Anti-Guantanamo protest hits US embassy
By politics.co.uk staff
Protestors are gathering outside the US embassy this afternoon to call for the release of British resident Binyam Mohamed.
The demonstrators, dressed in the orange jumpsuits worn by inmates at Guantanamo Bay, say Mr Mohamed needs to be returned to the UK immediately given his medical condition.
Mr Mohamed has been on hunger strike for over a month now, with a US military lawyer, Yvonne Bradley, saying he is just “skin and bones”.
She is understood to have argued he is close to death.
“Binyam Mohamed is currently in a very fragile state and must be released immediately,” said Aisha Maniar of the London Guantánamo Campaign.
“Mr Mohamed’s health and safety must take priority. We urge the US to release him immediately and call on the British government to intensify their actions to have him released.”
A Foreign Office delegation is currently visiting Mr Mohamed in the camp with a view to returning him home as soon as possible.
David Miliband confirmed to parliament earlier this month that the American government had no objections to Mr Mohamed returning to the UK, where he holds residency status. This was a marked change in attitude to earlier comments, in which the Americans refused to allow Mr Mohamed to leave.
The protest comes as controversy continues to swirl around Foreign Office claims of threats from American intelligence services that they would stop cooperating with British counterterrorism efforts if a judges’ ruling on Mr Mohamed’s torture case is made public.
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