Disappearances in the War on Terror have formed an integral part of the Bush administration’s programme of secret detention. This latest report by Cageprisoners: Beyond the Law: The War on Terror’s Secret Network of Global Detentions, highlights the wide-reaching extent of those countries that house these detainees, generally at the behest of the US government. The report shows that out of the 120 prisons identified worldwide, 72 have been, or are currently being used by the US to interrogate detainees.
By piecing together statements of released detainees, work of investigative journalists and human rights organisations, we provide the most definitive and up to date list of prisons used in the ‘War on Terror.’
Commenting on the findings of the report, Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, wrote,
“…Cageprisoners publishes a comprehensive report which reveals the systematic practice of enforced disappearances in a global network of secret places of detention.”
Further, the Chair of the British Institute of Human Rights, Geoffrey Bindman, states that in the policies of the War on Terror,
“This report is directed at one glaringly disgraceful element in that strategy: the detention without charge or trial and the physical abuse of those suspected of involvement in terrorism.”
Rose Gentle yesterday branded British Justice “a waste of time” after the Court of Appeal rejected the call for a public inquiry into the UK’s involvement in Iraq. Rose and Beverley Clarke, who both lost their sons in the illegal invasion, had argued that the Government was under an implied obligation to hold an independent inquiry under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the "right to life"., but three appeal judges rejected their claims.
While the families said that their fight had not been a waste of time Rose considered that taking it any further in British courts would be. She said:
“"We could try the House of Lords next, but I don't think very much of British justice," she told reporters. It has not been a waste of time - this is my son's life we are talking about."
Solicitor for the families, Phil Shiner, said that the verdict was disappointing to lose but claimed that they won all the legal arguments. The lawyer was prepared to take the case on to the European Court of Human Rights: "I have assured my clients that we can win this case in Strasbourg.”
126 British Service personnel have now lost their lives in Iraq and events will be staged across the country this weekend organised by the Stop the War Coalition. This Saturday anti-war activists will gather in George Square in Glasgow at noon and a torchlight vigil will be held in Edinburgh at 5.30 p.m. on the steps of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Leith Walk. www.stopwar.org.uk
Leading Trade Unionists Stand for Solidarity
Tuesday, 12 December 2006
Solidarity - Scotland's Socialist Movement announced our candidates who will lead the campaign on the North East regional list for next year's Holyrood elections.
Solidarity members across the North-East have elected Jim Malone to head our list for the Scottish parliament elections on May 3rd 2007. Jim Malone is the Fire Brigade Union (FBU) Tayside brigade secretary. Jim is one of Dundee's most prominent and outspoken trade unionsts and has a long and distiguished record of fighting in defence of public services, pensions and opposing privatisation.
Jim Malone said: "As a Trade Unionist for over 30 years I have been actively involved in supporting the workers movement in Scotland, campaigning for decent wages, pensions, working conditions and trade union rights. The only party in Scotland at present who can continue to represent Trade Unionists in their struggle to build a socialist alternative is Solidarity. I have joined Solidarity because it is the only political party in Scotland that can represent the aspirations of the trade unionists and working people in Scotland."
Jim McFarlane was selected second on Solidarity's list for the May elections and is the Chair of Dundee City Unison which has 1,000 members in the city.
Jim McFarlane said: "New Labour long ago turned its back on trade unionists and today clearly stands on the side of the rich and for big business. Prime Minister in waiting Gordon Brown has recently announced his intention to freeze the wages of public sector workers from next year. This annoncement comes at a time when the wages of the top bosses have risen by over 80% in the last five years. Solidarity is standing in the elections to offer a real voice for trade unionists and working people."
Solidarity - Scotland's Socialist Movement will make an announcement in the new year about our candidates for the Dundee constituency and local government elections.
HBoS Attack Rosemary Byrne as Solidarity Call for Bank Directors to Resign
Monday, 11 December 2006
Solidarity condemns the spin campaign undertaken by HBoS in response to the Farepak scandal, and calls for Jack McConnell to sack HBoS official, David Fisher, from the Executive Management Group.
Solidarity MSP Rosemary Byrne has condemned the HBoS campaign as an attempt to divert attention from their role in the collapse of Farepak. Following the motion she put down in Parliament condemning HBoS, Byrne received a letter from an HBoS spin doctor which completely failed to engage with the issues.
HBoS claims to have fulfilled its 'moral obligations' to its 'customers', by which it means the Farepak parent company EHR. This simply confirms that the Bank's moral obligation is first and foremost to make sure it makes as much money out of ordinary customers as possible. According to the HBoS spin doctor, whose job description apparently encompasses spin, lobbying and 'corporate responsibility', HBoS went, 'more than the extra mile' for the Farepak parent company and 'stood behind EHR through a period of significant financial difficulty'.
This confirms the allegations of Suzy Hall, national co-ordinator of Unfairpak, who stated yesterday on Tommy Sheridan's Talk107 radio show that, "It is still my belief that HBOS knew EHR was in financial difficulties and allowed them to continue taking customers' money."
Margaret Thatcher's tribute to General Augusto Pinochet, who died yesterday at the age of 91 from heart failure, is an insult to the thousands who were murdered and tortured under the Chilean dictator's savage regime. Even more of an insult is the fact that he was never brought to justice for his crimes against humanity, despite the many efforts to do so. In light of this, we can and must never forget that the Blair government defied an extradition request from a Spanish court in 1998 and released Pinochet from house arrest, thus spitting on the memory of his victims.
On September 11, 1973, a democratically elected socialist government, led by Salvador Allende, was overturned in a military coup orchestrated and led by Pinochet with the close support of the CIA. Allende was brutally murdered, along with 3,000 of his supporters, and with them died the light of socialism and human progress in that nation for a generation.
Throughout the 17 years of his rule thereafter an estimated 250,000 trade unionists, teachers, progressives and leftists were either imprisoned, tortured, or disappeared.
Pinochet was also a key participant in Operation Condor, a pact of murder he entered into along with the then military dictatorships of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay to target suspected Marxists, socialists, leftists and their supporters in the region.
Thatcher, a repugnant human being and another enemy of the working class, gave succour to the Pinochet dictatorship throughout her years in office, in the form of arms sales and loans with which to purchase those arms.
The brutal nature of this regime was indeed well known to her and to leading members of the British establishment, which is why Solidarity, in response to Pinochet's death and Thatcher's tribute to him, reaffirms its commitment to the cause of socialism around the world. In so doing, we pay tribute to Salvador Allende and to the thousands of Pinochet's victims, all martyrs to the cause of human progress.
Events Calendar
