Press Releases from 2008

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Akif Wan, a representative of the Kurdistan National Congress UK, will be addressing a public meeting organised by civil liberties and anti-war campaigners in Edinburgh on Thursday. The meeting comes in the wake of a 10-day incursion by Turkish ground forces into Iraqi Kurdistan, supposedly in pursuit of PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) guerrillas.

Friday 11th January is the 6th anniversary of the arrival of the first prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Leading figures from Scottish public life will be on the panel of a public meeting being held in Edinburgh on Friday evening to discuss Guantanamo Bay and the erosion of civil liberties and freedom of expression that the "war on terror" has brought to our own country