{"id":556,"date":"2009-02-10T16:48:35","date_gmt":"2009-02-10T16:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/?p=556"},"modified":"2009-02-10T16:48:35","modified_gmt":"2009-02-10T16:48:35","slug":"an-open-letter-to-obama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/?p=556","title":{"rendered":"An Open Letter to Obama"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\u00a9
\nOne of President Obama’s first actions was to stop the unfair trials at Guant\u00e1namo Bay. But there is still more to do<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Dear Mr President,<\/p>\n

I’ve never met you, but like millions of others I felt that your election offered the chance of a new start for the United States of America, and was heartened by what you had to say about many things, not least about Guant\u00e1namo Bay and the use of torture.<\/p>\n

I write to you on behalf of someone I’ve never met, nor have you, who once lived in the city I work in, London. And although I know you are extremely busy there is something that would only take you a few seconds that would possibly save his life, as well as sending a powerful message that you mean to follow fine words with fine actions. It would take you three words. “Release Binyam Mohamed<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

Binyam (as well as fellow Londoner Shaker Aamer)\u00a0 has many supporters here in the UK, and according to his lawyer is in a very poor state. As well as still suffering from his previous torture and deprivation his hunger strike makes his condition very dangerous, and unless released and given proper treatment he is likely to die in Guant\u00e1namo .<\/p>\n

\"\u00a9<\/p>\n

The British government has I understand made a request for his release. So far as is known the only problem of any sort over his release is the embarrassment it might cause to US and possibly also British security services if he is able to tell his story in full. This cannot be a valid reason for prolonging his unlawful imprisonment by a single second.<\/p>\n

I don’t expect a personal reply, but it would be great to hear the news and see the pictures of Binyam and others returning to their homes, friends and families. I know there are problems with returning some of the prisoners who might be imprisoned or tortured on their return, but there can be no justification for keeping people like Binyam, where no such problem exists, in custody at Guant\u00e1namo a second longer.<\/p>\n

You can say it. “Release Binyam Mohammed<\/em>.” Yes you can!<\/p>\n

Please do. And soon.<\/p>\n

\n

More on Binyam and the protests in this country against his detention on My London Diary, Jan 2008<\/a>,\u00a0 July 2008<\/a> andJan 2009.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of President Obama’s first actions was to stop the unfair trials at Guant\u00e1namo Bay. But there is still more to do\u00a0 Dear Mr President, I’ve never met you, but like millions of others I felt that your election offered the chance of a new start for the United States of America, and was heartened … Continue reading An Open Letter to Obama<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-own-work","category-political-issues"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}