the PM, using the link: https://email.number10.gov.uk/

You could also write to:

Rt Hon. David Cameron MP, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, King Charles Street, London, SW1A 2AH, United Kingdom

See other Ministers at the FCO here

SEE A SAMPLE OF RECENT LETTERS BELOW SOME BY GUANTANAMO JUSTICE CAMPAIGN (GJC), SOME BY INDIVIDUAL SUPPORTERS

Guantanamo Justice Campaign continues to encourage supporters to write to key politicians both here in the UK and the US. The following are extracts from another recent supporters letter - sent to UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverley. Don’t forget to send us, Guantanamo justice Campaign, a copy of the text of your letter for sharing.

Letter written to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak - Jan. 2024 

Voices all around the world call for closure of the detention facility - This travesty involving unbelievable cruelty has blighted so many lives and must be brought to an end.

January 11th 2024 marked 22 years since the first men were cruelly transported to the brutal and illegal detention facility known as Guantanamo. The existence of this facility continues to undermine US credibility on human rights in the eyes of the world. It represents great injustice and inhumanity, violently disrupting and destroying the lives of many innocent people and risking the fuelling of further conflict in the world. 

Prime Minister, we ask you to make urgent representations to US President Joe Biden to use his executive powers and close down this detention facility  which has served no useful purpose at all other than to exacerbate and increase tensions and division across the world. US President Joe Biden has advocated closing down Guantanamo, but would significantly benefit from an international community audibly supporting his pledged endeavours to do so. Clearly illegal imprisonment, indefinite detention and all forms of torture, reputed to be practised at the prison, must come to an end. 

President Biden must act resolutely with determination to end the illegal imprisonment of the remaining 30 men still held at Guantanamo. All detainees have suffered for many years as a result of disastrous foreign policy decisions of successive US administrations. We therefore again call on the US to respect human rights laws embedded in international law, specifically the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Conventions on Human Rights. The UN has consistently called for the closure of the facility - see statements of Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, in 2022, and 2023, referring to the “ongoing reality of sustained arbitrary detention and torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment that have continued since 2001”. 

We urge you, Prime Minister and members of your government, as a matter of urgency to:

• make an incisive public statement on the matter of the US detention facility, Guantanamo – calling for the illegal prison to be swiftly closed down, and justice for all the Guantanamo prisoners. We urge you to contact the US President and insist he must close down Guantanamo. Voices all around the world call for closure of the detention facility, and have condemned the practices of torture, indefinite detention, inhumane and degrading treatment that has taken place under the auspices of four US presidencies. This travesty involving unbelievable cruelty has blighted so many lives and must be brought to an end. 

• raise the cases of those detainees already cleared for release/transfer by the relevant US government offices and agencies, with the US President, stressing that their continued forced detention in Guantanamo must end, their human rights must be immediately reinstated, and their transfer or release arrangements must be set in motion. For one reason or another the US administration’s resettlement or repatriation programs would seem to have stalled, this is failing the men cleared for release or transfer, as well as their families. Further delay would be cruel in the extreme and clearly unacceptable.

• enter into negotiations with President Biden’s administration to help find a solution to this travesty of justice. Many of those detainees cleared have been held without charge or trial for more than 18 years. According to the US authorities, release/transfer of these prisoners would not be a threat to the United States. We call upon you to offer safe and supported settlement here in the UK for ‘one or more of these prisoners’. We say – to be cleared for release/transfer must lead to a swift, safe and well supported release, with all necessary and appropriate care and support provided for their resettlement and life after Guantanamo. 

We have mentioned the need for safe and supported resettlement upon release. We have written to you previously about former Guantanamo detainee Ravil Mingazov and express our concerns again. Ravil Mingazov, a former ballet dancer, spent 15 years forcibly held in Guantanamo without charge. Mingazov was released and transported to the UAE at the very end of the Obama presidency. The US was assured by the UAE that as part of the transfer agreement made behind closed doors, Mingazov would spend six months in a rehabilitation centre before he was released with a job and housing. It is deeply shocking that Mingazov is still imprisoned in the UAE over six years on. His legal team have said he has been tortured, held in solitary confinement, and deprived of water and medical care. Mingazov has member in the UK. We request that you look into his dire situation and call on President Biden to act immediately on his behalf - and further more, we urge you, Prime Minister, to negotiate a solution by offering to resettle Mingazov here in the UK. 

Guantanamo Justice Campaign would be pleased to receive your thoughts on the points we have raised above, including details of the UK government's current position on the matter of Guantanamo and the men still forcibly held there. We would also appreciate hearing news of any approaches you, Prime Minister, or members of your government, have made to the US authorities regarding all matters we have raised above. 

--------------------------

WRITE YOUR OWN LETTER and SEND TO:

• Write a letter to your MP at: Name of MP, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA

• Write to the Prime Minister: UK Prime Minister, 10 Downing Street, SW1A 2AA

• Rt Hon David Cameron MP, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA

---------------------------

LETTER SENT TO Rt. Hon. David Cameron MP, UK FOREIGN SECRETARY Dec. 2023

Close Guantanamo Torture Prison - Justice for Guantanamo Prisoners !

Less than a month ago, December 10th 2023 was the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and people all over the world marked the moment when the inalienable human rights of everyone were enshrined in the Declaration. However for 21 years the detention facility at Guantanamo has undermined the credibility on human rights of our close ally, the USA, in the eyes of the world.

Guantanamo is a travesty of justice - people kidnapped, tortured and denied their human rights for decades, without ever being put on trial or even charged with any offence, despite the fact that prohibition of torture is a key principle of international law. As you will be aware, Lord Cameron, it is a principle deeply embedded in the UN declaration of 1948, the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 and the UN Torture Convention 1964.

Over the past few years there have been repeated indications that the US administration wants to close the detention facility by the end of the presidential term. The most recent detainee release (April 2023) reduced the number of men held in the facility to 30 and we understand that the administration is looking at various options, including seeking other countries who would be willing to receive and resettle detainees who have been cleared for release or transfer, to further reduce that number.

I remember quite well, Lord Cameron, when you were Prime Minister, that you stated clearly that it was Government policy to call for the closure of the illegal Guantanamo torture prison and I understand that it is official Government policy today. I shall therefore be glad if you will inform me what steps you are taking in your new role as Foreign Secretary to ensure that Government policy is fully implemented. Have you yet discussed the matter with your opposite number in the USA, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken ? If not, I urge you to do so and to offer to the US Administration the UK’s help in receiving and re-settling one or more of the prisoners cleared for release who are unable to return to their home countries. This is surely the least the UK could do to help our close ally to bring an end to the terrible injustice suffered by Guantanamo prisoners and further the goal of closure of the illegal prison.

Finally, I ask you to review the case of former Guantanamo prisoner, Ravil Mingazov, an innocent man who after 14 years detention at Guantanamo was released into the custody of the United Arab Emirates, only to be subjected to a second period of unlawful detention by the UAE, in contravention of the agreement between the US and the UAE. I urge you to negotiate with the UAE so that Mr Mingazov may be re-settled in the UK where his family reside. It is about time that Mr Mingazov’s case was dealt with in a compassionate way, justice in his case is long overdue.

LETTER SENT TO JAMES CLEVERLEY, UK FOREIGN SECRETARY REGARDING RAVIL MINGAZOV ON 23 MAY 2023

—————

Dear Foreign Secretary,

Ravil Mingazov is an ethnic Tatar from Russia who was arrested in Afghanistan in 2002 by Pakistan Police, sold for bounty and shipped to Guantanamo Bay Prison where he was never charged.   He was finally cleared for transfer in 2016.   In 2017 Mingazov was sent to the UAE as part of a transfer agreement with the US, where he has been tortured and deprived of medical care and where he remains in solitary confinement.

A petition has been made by Mingazov’s US lawyer, Gary Thompson for him to be reunited with his family in the UK.   There are concerns that Mingazov could be forcibly returned to Russia and face the possibility of religious persecution, torture or further imprisonment.

I would be interested to know whether you have received Thompson’s petition and if so, whether you would consider resettling Ravil Mingazov in the UK where he would have a safe and secure home.

I look forward to receiving your views on this matter.  

With thanks and regards,

See below several  Guantanamo Justice Campaign (GJC) supporters 2023 letters, and a poem on Guantanamo - after 21 years: hopefully they will prompt you to write a letter or poem too! Scroll down to see details of those to whom you could write! 

Supporter's Letter written to their member of Parliament

The following letter was sent by a Guantanamo Justice Campaign supporter to their UK Member of Parliament. GJC encourages YOU to WRITE A LETTER TO YOUR OWN MP along similar lines. The letter below makes some key points and asks. It also invites the MP to visit the UK Guantanamo Network monthly vigils generally held at Parliament Square (see Events page) & also draws attention to the new soon to be launched (April 2023) All Party Parliamentary Group for Closing the Guantanamo Detention Centre, as well as asking the MP to put some questions to the UK Foreign Secretary, currently James Cleverly.

----------

Dear .................. Member of Parliament, 

Justice for Guantanamo Prisoners held at the Illegal Torture Prison, Guantanamo

I am one of your constituents and have been involved for many years in the campaign to free the innocent prisoners who have been illegally held by the USA at Guantanamo without any charge or trial, in some cases for up to 20 years. During this time prisoners have been tortured, abused and humiliated, held in cage-like cells, often in solitary confinement and when they have attempted to protest by going on hunger strike have been brutally force-fed.  Although this is not a matter directly concerning one of your constituents, I am sure you will agree that there are vitally important human rights issues at stake in a situation which was described by President Obama as “a stain on the character of the USA”.

There are currently 31 prisoners still incarcerated at Guantanamo and what is of immediate concern  is the situation of the 17 prisoners who have all  already been cleared for release/transfer by the relevant US government offices and agencies. Some of those who have been cleared have been held without charge or trial for more than 17 years. We say that once a prisoner has been cleared for release, they must then have a swift, safe and well supported release into a secure environment where they may be re-united with their families and recover from the horrendous, traumatic experience they have endured.

As you may know, it is the declared policy of the Government to call for the closure of the illegal prison at Guantanamo but the problem seems to be that the government does not appear to be implementing it’s policy by calling on President Biden to speed up the release of the ‘cleared’ prisoners and ensuring that Guantanamo may be closed in a timely manner.

I shall therefore be grateful if you will, on my behalf, ask the Foreign Secretary:

1. When government ministers or officials last made representations to President Biden or Secretary Blinken regarding the release of prisoners cleared for release and the closure of Guantanamo

2. If the Foreign Secretary or Foreign Office Ministers will now make further representations to the US government on this matter

3. If the Foreign Secretary has received petition(s) from lawyers acting for former Guantanamo prisoner, Ravel Mingazov, asking that he may be allowed to join his family in the UK and if so, what is the Foreign Secretary’s decision.

Finally, next Wednesday 05 April from 1pm to 3pm, I will be participating in a monthly Vigil at Parliament Square, opposite the House of Commons and I invite you to attend even if for a short time, to talk to members of the Guantanamo Network (which consists of Guantanamo Justice Campaign, Amnesty, Close Guantanamo, Freedom from Torture and London Guantanamo Campaign).  This Vigil is being replicated in 5 other locations around the world.

Please also note that there is now a ‘Close Guantanamo’ All Party Parliamentary Group which you may be interested to attend.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

------------

Letter written to PM Rishi Sunak by a GJC supporter

Dear Prime Minister,

Ravil Mingazov, an ethnic Tatar from Russia, fled to Tajikistan in 2000 to escape persecution for his Moslem Faith.   He was eventually arrested in 2002 by Pakistan Police in Afghanistan and sold for bounty and shipped to Guantanamo Bay Prison. While there he was never charged and was finally cleared for transfer in 2016.   His family insist he went to Afghanistan from a desire to live in an Islamic country and was not involved in terrorism.    

In 2017 Mingazov was sent to the UAE as part of a transfer agreement with the US.   He remains in a UAE prison, where he has been tortured, held in solitary confinement and deprived of medical care.   The US had been assured by the UAE that as part of the transfer agreement he would spend six months in a rehabilitation centre before he was released and then provided with a job and housing.     According to Nils Melzer, Special Rapporteur on Torture, Mingazov is held at an undisclosed location, amounting to enforced disappearance.

There are concerns that Mingazov could be forcibly returned to Russia and face the possibility of religious persecution, torture or further imprisonment.    He has family living in the UK and they would very much like him to be transferred to this country.

Prime Minister, I ask you to seriously consider the possibility of offering to resettle Ravil Mingazov in the UK, where he would have a safe and secure home, the support of his family and the rehabilitation that this country can offer.

I look forward to receiving your response.

Yours sincerely,

Guantanamo Justice Campaign 

Letter sent to the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak 11.01.2023 (Guantanamo 21st Anniversary)

A copy sent to Rt Hon. James Cleverly MP, UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs

Dear Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, 

Today, January 11th 2023 marks 21 years since the first men were cruelly transported to the brutal and illegal prison known as Guantanamo. For 21 years Guantanamo’s existence has undermined US credibility on human rights in the eyes of the world. Prime Minister, we ask you to make urgent representations to US President Biden to use his executive powers and close down this prison which has served no useful purpose at all other than to increase tension and division amongst people and fuel conflict. 

US President Joe Biden advocates closing down Guantanamo, but would significantly benefit from an international community audibly supporting his pledged endeavours to do so. Clearly illegal imprisonment, indefinite detention and all forms of torture, reputed to be practised at the prison, must come to an end. 

The President must act resolutely with determination to end the illegal imprisonment of the remaining 35 men still held at Guantanamo. All prisoners have suffered for many years as a result of disastrous foreign policy decisions of successive US administrations. We therefore again call on the US to respect human rights laws embedded in international law, specifically the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Conventions on Human Rights. The UN has consistently called for the closure of the facility. 

Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, is on record (April 2022) stating “We should all feel profoundly troubled by the ongoing reality of sustained arbitrary detention and torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment that have continued since 2001”. We urge you, Prime Minister and members of your government, to make an incisive public statement on these matters – calling for the illegal prison to be swiftly closed down, and justice for all Guantanamo prisoners. This travesty has blighted so many lives and must be brought to a swift end. 

Of immediate concern to us is the situation of the 20 prisoners, who have all been already cleared for release/transfer by the relevant US government offices, and agencies. Some of those who have been cleared have been held without charge or trial for more than 17 years. According to the US authorities, release/transfer of these prisoners would not be a threat to the United States. We say, any country claiming to be a democracy should respect its own release and transfer process – to be cleared for release must lead to a swift, safe and well supported release. 

We call upon you Prime Minister, as a matter of urgency, to raise their cases with the US President, stressing that their continued forced detention in Guantanamo must end, their human rights must be immediately reinstated, and their transfer or release arrangements must be set in motion, all without further delay. 

However, for one reason or another the US administration’s resettlement or repatriation programs are failing the men cleared for release or transfer, and their families. We urge you and your ministers to enter into negotiations with President Biden’s administration to help find a solution to this travesty of justice. We call upon you to offer safe and supported settlement here in the UK for ‘one or more of these prisoners’ 

There is the case of Pakistani citizen Majid Khan who was due for release in March 2022 having completed his custodial sentence, is still held in Guantanamo but should be immediately freed to rejoin his family. We request you raise his case with President Biden. We understand that the US authorities still need to make safe arrangements for his release - further delay, already lengthy, would be cruel and clearly unacceptable. 

Then there is also the case of former Guantanamo prisoner Ravil Mingazov, a former ballet dancer, who spent 15 years in Guantanamo without charge. Mingazov was released and transported to the UAE at the very end of the Obama presidency. The US was assured by the UAE that as part of the transfer agreement made behind closed doors, Mingazov would spend six 

months in a rehabilitation centre before he was released with a job and housing. It is deeply shocking that Mingazov is still imprisoned in the UAE over six years on. His legal team have said he has been tortured, held in solitary confinement, and deprived of water and medical care. We request that you look into his dire situation and call on President Biden to act immediately on Mingazov’s behalf - with family members in the UK, we urge you to negotiate a solution by offering to resettle Mingazov here in the UK. 

Guantanamo Justice Campaign would be pleased to receive your thoughts on the points we have raised above, including details of the UK government's current position on the matter of Guantanamo and the men still forcibly held there. We would also appreciate hearing news of any approaches you, Prime Minister, or members of your government, have made to the US authorities regarding this matter. 

Sincerely 

Poem written by GJC campaigner - for Guantanamo Anniversary event 11.01.2023

 Guantanamo 21 Years On

The years go by and still we feel 

  for the 35 prisoners

  incarcerated indefinitely in Guantanamo

Still held without trial

Still subjected to torture and abuse

On January 11th - the 21st anniversary

Campaigners are frustrated, deeply disappointed 

and filled with anger and despair 

When will these prisoners see the light of freedom

  deprived of legal and human rights 

  an end to prolonged detention

  an end to demeaning interrogation ?

We feel for their degradation

We feel for their loss of privacy 

We feel for their loss of dignity

Close this abomination of humanity

This polluter of the Cuban soil

Close Guantanamo forever

We call for this in solidarity together

Release, release and let the prisoners’ suffering cease

 Poem by GJC supporter[ Written for January 11th 2023  - the 21st anniversary ]

See some examples of Guantanamo Justice Campaign supporters 2022 letters: hopefully they will prompt you to write a letter too! Also see further below details of those to whom you could write!

On the 'Closure of the Guantanamo Torture Prison & Justice for Guantanamo Prisoners’

Letter sent to: Elizabeth Truss MP, The [UK] Foreign Secretary, 

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, King Charles Street, London SW1A 2AH.

As you may be aware, Human Rights Campaigns and concerned individuals in this country and around the world have been campaigning for many years for the release of prisoners who have been held without any charge or trial in the infamous and illegal Guantanamo Prison.  Apart from the horrendous torture and brutality suffered at Bagram and US ‘black sites’ before arriving at Guantanamo, Prisoners have suffered torture, humiliation and abuse and have been deprived of their liberty, some for nearly 20 years.

There has been some progress since President Biden came into office because 21 of the remaining 37 prisoners have now been approved for release.  There are 10 other prisoners facing charges in the military commissions and one other man is serving a life sentence after a one-sided trial in 2008 in which he refused to mount a defence.  This leaves 5 men still held indefinitely without charge or trial : the ‘forever prisoners’. For Guantanamo to be closed the men held must either be charged or released and yet the Periodic Review Boards, a parole-type process established by President Obama, have continued to uphold the imprisonment of these 5 men.

I understand that it is long-standing policy of the British Government to call for the closure of Guantanamo prison and I would be very interested to know whether you or your colleagues in the Foreign Office have recently made any approaches to President Biden or other members of the US Administration in this regard. I am sure you will agree that in the context of universal human rights and the upholding of the rule of law, it is of paramount importance that prisoners are either charged or released without any further delay.

One of the problems that appears to be holding up the release of prisoners who have been approved for release by the Parole Boards is that the stigma of Guantanamo means there is difficulty in finding countries which will accept them, even though the parole Boards consist of 6 Government Departments including the CIA, who would not take such decisions lightly. I understand the US are paying governments that are willing to accept such a prisoner £1 million or more.  Perhaps the British Government could consider taking 1 or more prisoner(s) in order to help its greatest ally and to speed up closure of the prison described by President Obama as ‘a terrible stain on the character of the USA’.  Even if you consider that accepting prisoner(s) in the UK is not possible, I urge you to do the following:

1 Publicly re-state the policy of the British Government in relation to the closure of Guantanamo.

2 Personally  persuade President Biden or the US Secretary of State to charge or release the ‘forever prisoners’ without any further delay.

3 Encourage the US Administration to do everything possible to place ‘cleared for release’ prisoners in a country where they are happy to go and which will allow them to lead a normal life without restrictions on their human rights.

I look forward to receiving your reply as soon as possible.

The continuing existence of the prison at Guantanamo represents a glaring travesty of human rights and the “profound psychological and physical trauma of torture”

Letter sent to: Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 

10 Downing Street, Westminster, London, SW1A 2AA

At this time when the COVID pandemic, the cost of living crisis and the war in Ukraine have been at the forefront of people’s minds, it is easy to overlook the plight of a small and largely forgotten group of prisoners still held at the USA run prison at Guantanamo Bay on the island of Cuba.

Of the 779 prisoners held there over a period of 20 years, 36 still remain, 21 of whom have been cleared for release. Some of these prisoners have waited years for their release to be realised.

All those held at Guantanamo Bay prison since 2002, have suffered torture and abuse, and evidence of this is now being exposed. A deeply moving example of this came in January 2021, in the form of an open letter written to President Joe Biden by 7 former prisoners, urging him to close the prison before its 20th anniversary. All seven prisoners have written books about their ordeal in Guantanamo and include British citizen Moazzam Begg and also Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who is the focus of a recently released film ‘the Mauritanian’ directed by Kevin McDonald.

In their letter, they talk of their experiences and the grave injustice of “imprisoning people indefinitely without trial while subjecting them to torture, cruelty and degrading treatment with no meaningful access to families or proper legal systems”. They also highlight the huge cost - $13m per annum to hold each prisoner - and go on to say “Aside from the moral, legal and public relations disaster that is Guantanamo, some of this money could be easily spent on programs to resettle prisoners and help them rebuild their lives”.

Since his inauguration as US President, Joe Biden and his administration have been making some welcome progress by clearing more prisoners for release. However, most are not able to return to their home country largely due to fears of further torture and abuse they might suffer there so the release of these men depends mostly on the willingness of other countries to receive them.

Recently, in March 2022, it was reported that Fionnuala Ni Aolain, UN Rapporteur and top UN expert on protecting rights while countering terrorism, has received an invitation from Washington to visit the prison at Guantanamo, the first after 20 years of requests. She spoke very movingly and meaningfully about the “profound psychological and physical trauma of torture” experienced by prisoners at Guantanamo, and, regarding those still being held there, stressed the extreme inhumanity of “the continuation of their detention in the site where they experienced such profound violations of their fundamental human rights”

Prime Minister, I call on you to urge President Joe Biden to make every effort to speed up the process of releasing these prisoners, but not only this, to provide what is necessary to give them the essential care and support they need to rebuild their lives.

In addition I call on you, given the special relationship that exists between the U.K. and the USA, to seriously consider the possibility of offering to resettle one or even a number of these men, providing them with a safe and secure home, with the rehabilitation this country can provide. The continuing existence of the prison at Guantanamo represents a glaring travesty of human rights. Please act now to help put this right.

I would appreciate a reply to this letter, especially regarding the points made in the last paragraph above.

Show some mercy!

Email sent to: US President Joe Biden  

(to send an email to the US President see here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

According to the Centre for Victims of Torture Abdulhadi al-Iraqi, a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, was diagnosed with spinal stenosis in September 2010 and did not receive treatment for 7 years when he began to feel significant loss of sensation in his feet and loss of bladder control. He was captured in Turkey in 2006 and held by the CIA until he was sent to Guantanamo in 2007. US authorities deemed him involved with both Al Qaeda and the Taliban and he was accused of being involved in war crimes, though information about these crimes is unreliable.

During his time in Guantanamo he did not receive adequate treatment for his health condition.   In September 2021 a medical emergency was reported that Abdulhadi had lost all feeling in his lower legs.  His solicitor, Susan Hensler, reported that he was unable to walk. Recently a plea deal has been reached and Abdulhadi could be released in 2024. I do hope that the US Government can show some mercy to Abdulhadi and ensure that he receives the best medical treatment and care.

Letter writing is an important part of our campaign

See below some of the people to whom you could send a letter urging the closure of Guantanamo.  

Also further below, see some more letters written by GJC supporters.

Write to the US President Joe Biden and insist he close Guantanamo prison. 

Send your letter to: US President Joe Biden ,The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500.

Or try phoning: Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414

Or email your message via: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/#page  

Write to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and call on her to press the US President and his administration to close down Guantanamo, to respect international law on human rights and torture. 

Send your letter to: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, 10 Downing Street, London, SW1A 2AA

Or email the PM, using the link: https://email.number10.gov.uk/

You could also write to:

Rt Hon. James Cleverly MP, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, King Charles Street, London, SW1A 2AH, United Kingdom

See other Ministers at the FCO here

----------------------

See below a few examples of 2021 letters written by GJC campaign supporters

See below -  text of a GJC letter published in the Morning Star today

HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 10th December 2021

Join January [2022] protest to shut down Gitmo jail

TODAY is UN Human Rights Day, the day the United Nations general assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

The UDHR proclaims the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being - regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. The UDHR is the most translated document in the world but looking around our planet one would not think so, in light of the torture, inequalities, abuses and injustices taking place in so many countries.

The 2021 theme of Human Rights Day is “Equality - reducing inequalities, advancing human rights,” and it is in this context that I wish to remind readers that one of the great injustices of recent years, the illegal Guantanamo Bay prison, is still open and holding 39 prisoners, most of whom have never committed any crime and have never been charged or faced any sort of trial.

Over the years prisoners have been abused, humiliated, tortured, kept in solitary confinement for long periods,

waterboarded and in some cases brutally force-fed when on hunger strike. It is time to close the Guantanamo torture jail and end this sorry chapter in US history.

The Guantanamo Justice Campaign (GJC), formerly the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign, calls on the British government to carry out its declared policy that Guantanamo Prison should be closed and those prisoners who have never been charged be released immediately.

This means that the government must make meaningful and forceful representations to the US administration to this effect, without delay. We urge Star readers and their friends to write to the PM and copy to the Foreign Secretary accordingly, or write direct to US President Joe Biden.

The Guantanamo Network, which comprises GJC, Amnesty, Close Guantanamo and Free- dom from Torture, is organis- ing a major march and rally January 8 to mark 20 years since Gitmo jail was opened. There will be 100 demonstrators dressed in Gitmo uni- form of orange boiler suits and black hoods, marching through central London and petitions and letters will be handed in to 10 Downing Street, plus a rally in Trafalgar Square. Anyone who would like to participate in the event or would like further information, please email: gjcampaign2016@gmail.com

GJC supporters letter sent to the Guardian newspaper 

HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 10th December 2021

To: Editor of the Guardian

Friday, 10th December is Human Rights Day, the day in 1948 that the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and I ask your readers to think of the remaining prisoners at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, most of whom have never been charged with a crime. A group of UN experts said on January 11th this year that Guantanamo “ .. is a place of arbitrariness and abuse, a site where torture and ill-treatment were rampant and remains institutionalized, where the rule of law is effectively suspended and where justice is denied.”

Among the prisoners remaining in Guantanamo is Abu Zabaydah, as your readers will be aware from your article of 3rd December, who has been held at Guantanamo for 20 years without trial. Before being transferred to Guantanamo he was held in a US black site prison in Poland where he was subject to “enhanced interrogation” e.g. waterboarded and confined in a small coffin like box.

Other prisoners who have been released without charge from the prison have found themselves in a Kafkaesque world of further imprisonment in third countries, or have been subject to surveillance and interrogation.

It seems that there will be no end to the abuses of Guantanamo.

To: Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, U. S. State Department, Washington, DC 20520, USA.

Dear Secretary of State,

Closure of Guantanamo Prison Camp

I am writing to ask you to take urgent action to end the illegal imprisonment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay who have been held for up to 19 years without any charge or trial. Their continued unlawful imprisonment is widely recognised as “a stain on the character of the United States of America”. The only way their torture will be ended is if these prisoners are released and the infamous Guantanamo prison closed.

I know that when President Biden came into office, he committed the Administration to closing Guantanamo as soon as possible and I understand that you fully support this commitment. I am also aware that there are currently 11 prisoners cleared for release and I urge you to immediately appoint a new Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure, to facilitate the transfer out of Guantanamo of the 11 men still held who have been approved for release.

I would like to point out that it is British Government policy to call for the closure of Guantanamo and that this is supported not only by Human Rights organisations in the USA itself but also in the UK and internationally by prestigious organisations such as Amnesty and Reprieve, and by the Group of which I am a supporter, Guantanamo Justice Campaign (UK).

Secretary of State, please end the terrible injustices for all those prisoners who have been held for so many years without ever being charged with any crime. You can help restore the reputation of the USA as a law-abiding country by closing Guantanamo without delay.

To: US President, Joe Biden, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500.

Dear President Joe Biden,

How can the prison at Guantanamo remain open as US troops withdraw from Afghanistan?   The wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and the nebulous war against terror are coming to an end.

There is no justification for continuing to hold prisoners at Guantanamo who fought against US and Allied troops in Afghanistan and who, strictly speaking, are prisoners of war.

While the prison remains open, the US and its allies cannot continue to fool themselves that they belong to rules-based societies.

To: Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, 10 Downing Street, London, SW1A 2AA

Dear Prime Minister Boris Johnson,

In June this year two Yemeni men held at the US run military prison known as Guantanamo since 2004 were cleared for transfer to another country, by a US Periodic Review Board. The two men cleared are Abd al-Salam al-Hilah and Sharqawi Abdu Ali al-Hajj. I understand the Periodic Review Board, by consensus, “determined that continued law of war detention of the detainee is no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States".

The US President, Joe Biden, appears to be aiming to close the prison, hopefully this will be achieved soon. The President correctly recognises the high level of shame the prison’s existence has brought upon his country, including its history of abuse, maltreatment, and torture of those forcibly held there, most without charge or trial and denied their basic human rights.

The prison has certainly come to symbolise the gross excesses of the “war on terror” strategy launched in 2001 by the US administration of former President Bush. So many have spoken out in opposition to its existence, including heads of state, UN representatives, and spokespersons for numerous NGOs and campaigning human rights organisations. Prime Minister, I am sure you are aware of this ever mounting opposition to the existence of this facility operating outside of international law, and still perceived as a place of cruelty, torture, and indefinite detention.

Recently a group of US Senators called upon President Biden to shut down the prison and referred to it as a “symbol of lawlessness and human rights abuses”. They highlighted the fact that many prisoners have been confined for nearly two decades without being charged or tried. Some of those cleared for release have been languishing in the prison for over ten years since being cleared for transfer/release. The Senators urged President Biden to negotiate overseas transfers for those already approved for transfer/release, now numbering eleven prisoners as well as for those prisoners who are not being charged with any crime. 

One very positive development is that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the Biden administration is “actively looking” into recreating the position of a State Department envoy for the closure of Guantanamo. This role was abolished by the Trump administration and its reestablishment would facilitate negotiations with foreign governments to enable the transfer and release of Guantanamo prisoners to other countries.

Prime Minister, I ask you, what are we, the UK, doing to assist President Biden to close Guantanamo? I suggest that if you, Prime Minister, added your voice to the many and spoke out publicly at this time showing support for the urgent need for closure of this illegal prison, as well as for justice for all the 40 men still held in the prison, this would have a significant impact.

I would appreciate knowing of any recent approaches that you or the UK government has made to the US administration on this issue, and whether you or one of the UK’s foreign office ministers raised the issue of Guantanamo with the US President at the G7 Summit held earlier this year at Carbis Bay, Cornwall.

Guantanamo Justice Campaign delivered the following letter to the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson (11.1.2020)