Alkarama attends the Khartoum international conference on Guantanamo

Alkarama for Human Rights has attended in Khartoum, Sudan, from 26-27 November 2007, an international conference on human rights abuses in the Guantanamo detention centre. The conference title was : "Guantanamo prison : The Law of Force   and not the Force of Law". The conference, organized by the Sudanese NGO, Civic Aid International Organization, brought together 17 international NGOs for the defence of human rights, former prisoners and families of prisoners, including the wife of   journalist Sami Al Hajj, of the AlJazeera TV channel, arbitrarily detained in the   American base.

Mr Rachid Mesli, representing AlKarama at the conference, referred in his speech to the numerous violations of human dignity committed in the Guantanamo base in flagrant violation of the basic principles defined in international law of human rights. Mr Mesli mentioned the complaints submitted to the Working Group of the United Nations on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Rapporteur on Torture in the case of journalist Sami Al Hajj and filed a communication with the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, in the case of alleged suicide detainees. As a reminder, Alkarama had organized a press conference to present the findings of the autopsy report done by a Swiss medical team mandated by Alkarama and headed by Professor Patrice Mangin and had expressed serious doubts about the thesis of the American authorities.

The Khartoum Conference has also focused on the rights that should benefit the Guantanamo detainees under the international law of human rights, international humanitarian law and the United States Constitution itself.

One of the highlights of the conference was the testimony of three former detainees at the base, who addressed the audience with their now infamous orange uniforms, which became a symbol of the violation of law.

The wife of Aljazeera journalist Sami Al Hajj, who was accompanied by her son, took the floor to discuss the plight and suffering of the families of the detainees.

Beyond the legal dimension and testimony, the Khartoum Conference has endeavoured to identify ways of better collaboration between NGOs and the defence lawyers to better alert and mobilize public opinion on the closure without delay the base at Guantanamo, the immediate release of detainees or their appearance before an impartial and competent tribunal providing the guarantees of a fair trial and the right of victims to a formal apology and compensation for damages.

The main recommendations of the conference in Khartoum were on the rehabilitation of the victims and their social and professional reintegration, and the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry to shed light on the "suicide" suspects which have occurred at Guantanamo.

The Director of our legal organization has held several working meetings with representatives of other NGOs and a partnership was discussed with Civic Aid Int. Organization. Mr Mesli spoke at length with former prisoners and visited the families of those still detained on the American military base in order to document abuses and build dossiers to be submitted to the various special procedures of the United Nations.

For more information or an interview, please contact media@alkarama.org (Dir: +41 22 734 1008).