A group of hooded and chained mock Lebanese prisoners are led to prison during solidarity protests in front of the United Nations House in Beirut on 28 October 1999. EPA/EMPICS
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General campaigns
Amnesty International UK
www.amnesty.org.uk/join
Stop Torture Campaign:
http://web.amnesty.org/pages/stoptorture-actnow-eng
Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for human rights. Its members give their time and energy freely to help victims of human rights violations everywhere. Visit the website to find out about how you can get involved.
Cage Prisoners
www.cageprisoners.com
Full of articles, interviews, photos and campaign downloads, this site exists
solely to raise awareness of the plight of the cage prisoners at Guantanamo
Bay, through effective legal means. The 'What can we do?' page gives advice
on how we can help the prisoners and whom we should be lobbying for change.
Fairtrials.org.uk
www.fairtrials.org.uk
The UK government wants to introduce 'control orders', which will be awarded
by the home secretary. Under these proposals, applicable to both British and
foreign nationals in the UK, anyone whom the home secretary suspects of being
a terrorist can be placed under house arrest. Read why this is totally unacceptable
and what we can do to stop it – click on 'do something'.
The Howard League for Penal Reform
www.howardleague.org/campaigns/campaignsindex.htm
Campaigning organisation for prison reform. The website has information on current campaigns such as fighting for children’s rights and an independent inquiry into the use of strip-searching, physical restraint and segregation for children in penal custody.
Human Rights Watch
http://hrw.org/act/act.html
Investigates and exposes human rights violations occurring worldwide. The website provides an extensive listing of country reports documenting human rights abuse; there is also a page with information on what you can do to make a difference. You can also support HRW by visiting its film festival in London during March this year.
International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT)
www.irct.org
Based in Denmark, this organisation promotes the provisions of treatment and
rehabilitation of torture victims globally, and contributes to the prevention
of torture. Contact them via the website if you are interested in working for
them.
Justice
www.justice.org.uk/enterb/index1.html
Legal and human rights organisation that aims to improve British justice. The website has loads of articles and news and you can offer support by becoming a member or a volunteer.
Liberty
www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/get-involved/index.shtml
One of the UK's leading human rights and civil liberties organisations. Go to the website and take part in its campaign against detention without trial in the UK.
Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture
www.torturecare.org.uk
Provides care and rehabilitation to survivors of torture and other forms of
organised violence. You can donate via a 'Special Day Pack', take out a Visa
card with an ethical bank and give as you shop, join a local group or even
organise an event yourself. The website has all the info.
Peace and Progress
www.peaceandprogress.org
Newly formed party for human rights, which will stand candidates in by-elections and the next general election for a government of peace and progress. The website has information on Guantanamo Bay and Belmarsh and you can sign an online petition ‘Stop Detention Without Trial’.
Physicians for Human Rights
www.phrusa.org
Coalition of health professionals, scientists and concerned citizens that investigates
and prevents violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.
Membership details are online.
Redress
www.redress.org
London-based internationally focused, non-profit legal/human rights organisation.
Works to obtain reparation for survivors of torture and campaigns for effective
remedies where they do not exist. This site has an extensive database
of international treaties, laws, case judgements and decisions, as well as
informative links. Information on Gift Aid is available online.
Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC)
www.tassc.org
A coalition of human rights NGOs that is collectively dedicated to the eradication
of torture, and seeks to raise awareness about torture through legislation
and other forms of non-violent social action. Click on 'Action' for current
campaigns and a list of contact details of those we should petition.
World Organisation Against Torture
www.omct.org
Coalition of NGOs fighting against arbitrary detention, torture, summary and extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances and other forms of violence. Its global network comprises nearly 300 local, national and regional organisations. Website has information on subscriptions and donations.
Links
Britain Accused Over CIA’s Secret Torture Flights
www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0210-11.htm
UK airports are believed to be operational bases for two executive jets used by the CIA to carry out the abuse and torture of suspected terrorists.
Campaign Against Prison Slavery
www.enrager.net/hosted/caps//
The exploitation of the slave labour of prisoners is a growing problem worldwide and there are a large number of British companies making profits from the forced labour of prisoners. The website has information on how you can lobby companies to stop exploiting prisoners.
Standards of Conduct for Interrogation
www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/etn/gonzales/memos_dir/
memo_20020801_JD_%20Gonz_.pdf
Full text of the 2002 US Department of Justice memo that defines and
justifies the use of torture.
Torture at Abu Ghraib followed CIA's Manual
www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/
2004/05/14/torture_at_abu_ghraib_followed_cias_manual/
Looks at the different torture techniques used by the CIA, and how the use of psychological torture appears in the CIA manual.
The Torture Reporting Handbook
www.essex.ac.uk/torturehandbook/
Excellent reference guide for anyone who wishes to know how to take action in response to allegations of torture or ill-treatment. It’s a comprehensive guide, in a wide number of languages.
UK Forces Taught Torture Methods
www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1212197,00.html
Special forces soldiers are taught a full battery of torture methods that include hooding, sleep deprivation, time disorientation and sexual humiliation. These techniques are now being disseminated among ordinary troops and contractors that do not know what they are doing.
• More information on human rights organisations, particularly
those campaigning against torture can be found on the Channel 4 Dispatches
site: www.channel4.com/news/microsites/D/dispatches_torture/
getactive.html
Campaigns for the release of individuals
Fair Go for David
www.fairgofordavid.org
Campaign to release the illegally incarcerated Australian, David Hicks, captured by the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, in 2001. He has been held for over 20 months without charge at the notorious US Camp Delta, Guantanamo Bay. The campaign site has downloads, petitions and suggested letters.
Free John Walker Lindh
www.freejohnwalker.net
Lindh was given 20 years in federal prison simply for participating in another country's civil war – he fought against the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan and was dubbed the 'American Taliban'. Read about this high profile campaign, and why his sentence is a mockery of justice.
Free Parachas
www.freeparachas.org
Saifullah Paracha was kidnapped on 5 July 2003 by US authorities. After being
detained in the Bagram concentration camp in Afghanistan for 15 months, he
was moved to Guantanamo Bay in October 2004, where he remains. His 24-year-old
son Uzair has been detained in New York since 2003. Read why these two men
are innocent and join the campaign to have them released.
Free Rafil Dhafir
www.jubileeinitiative.org/FreeDhafir.htm
American Iraqi Dr Dhafir was arrested in 2003 in New York and charged with breaking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (Iraqi sanctions). He ran a charity to try and help children in Iraq who were dying because of sanctions from the West. He is currently awaiting trial – without bail. The website has tons of information about why this man should not be imprisoned and how you can join one of the support groups.
Free Rebiya Kadeer
www.amnestyusa.org/action/special/kadeer.html
Arrested on a trumped up charge in 1999, Rebiya Kadeer, a promoter of women’s rights and supporter of ethnic minorities, is currently serving an eight year sentence in a notoriously harsh Chinese gaol. Amnesty is fighting hard to get her released as she is now very frail and ill. Read about why she was incarcerated for sending a local and uncontroversial newspaper to some homesick relatives abroad and join the petition to get her released.
Free Sami Al-Arian
www.freesamialarian.com/home.htm
Since 1995, Dr Sami Al-Arian has been the target of an orchestrated campaign to silence him for his views in support of Palestinian human rights. In 2003 he was arrested in a pre-dawn raid and has been in a solitary confinement prison cell in Florida ever since. Read why this is a travesty of justice and what you can do to help.
Free Tayseer
www.freetayseer.com/maine.html
The Spanish government, under pressure from the USA, has locked up the respected
Al-Jazeera journalist Tayseer Allouni on a flimsy unsubstantiated charge. He
is held in solitary confinement in a tiny cell where the temperature is often
below zero and his health is declining rapidly. Sign the petition to get him
released.
Justice for Lynne Stewart
www.lynnestewart.org/
Radical human rights attorney Lynne Stewart has been falsely accused of helping terrorists. In April 2002 she was arrested and will be sentenced on 15 July 2005. She may serve up to 30 years in prison for defending a 'suspected terrorist'.
Sami Omar Al-Hussayen
www.samiomar.com/index.cfm?Lang=EN
Far from Guantanamo Bay in Boise, capital of Idaho, a 34-year-old Saudi student and computer engineer has been led daily into a courtroom on charges of providing 'material support to international terrorism'. This is a campaign to clear his name and stop this miscarriage of justice.
Books
Abu Ghraib: The politics of torture by John Gray, Barbara Ehrenreich et al (North Atlantic Books, 2004)
Nine essayists tackle what the prison abuse scandal means for America now and in the future. Compelling social critiques acknowledge the ramifications of these and other atrocities as Americans are exposed, many for the first time, to the politics of torture.
Get this book
Broken Spirits: The treatment of traumatised asylum seekers, refugees, war and torture victims by John P Wilson and Boris Drozdek (Brunner-Routledge, 2004)
Explores the enormity of the issues surrounding the numerous mental health problems of the millions of refugees, asylum seekers and torture victims around the world.
Get this book
Guantanamo: America's war on human rights by David Rose (Faber and Faber, 2004)
Rose's book is a well-informed indictment of the regime at Guantanamo – the
most controversial prison in the world. He has visited the camp, and interviewed
guards, officials and the prison's commander. He has investigated the claims
of British detainees released early in 2004, and describes a suffocating
atmosphere of isolation, harassment, Kafkaesque accusation and physical brutality.
Get this book
Guantanamo: What the world should know by Michael Ratner and Ellen Ray (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2004)
Authoritative account of the US administration's moves towards a network of
detention centres and a system without accountability, which flouts both
US and international law.
Get this book
Inhuman States: Imprisonment, detention and torture in Europe today by Antonio Cassese (Polity Press, 1996)
A first-hand account of the appalling conditions in prisons, police stations, psychiatric institutions, detention centres and other places where individuals are deprived of their liberty. Cassese documents torture in modern-day Europe.
Get this book
Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People: The dynamics of torture by John Conroy (Vision, 2001)
Exhaustively researched, the author interviews torturers, torture victims and
government officials examining proven cases of torture by the military and
police in the UK, USA and Israel to analyse the motivations that drive ordinary
people to commit such unspeakable acts.
Get this book
The Web of Deceit: Britain's real role in the world by Mark Curtis (Vintage, 2003)
Describes the staggering gulf that has arisen between New Labour's professed commitment to upholding ethical values and the reality of current policies. Drawing on formerly secret UK government documents, Curtis reveals the complicity of successive British governments in supporting the US in its role as number one rogue state, as well as pursuing its own repressive policies around the world.
Get this book
