Hello all
The Al-Marri campaign has moved to a new blog site at http://almarricampaign.wordpress.com/
this blog site will no longer be maintained but the new site already looks much better and will be updated as regularly as possible so please check back.
thanks for your ongoing support,
all the best
Jezz and Jackie
Al-Marri Campaign.
Friday, 20 February 2009
Monday, 9 February 2009
President Barack Obama,
The White House,
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW,
Washington DC 20500, USA
Dear Mr. President,
We are writing to you regarding the case Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a Qatari National and legal Resident in the USA who has been subjected to prolonged detention without charge or trial since December 2001. He is currently in extreme solitary confinement at the Consolidated Military Brig in Charleston, South Carolina.
He has been kept incommunicado for over seven years in violation of his human rights. We are very concerned at reports of his psychological and physical deterioration due to his appalling treatment.
Your executive order of January 22 2009 directing an immediate review of Ali al-Marri’s status has given us hope that the extreme injustice he has suffered will be at an end and that he will be charged or released at the earliest opportunity.
Ali al-Marri has been cruelly treated by the your country’s previous Administration. We believe that it can not be right for a country to seize civilians, declare them to be “enemy combatants“, detain them indefinitely, subject them to cruel and degrading treatment and deny them access to any legal process.
We find it incomprehensible that Ali al- Marri has been held for so long.
We note that in 2004 the UN Working Party on Arbitrary Arrest found that Ali al-Marri’s detention was arbitrary and in breach of the US’s international human rights obligation.
We are aware of your pledges to restore the rule of law and your determination that the US will abide by its international treaty obligations.
We are encouraged by your commitment to “carry forward the precious gift, the God given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve to pursue the full measure of happiness.“
We call on you to end the unlawful detention of Ali al-Marri.
Please restore his constitutional rights, including the right to habeas corpus. Release him or charge him with a recognisable criminal offence in a court that meets international standards of justice.
However, justice demands that the crimes against him must also be subject to legal procedures.
He has suffered extreme isolation, abusive interrogations, denial of basic necessities including clothing, blanket, mattress, adequate water and hygiene items. He has been refused books, newspapers and recreation.
He is alone day after day. He has been kept in a cell, 9 feet by 6 feet, exposed to the cold and without any daylight. For three years he had no access to a lawyer. He was not allowed to phone to his family until 2008 and is still only permitted two calls a year. Letters are delayed for years.
These are crimes against humanity. We urge you to act in all haste to end his ordeal and make the torturers accountable,
Yours sincerely,
Name and Address (please add your own comment if you wish )
Friday, 6 February 2009
Link to online petition
Please visit this site to sign our petition which will be delivered to the US Ambassador in London
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