British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has asked US President George W. Bush to send home the four remaining Britons in Guantanamo Bay, amid mounting calls for the British government to increase its pressure on Washington to end alleged human rights abuses.
Court papers reveal the UK prime minister's direct plea to Bush. They form the British government's formal defense to a legal action brought by lawyers for two of the remaining prisoners seeking a court order compelling Britain to formally demand their return.
The UK's defense states: "The United Kingdom government is continuing to seek the return of the four remaining prisoners and the prime minister has made a direct request to President Bush to that effect."
The four prisoners alleged by the US to be terrorists have been held without trial, charge or access to lawyers for up to two and one-half years. Blair has been condemned for doing too little to secure their release from conditions that have caused worldwide outrage.
On Friday the UK attorney-general Lord Goldsmith said the military tribunals planned by the US at Guantanamo Bay broke international standards. In a speech made after months of talks with US officials, Lord Goldsmith said the right to a fair trial was inviolable.
"We in the UK have been unable to accept that the US military tribunals proposed for those detained at Guantanamo Bay offer sufficient guarantees of a fair trial in accordance with international standards," he said.
Louise Christian, the lawyer who brought the legal action, said the UK government had been very likely to lose.
The court papers say that Washington fears the Britons will pose a danger if released: "The US government has expressed security concerns regarding the return of these prisoners." They also reveal that the US snubbed an earlier UK request for the return.
On March 29 a British government letter to Christian made no mention of Blair's direct intervention with Bush.
After this month's UK election defeats, disquiet grew among rank-and-file members of Blair's Labour Party about Blair's closeness to the White House. The former UK foreign secretary, Robin Cook, said: "It's striking how little we have received in return for all Tony Blair has done for the Bush administration."
The case against the British government is now likely to be adjourned, because the lawyers of the Guantanamo prisoners feel their demands have been met.
Christian said the looming case forced the UK government's hand: "They would have been in quite serious trouble in the court case. We would have had a very good chance of success. They know the level of judicial concern about Guantanamo Bay."
Indonesia yesterday began enforcing its newly ratified penal code, replacing a Dutch-era criminal law that had governed the country for more than 80 years and marking a major shift in its legal landscape. Since proclaiming independence in 1945, the Southeast Asian country had continued to operate under a colonial framework widely criticized as outdated and misaligned with Indonesia’s social values. Efforts to revise the code stalled for decades as lawmakers debated how to balance human rights, religious norms and local traditions in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. The 345-page Indonesian Penal Code, known as the KUHP, was passed in 2022. It
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
Russia early yesterday bombarded Ukraine, killing two people in the Kyiv region, authorities said on the eve of a diplomatic summit in France. A nationwide siren was issued just after midnight, while Ukraine’s military said air defenses were operating in several places. In the capital, a private medical facility caught fire as a result of the Russian strikes, killing one person and wounding three others, the State Emergency Service of Kyiv said. It released images of rescuers removing people on stretchers from a gutted building. Another pre-dawn attack on the neighboring city of Fastiv killed one man in his 70s, Kyiv Governor Mykola
RSS