Binyam Mohamed

While I do try and keep myself abreast of human rights issues and where human rights are being abused, I just don’t have the time to maintain the depth of knowledge. So while I have some general knowledge, when I discover the details, these details always shock me. As I posted before regarding the comments made by two judges in the high court regarding Binyam Mohamed, who has alleged torture at the hands of Americans and is now a prisoner in Guantanamo, I looked further into his case.

I am not someone that readily believes all that is out on the web, if I did then I would believe in all sorts of nonsense. And if like me you think the Earth is flat... Getting back to reality, what I discovered horrified me. Man’s Inhumanity to Man is appalling if true. Also as I do not want to perpetuate myth and rumour, I was reluctant to post any of the details as I simply lack the resources to check the facts. Therefore, I am grateful that the BBC interviewed the council for Binyam Mohamed.

Now as some people will know these lawyers are military personnel appointed to ensure that under these quasi military courts that were put in place in Guantanamo were fair, or as fair as unfair system can be. What shocked me was that for the last eighteen months the British government has been willing to take Binyam Mohamed. Further, all the charges against him have been dropped and he is now regarded as no threat to America. But what is and has been the sticking point is the fact that during his extraordinary rendition (kidnapped), he disappeared and even his lawyer cannot be told where he was for these eighteen months, Binyam Mohamed was tortured. I have read and heard the descriptions of the torture and I will not repeat them here. But it appears that the only reason he has not been released thus far is the fear the American (Bush) Government had that he would talk to the press.

Binyam Mohamed was told that he would have to wait until the new administration took over. So as has happened with many of the Guantanamo prisoners, he has gone on hunger strike. While he is now being force fed, had he been released then he would not have had to resort to this.

I am not wholly placing the blame on America or the Bush Government, as the British Government is strongly implicated in allowing this torture to happen.

From the start, following the appalling terrorist attacks on America, I genuinely hoped that restraint and sense would prevail, as the only way to show that the west was not anti Muslim was ensure that we in the west did nothing that reinforced this mistaken belief. Guantanamo and the torture of prisoners only enrage people to the mistaken thought that there is a religious war. Just as the Israeli action in Gaza has reinforced and deepened Palestinian hatred towards Israel, the actions of the Bush administration, supported by Blair, makes finding peace much more difficult.

America and Britain quite rightly condemns other nations for using Torture, but Britain and America now need to own up to this. I hope that President Obama releases Binyam Mohamed soon and that the Americans guilty of breaking International law are brought to justice.