| |
The Guantanamo allotment – a distraction from torture
Bad Men: Guantanamo Bay and the Secret Prisons.
Weidenfeld & Nicholson £16.99 order this book
FOR a guy who has had razor blades taken to his penis for five months he retains a fantastic sense of humour,” says Clive Stafford Smith of Ahmed Belbacha, a former cleaner at the Westbury Hotel in Mayfair now detained in Guantanamo Bay.
The nightmarish reality of life in the Cuban interrogation camp was illuminated in Bookmarks Bookshop in Bloomsbury last Tuesday night.
Clive Stafford Smith, the human rights lawyer who founded the London-based charity Reprieve, was speaking following the launch of his book Bad Men: Guantanamo Bay and the Secret Prisons.
The 46-year-old has spent more than 20 years in the United States representing prisoners on death row. His clients include five British detainees, whose release appears imminent.
He has campaigned vociferously against the use of torture throughout his life. For him it has become a question of philosophy.
He says: “Imagine if we are sitting here in our interrogation cell. There is a ticking bomb that will kill everyone in London. A man is the only person who knows how to defuse it – but he knows his rights and is refusing to say anything. How many of you, honestly, would say they would not condone torture then?”
A show of hands went up among the audience, mostly made up of members of the far Left. Quite a few hesitated.
Mr Smith continued: “The ticking time bomb scenario is one that is used by the authorities to justify torture. But ask yourselves how many times has torture stopped a ticking bomb?”
The Guantanamo reality will end next year, he says: “Guantanamo Bay has been a nightmare for the detainees. But it is now a nightmare for the authorities.
“I am certain it will close within one year. But it has been an incredible diversion. There are 14,000 secret prisons – in Egypt, Pakistan, Poland, Morocco – used for the war on terror by the US across the globe. The 365 detainees in Guantanamo represent 2.7 per cent of the prisoners.”
Mr Smith’s brow wrinkles as he recalls the barrage of “lies” he has dealt with and the comic lengths the authorities will go to cover their backs.
He says: “I have represented more than 50 Guantanamo Bay detainees – and I am yet to meet someone who has been involved in terrorism.”
But he remains optimistic and was intent on challenging each of the 50 or so people packing the bookshop to think about what they could do to help.
He says: “A little thing like writing a letter to the detainees can help. The English love their gardens. So one thing we did was get English people to write in with gardening suggestions. Then we campaigned for a garden to be put in the camp. After a while we won that battle. And there is a little allotment there. It’s very small – but it means a lot.” |
| |
|
 |
|
| |
|
