News from 2008

Letter from leading Scottish campaigners and political figures

Ten people have been arrested for public order offences after clashes at a protest near the Israeli embassy in London against air raids on Gaza.

Israeli officials liken the aerial onslaught against Gaza Strip to the opening strategy of the 2006 Lebanese war,

A British man convicted of running an al-Qaida terror cell was jailed for life today - but the jury wasn't told that he had been tortured

Commons debate on Sri Lanka

Afghans are in desperate need of peace - proposal from Hezb-e-Islami

New revelations from the General Register Office of Scotland (GROS) will add to the controversy surrounding its decision to award a contract for the next Scottish census to a UK subsidiary of CACI International, a company that provided interrogators at Abu Ghraib prison and and has been linked to allegations of torture.

HUGE numbers of Scots are being stopped and searched by police using powers to crack down on serious crime and terrorism.More than half a million people north of the Border have been targeted over the past three years, an investigation by The Scottish Mail on Sunday has found.

A US Federal Court in Virginia will on Thursday be asked to throw out a lawsuit brought against defence contractor CACI by former Abu Ghraib prisoners

British Government refers the case of Guantánamo prisoner Binyam Mohamed to the Attorney General to investigate potential prosecution of those who rendered him to torture..

The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) says that when it awarded controversial company CACI a contract for Scottish census it was "fully informed by the company about the work which CACI (UK)'s US parent undertook at Abu Ghraib." GROS also admits that it knew of CACI's plans to censor the media by threats of legal action.

A new report by Christian Peacemaker Teams and Operation Dove about the Israeli military escort of Palestinian children to school in At-Tuwani, during the 2007-2008 school year, details a catalogue of violent settler attacks on the children and a complacent attitude regarding these attacks by the Israeli army.

In a second climb-down, the government has dropped from the Counter-Terrorism Bill plans which would have let ministers order inquests to be held in private.

The Scottish Afghan Society held a protest outside Strathclyde Police HQ about alleged harassment by Special Branch police officers at Glasgow Airport.

The House of Lords have thrown out the government's plan for 42 day detention without charge by a massive 309 votes to 118. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith says the plan will now be dropped from the Counter-Terrorism Bill.

SACC has written to John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, calling on him to cancel the Scottish Census contract awarded to CACI Ltd. The letter reveals for the first time that two SACC members have received letters from lawyers representing CACI International threatening legal action over a statement published earlier on the SACC website.

Gordon Brown is preparing for a humiliating climbdown over his proposal to hold terrorist suspects for 42 days after being told that it will be defeated in the House of Lords.

Jojo Yakob fears for his life after losing a final appeal at the Court of Session to stay in Scotland. The decision means that he will almost certainly be returned to Syria.

Police have continued to arrest demonstrators who took part in the protest at George Bush's visit on 15 June.

Strathclyde Police had no sooner been praised by Britain's leading counter-terrorism officer as a role model for building community relations, than Glasgow's Afghan community announced it was to march on the force's HQ protesting Special Branch "harassment".

Defense contractor CACI is claiming immunity from lawsuits alleging torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, saying it was doing the U.S. government's work as a supplier of interrogators.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has launched a new programme called 'Return and Rebuild', providing extra 'support' for refugees returning to war-torn Afghanistan and Iraq under its so-called Voluntary Return and Reintegration Programme (VARRP). And Scottish Refugee Council is being paid to help them.

Fiona Hyslop says: "The Scottish Government is fundamentally opposed to early morning removals, to the forcible removal of children and to the detention of children at Dungavel or elsewhere. "

A gang of youths who racially assaulted a man in an upmarket Edinburgh suburb is being sought by police.

Stop the War demonstration at the Labour Party Conference, Manchester, Saturday 20 September 2008

Dr Bill Wilson, SNP MSP for the West of Scotland, today announced that he had just written to Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Government's Cabinet Secretary for Justice, requesting that he obtain an assurance from the UK Government that it would inform the Scottish Government should it give permission for Scottish territory to be used for US rendition flights.

Pauline McNeill MSP has lodged a motion in the Scottish Parliament noting concerns over the awarding of a Scottish Census 2011 contract to CACI UK

SACC is deeply concerned that CACI Ltd, a UK subsidiary of a company that has been involved in interrogating prisoners at Abu Ghraib Prison, was in June awarded the contract to run the 2011 Scottish Census.

Five protestors were arrested at Edinburgh's Queen's Hall today and charged with disrupting the performance of the Israeli Jerusalem Quartet, musicians, who enjoy a double status as 'Cultural Ambassadors of Israel' as well as 'Distinguished IDF Musicians'

Lord Justice Thomas and Mr. Justice Lloyd Jones handed down their second judgment this afternoon on the case of Guantánamo Bay prisoner and British resident Binyam Mohamed David Miliband had been given one week in which to reconsider the government's refusal to share evidence that could help provr Binyam's innocence

THE SNP are being warned hat they risk alienating Scotland's Muslim community and the entire anti-war movement because of the party's insistence on hiring a firm accused of torturing Iraqi prisoners at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad to carry out the nation's next census.

Two judges ordered the foreign secretary to hand over to Binyam Mohamed's legal team secret information that could support his case that he was tortured in Pakistan and Morocco before being sent to Guant&aacutenamo Bay - statement from Reprieve

IHRC is concerned by the conviction and sentencing of three men found guilty of possessing or making documents connected with terrorism

Mohammed Atif Siddique, convicted last Serptember of "terrorism" offences connected to his use of the internet, was last Thursday (24 July) granted to leave to appeal.

David Davis's byelection victory is a clear sign that people in Britain don't like Gordon Brown's plans for 42-day internment. He has discovered civil liberties, but not as we know them.

Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC) today wrote to the Law Society of Scotland urging it to consider taking action over what SACC says was a "misuse" of the law of contempt in the Aamer Anwar case.

Dr Bill Wilson, SNP MSP for the West of Scotland, announced today that he met Kenny MacAskill, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, yesterday to hand over a petition addressed to members of the Scottish Parliament asking them to "keep torture flights out of Scotland".

SACC welcomes the judgement given by three judges at Edinburgh High Court today that human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar did not commit contempt of court in statements he made last September following the conviction for "terrorism" of his client Mohammed Atif Siddique.

Judgement in the contempt of court case against Glasgow human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar will be given at Edinburgh High Court on Tuesday 1 July. It is set to make legal history on at least three counts

HUNDREDS OF protesters marked the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights by marching through Glasgow yesterday.

John Vine, Chief Constable of Tayside - the man who was in charge of policing the G8 Summit at Gleneagles - is to receive a bumper bonus when he leaves the force. But details of th payoff are being kept secret.

SACC welcomes the advice from Local Government Association chairman Sir Simon Milton that local councils should stop using controversial surveillance powers granted under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Act to investigate trivial matters. The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) must act nnow to restrain Scottish councils from misusing surveillance powers.

SACC is alarmed by the latest so-called "counter-radicalisation" plan aimed at young Muslims in Scotland. The initiative aims to put MI5-inspired computer software in every Muslim family home in Scotland.

Former Guantanamo prisoner Moazzam Begg will be visiting Edinburgh on Friday

Disgracefully, and for the first time, a Stop the War demonstration was denied the right to march peacefully up Whitehall and past Downing Street, where George Bush was having dinner with Gordon Brown. Police attacked protestors with metal batons.

Gordon Brown has brought the Labour Party and the British Parliament into disrepute by using of bribery and threats to win a hairsbreadth majority for the extension to 42 days detention without charge for terrorist suspects - a measure that almost nobody sincerely supports.

The Muslim Council of Britain joins human rights groups, a growing body of thinkers and policymakers dealing with our security, together with the vast majority of the British public who oppose the extension of pre-charge-detention.

As Parliament prepares for a key debate on controversial new anti-terror powers, SACC has learned that local authorities across Scotland are already using snooping powers that were designed to combat terrorism and serious crime in investigations of anti-social behaviour, smoking and other minor matters.

Socialists and campaigners from across the UK and beyond have united around a rally in Glasgow this Saturday in support of Solidarity Co-Convenor Tommy Sheridan and the six members of his party and his family that have been charged in the politically-motivated action by Lothian and Borders Police.

Hicham Yezza's deportation, set for Sunday June 1st, was stopped due to Judicial review and the case is with the HO's legal representatives now. Meanwhile, Hicham has been forcibly moved to Dover.

Next Wednesday's Commons vote on the government's plans to allow terrorist suspect to be held for up to 42 days promises to be a cliffhanger. There is likely to be a substantial rebellion against the plans on the Labour backbenches, with a number of MPs apparently still to make up their minds.

On Sunday 15 June, the mass murderer-in-chief George Bush will be visiting Britain to meet with Gordon Brown, who continues to collude obediently with Bush's war crimes. Stop the War, in conjunction with CND, has called a demonstration on that day, which will assemble in Parliament Square at 1pm.

Hugh O'Donnell (Lib Dem, Central Scotland) has today (4 June 2008) tabled a motion in the Scottish Parliament opposing the UK Government's plans to introduce 42 day detention without charge.

HUMAN rights campaigners and churches last night demanded the closure of Dungavel Removal Centre - Scotland's "Guantanamo" - saying the imprisonment of vulnerable women and children behind a wire fence was unacceptable in 21st-century Scotland.

Following the cancellation order on his deportation and despite being unjustly incarcerated for over two weeks, Hicham Yezza has received news that he is to be transported to a fifth detention centre.

The Independent runs a front-page story, The Last Briton in Guantanamo faces death penalty, focusing on the plight of British resident Binyam Mohamed.

Doctors, academics and human rights campaigners in Scotland gathered on Thursday 29 May 2008 outside St. John's Church, Edinburgh for a vigil demanding the immediate release of award-winning renowned doctor and human rights activist Dr Binayak Sen.

Today at the University of Nottingham academic staff gave a public reading from an Al-Qaeda training manual, outside the Hallward Library, University Park Campus. The demonstration expressed the outrage amongst staff and students after two innocent members of the academic community were arrested under 'terror' legislation in connection with this document, downloaded from an official US government website.

Nottingham academics to give public reading of from Al-Qaeda training manual. The document had been downloaded from an official US government website, for academic research into political extremism.

THE return of dawn raids on asylum seekers has provoked an angry attack on Alex Salmond and his SNP government for failing publicly to denounce the Westminster policy of seizing refugee families at their homes in the early hours of the morning and then detaining mothers, fathers and their children in immigration holding centres.

Nottingham University Students and Staff Express Serious Concerns about Recent Use of Terrorism Act on Campus and Demand Academic Freedom

An Armed Forces Day public holiday has been recommended by a government-backed study. The report said more state school pupils should be encouraged to join cadet forces. And it recommends making it a criminal offence to discriminate against people in military uniform.

Amnesty International has welcomed the public inquiry into the case of an Iraqi hotel receptionist who died after being tortured over a period of 36 hours while detained by UK troops in Basra. But it is worried that the intention is to hold the inquiry under the controversial Inquiries Act 2005

14 May 2008 will mark one year of imprisonment for Dr Binayak Sen, the well-known public health and civil rights activist, arrested on false charges of ‘assisting’ the Maoist insurgency in Chattisgarh

Mohammed Atif Siddique has failed in a bid to win bail as he attempts to overturn his conviction, which resulted in an eight-year prison sentence.

In Glasgow in the last eight months 800 families have been sent a "Legacy" questionnaire as part of the Home Office's 'Case Resolution' process aimed at clearing the backlog of cases of families who had been, in many cases, for almost seven years. The Home Office recently announced that 720 families out of 800 have been granted leave to remain and 80 families have been refused.

More than 10 million people are to have their everyday disputes, their politics and their business lives checked by new "tension monitoring" committees.

Mark Thomas, Bruce Kent and Gareth Pierce will address a protest against the government's Counter Terrorism Bill 2008 opposite to Downing Street with other civil society leaders from 5 to 7 pm on Monday 12 May 2008.

A South African woman and her six year old son were detained in their home yesterday morning in Linkwood Avenue in Drumchapel, Glasgow

In the early hours of this morning Reprieve client and Al Jazeera journalist, Sami Al Haj, was finally released from Guantanamo Bay and reunited with his wife and young son in Sudan.

Today's letters page in the Guardian newpaper carries responses from security minister Tony McNulty and Amnesty International Director Kate Allen

Officers of the Security Service, MI5, are being accused of "outsourcing" the torture of British citizens to a notorious Pakistani intelligence agency in an attempt to obtain information about terrorist plots and to secure convictions against al-Qaida suspects.

The High Court of Judiciary in Edinburgh today concluded its hearing into the contempt of court allegations against Aamer Anwar. A judgement will be given in due course.

The European Court of Human Rights is expected to come to a decision regarding Babar Ahmad's appeal very soon.

SACC Press Release. The trial of human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar for contempt of court at the High Court in Edinburgh tomorrow will make legal history in at least two ways. It's the first time that charges of this sort have been brought against a lawyer in the UK. And for the first time in a Scottish court, an attempt to file a "third-party intervention" will be made.

Sunday Herald feature on Aamer Anwar. Scotland's most prominent human rights lawyer is facing ruin. At the high court in Edinburgh this week, three senior appeal judges will decide whether to find Aamer Anwar guilty of contempt of court. If they do, it could mean a fine, imprisonment or a referral to the Law Society of Scotland, which could effectively ban him from practising law. For Anwar, who has built a career on defending the underdog, the stakes could not be higher.

CIVIL-LIBERTY campaigners will tomorrow make Scottish legal history by seeking to take part in the trial of a lawyer accused of contempt of court.

The Defend Aamer Anwar Campaign has today published an open letter in support of Aamer Anwar as a full-page advertisement in the Sunday Herald.

The Central Intelligence Agency knew from the beginning that its secret detention and torturous interrogation tactics probably bordered on illegal from the start, according to new documents identified through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

A public meeting is to be held in Edinburgh on Saturday to discuss issues raised by the contempt of court charges against human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar. Campaigners say that the case threatens freedom of speech. This is expected to be a key issue when the case is heard next Tuesday. Paddy Hill - one of the "Birmingham Six" wrongly convicted of IRA terrorism in 1974 - will be speaking at the meeting

Britain's law lords have struck a resounding blow for justice, by ruling that government policy towards another group of Muslim men is unlawful.

Barrister Rizwan Hussain was brutally beaten and tortured at Zia International Airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Monday 14th April 2008. He has since returned to the UK [Thursday 17th April 2008].

A Polish man was the victim of what police have described as a "racially motivated" attack in Aberdeen.

Labour was last night accused by the Conservatives of being "split from top to bottom" on the deeply contentious issue of 42 days' pre-charge detention, after a report listing the governing party's potential rebels was leaked.

The University and College Union (UCU) Scotland has today added its weight to the swelling tide of support for embattled human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar

A POLISH man today told how he was kicked and punched for 20 minutes by a group of racist attackers as one of them filmed the violence on a mobile phone.

An Egyptian military court sentenced 25 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood to jail on Tuesday - a verdict described by Amnesty International as a "perversion of justice".

A REFUGEE support centre in Edinburgh has been forced to close after having its funding slashed.The Cyrenians charity is shutting its operation in St George's West Church, Shandwick Place, after seeing its funding cut from more than £30,000 to £7627 by the city council.

MI5 IS to create a team of "Scottish spooks" in a bid to prevent outrages like the Glasgow Airport attack and reduce the radicalisation of young Muslims north of the border.

The European Court of Human Rights has not yet come to a decision regarding Babar Ahmads appeal. They are not expected to decide before the 22nd April 2008.

The EU Court of First Instance has overturned decisions by the Council of the EU to include the Kurdish organisations PKK and Kongra Gel on the EU "terrorist list"

As the Court of Appeal today ruled that the UK could not lawfully proceed with the deportations of Abu Qatada and two Libyans, 'DD' and 'AS', Amnesty International called on the UK government to abandon its dangerous and discredited policy of 'deportation with assurances'.

George Bush declared the recent attack by the puppet Iraqi government - supported by waves of US and British bombers - on Iraq's second city Basra as a "defining moment" in his "surge" strategy. He had no idea how within days the truth of his words would return to haunt him,

The House of Commons gave the Counter Terrorism Bill its second reading on April Fool's Day. It's a stitchup the looks set to come unravelled.

In July 2005 Khalid Khaliq came forward to voluntarily to assist with the 7/7 investigation. Nearly three years later, on Tuesday March 11th 2008 Khaliq, 43, was sentenced to sixteen months in prison for possession of information that is freely available from an American website set up by the US Ministry of Justice.

How appropriate that on 'April Fool's Day' Jacqui Smith will launch the long awaited second reading of The Counter Terrorism Bill 2008. We should not be fooled. For the last six years the Labour government has created a climate of fear and deceived us that we face a permanent emergency as a nation. Hence the most fundamental principles of justice such as 'habeas corpus' and the right to a fair trial have to be mutilated in the name of national security.

Two new articles covering the results of nearly three years of the police 7/7 investigation, the arrests made and the charges brought.

In July 2005 Khalid Khaliq came forward to voluntarily to assist with the 7/7 investigation. Nearly three years later, on Tuesday March 11th 2008 Khaliq, 43, was sentenced to sixteen months in prison for possession of information that is freely available from an American website set up by the US Ministry of Justice.

Over 5,000 people marched through Glasgow on Saturday to mark the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

Bachir Mohammed, who was a day away from being deported to face an uncertain future in his homeland has been freed to be reunited with his family.