“Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” — UK Tour Dates 2011: The “Save Shaker Aamer” Tour

“‘Outside the Law’ is a powerful film that has helped ensure that Guantánamo and the men unlawfully held there have not been forgotten.”
Kate Allen, Director, Amnesty International UK

“[T]his is a strong movie examining the imprisonment and subsequent torture of those falsely accused of anti-American conspiracy.”
Joe Burnham, Time Out

As featured on Democracy Now!, ABC News and Truthout (see here). Buy the DVD here (£10 + £2 postage in the UK, and worldwide) or here if in the US ($10 post free), and please click on the image to enlarge the poster.

Throughout 2011, Andy Worthington, investigative journalist and author of The Guantánamo Files, will be touring the UK, showing the documentary “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (co-directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington) and attending post-screening Q&A sessions. On some dates, Andy will be joined by former Guantánamo prisoner Omar Deghayes, who is now the legal director of the Guantánamo Justice Centre, Polly Nash, and other guests yet to be confirmed. Amnesty International UK is providing publicity and some support for the tour.

The 2011 UK tour follows a 35-date UK tour undertaken by Andy last year (often in the company of Omar Deghayes), and, for the most part, involves events arranged by Amnesty International student groups, following an initiative launched at the Amnesty International Student Conference at the Human Rights Action Centre in London in November 2010, where Andy was a speaker, and where he invited student groups to hold screenings.

The tour also follows screenings in the US last October and in January this year, and a week-long tour of Poland in the first week of February 2011, and also coincides with two appearances in film festivals — the D.C. Independent Film Festival on March 5, 2011, and the Bradford International Film Festival, which took place between March 16 and 27, 2011.

The intention of the tour, as with every screening, is to raise awareness of the truth about Guantánamo, extraordinary rendition, secret prisons and torture, explaining how the Bush administration turned its back on domestic and international laws, rounding up men and boys in Afghanistan and Pakistan without adequate screening (and often for bounty payments), and also explaining why some of these men may have been in Afghanistan or Pakistan for reasons unconnected with militancy or terrorism (as missionaries or humanitarian aid workers, for example).

The film focuses on the stories of three prisoners — Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in Guantánamo, who is still held, and Binyam Mohamed and Omar Deghayes (both released) — and features interviews with former prisoners Moazzam Begg and Omar Deghayes, lawyers Clive Stafford Smith and Tom Wilner, and journalist Andy Worthington, plus appearances from Guantánamo’s former Muslim chaplain James Yee, Imam Shakeel Begg, and the British human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce.

Take action for Shaker Aamer!

In addition, this year’s tour focuses specifically on the ongoing plight of Shaker Aamer. Although he was cleared for release from Guantánamo in 2007, Shaker, a Saudi national with a British wife and four British children, is still held, despite the fact that, last November, he was included in a financial settlement that the British government reached with 15 former prisoners (which he obviously cannot conclude while held in Guantánamo), despite the fact that the Metropolitan Police are investigating his claims that British agents witnessed his abuse by US soldiers in a prison in Afghanistan, before his transfer to Guantánamo in February 2002, and despite the fact that the coalition government’s planned judicial inquiry into British complicity in torture abroad, announced by Prime Minister David Cameron last July, cannot legitimately start while he is still held.

In seeking to understand why Shaker Aamer has not been released, his lawyers, and everyone else who has studied his case closely, has been obliged to conclude that it is not because he poses a threat to anyone, or that he was engaged in any kind of terrorist activity, but because, as the foremost defender of the prisoners’ rights, he knows too much about the dark workings of Guantánamo, and, in particular, because, on the night in June 2006 that three men died in Guantánamo under mysterious circumstances (in contrast to the authorities’ claim that they committed suicide), Shaker has stated that he was subjected to brutal torture, and thought that he would die.

Letters to the British and American governments will be available at these events, but if you want to write now to demand Shaker’s return to his family in the UK, please visit this Amnesty International campaign page, where you can write directly to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In addition, via my site, you can also write to Foreign secretary William Hague using the template here, or write to your MP here, or write to Hillary Clinton and Daniel Fried, the US Special Envoy on Guantanamo, here.

With the recent release, by WikiLeaks, of classified US military documents relating to the prisoners — plus the death of Osama bin Laden — Guantánamo is more newsworthy than it has been for a while. As a media partner for WikiLeaks, Andy is perfectly placed to explain these developments, and also to keep the focus on Shaker Aamer, whose release from Guantánamo remains as pressing as ever. For further information, see this article in the Guardian about Shaker Aamer following WikiLeaks’ release of the US military’s Detainee Assessment Briefs from Guantánamo, this article in the Wandsworth Guardian (in Shaker’s home borough), and this BBC News feature on Shaker Aamer’s case. Also see these letters to the Guardian.

Below is a list of the confirmed screenings to date, plus one other speaking event that does not involve a screening (and information about the film festival screenings). Unless otherwise noted, all events are free. Updates will be added as confirmation is received, which I will announce via blog posts, but please feel free to bookmark this page to keep up to date.

“Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” — UK Tour Dates 2011

February 2011

Monday February 14, 6.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington.
Hamilton House, 80 Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3QY.
This event was organized by the University of Bristol Amnesty International Society, with support from other Bristol Amnesty groups.
For further information, please contact Sam Knight. Also see the Facebook page.

Friday February 18, 7 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington.
Durham University, Room ER140, Elvet Riverside, New Elvet, Durham, DH1 3JT.
This event was organized by Durham University Amnesty International Society, with the support of Durham University Law, Sociology, Politics and Anthropology Departments.
For further information, please contact Alice Thubron. Also see the Facebook page. Click on the image to enlarge the poster.

Saturday February 19, 5 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington.
Teviot Dining Room (Student Union building), Bristo Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9AJ.
This event was organized by the Edinburgh University Amnesty International Society and the Stirling University Amnesty group, with participation from Edinburgh Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh Napier University, Glasgow University and the University of St. Andrews.
For further information, please contact Emily Segaran. See here for information about the Teviot venues.

Tuesday February 22, 7 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington.
LSE, Room NAB.2.13, New Academic Building, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2.
This event was organized by the LSESU Amnesty International Society.
For further information, please contact Oliver Sidorczuk. Also see the Facebook page, and see here for a map.

Wednesday February 23, 7.30 pm: Talk by Andy Worthington – “Outside the law: what next for the detainees in Guantanamo Bay?”
Latimer Room, Clare College, University of Cambridge, CB2 1TL.
I was delighted to be asked to speak at this event organized by Cambridge University Amnesty International society and the Cambridge Hub, a charity that connects students with causes and encourages them to help tackle the social and environmental issues that challenge us today. Recent speakers that the Student Hubs network has hosted across Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol and Southampton include: Dr. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court; Professor Anthony Giddens, British sociologist; Jon Snow, British broadcaster; Andrew Mitchell, Secretary of State for International Development; Tim Smit, Founder of the Eden Project; and Dr. Ian Goldin, former Vice President of the World Bank. See the term card here.
For further information, please contact Ruth Graham.

March 2011

Thursday March 3, 6 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington.
King’s College London, Stamford Street Residence Lecture Theatre, Franklin Wilkins Building, Stamford Street, London, SE1 8WA.
This event was organized by King’s College Amnesty International Society, and was announced as follows: “This is the highlight of our activities this term, and probably the academic year, as Andy is a great historian and an expert on Guantánamo. We are really excited about this event and the expertise Andy provides!” There will also be a stall run by the Guantánamo Justice Centre, an organization of former Guantánamo prisoners committed to providing welfare for former prisoners, campaigning to close the prison, and seeking legal avenues to hold accountable those responsible for the crimes committed in the “War on Terror.”
For further information, please contact Ela Drazba. Also see the Facebook page.

* FIRST US FILM FESTIVAL SCREENING *
Saturday March 5, 3 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Polly Nash, Tom Wilner and Debra Sweet.
D.C. Independent Film Festival, Letelier Theater, 3251 Prospect Street NW, Upper Courtyard, Washington D.C. 20007.
This screening was part of the D.C. Independent Film Festival. Tickets ($10/$7 for students and seniors) can be booked here (scroll down — the films are listed alphabetically). Co-director Polly Nash traveled from the UK to attend the screening and the post-screening Q&A session, and was joined by Tom Wilner, attorney for the Kuwaiti prisoners at Guantánamo, and Counsel of Record for the prisoners in the Supreme Court habeas corpus cases in 2004 and 2008, and Debra Sweet, national director of the campaigning group The World Can’t Wait. Also see the post here.

Monday March 7, 6.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington.
Nottingham University, Room B63, Law and Social Sciences Building, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD.
This event was organized by Nottingham University Amnesty International Society, as part of a week of events covering unlawful detention and torture, which included a performance of “Rendition Monologues” by iceandfire Theatre on March 9.
For further information, please contact Alea Nasihin.

Friday March 11, 6 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington.
SOAS, Lucas Lecture Theatre (G2), SOAS Main Building, Thornhaugh Street, London, WC1H 0XG.
This event was organized by SOAS Student Union and SOAS Amnesty International Society.
For further information, please contact Vicky Chenery. Also see the Facebook page.

Monday March 14, 8.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington. CANCELLED DUE TO ILLNESS.
Warwick University, Lecture Theatre L5, Science Concourse, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, CV4 7AJ.
This event was organized by Warwick University Amnesty International Society as part of a “Protect the Human” Week, which started with a day focused on terrorism and security, although Andy was unable to attend due to illness.
At 5 pm, Andy was supposed to have taken part in another event, “Question Time: Liberty v. Security — 10 Years On,” a panel discussion, chaired by Prof. Trevor McCrisken (Warwick PAIS), featuring David Davis MP, Robin Simcox (Centre for Social Cohesion) and Ghaffar Hussain (Quilliam Foundation) discussing the following questions: 1) Are control orders justified? 2) Is closing Guantánamo Bay feasible? 3) Islamophobia and radicalisation — myth or matter? 4) The balance between liberty and security since 9/11 — your verdict?
For further information, please contact Jesko Bartelt. Also see the Facebook page and website.

Wednesday March 16, 3 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington.
Brunel University, Brunel Law School, Lecture Centre, Room C, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH.
This event was organized by Brunel Law School. For further information, please contact Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos, Assistant Deputy Head, Brunel Law School.

Friday March 18, 4 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington. CANCELLED DUE TO ILLNESS.
Middlesex University, Room C115 , Hendon College Building, The Burroughs, Hendon, London, NW4 4BT.
This event was organized by Middlesex University Amnesty International Society, but Andy was unable to attend due to illness.
For further information, please contact Ugo Nelson. Also see the Facebook page, and see here for a map.

Monday March 21, 6.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington. CANCELLED DUE TO ILLNESS.
Queen Mary University of London, David Sizer Lecture Theatre, Francis Bancroft Building, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS.
This event was organized by QMUL Amnesty International Society, but Andy was unable to attend due to illness.
For further information, please contact Ellen Kiely. Also see the Facebook page, and see here for a map.

Wednesday March 23, 5 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington. CANCELLED DUE TO ILLNESS.
Greenwich University, Lecture Theatre QA180, Queen Anne Court, 30 Park Row, London, SE10 9LS.
This event was organized by Greenwich University Amnesty International Society, but Andy was unable to attend due to illness.
For further information, please contact Rachael Pembroke. Also see the Student Union page here, and see here for a map.

* UK FILM FESTIVAL DATES *
Saturday March 26, 6.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Polly Nash.
Bradford International Film Festival, Cineworld, Bradford Leisure Exchange, Vicar Lane, Bradford, BD1 5LD.
This screening was part of the Bradford International Film Festival. Screening information was here, tickets (£6.75/£5 concs.) could be booked by calling Cineworld on 0871 200 2000, and see here for additional booking information. Also see the post here.

Sunday March 27, 2 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.”
Bradford International Film Festival, Cineworld, Bradford Leisure Exchange, Vicar Lane, Bradford, BD1 5LD.
This screening was part of the Bradford International Film Festival. Screening information was here, tickets (£6.75/£5 concs.) could be booked by calling Cineworld on 0871 200 2000, and see here for additional booking information.

Monday March 28, 5 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington. CANCELLED DUE TO ILLNESS.
Portsmouth University, Park Building, Room 1.23, King Henry I Street, Portsmouth, PO1 2DZ.
This event was organized by Portsmouth University Amnesty International Society, but Andy was unable to attend due to illness.
For further information, please contact Adam Bright. Also see the Facebook page, and see here for a map.

Wednesday March 30, 6 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington. CANCELLED DUE TO ILLNESS.
Sheffield Hallam University, Lecture Theatre 6620, City Campus, 38-40 Howard St., Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 1WB.
This event was organized by Hallam Isoc and Sheffield Hallam University Amnesty International Society, but Andy was unable to attend due to illness.
For further information, please contact Shezana Hafiz.

May 2011

Thursday May 12, 7 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington.
De Montfort University, Room 3.03, Clephan Building, City Campus, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH.
This event was organized by De Montfort University Amnesty Society and Leicester University Amnesty Society. For directions, see the map here (the Clephan Building is number 7).
For further information, please contact Jonathan Ure, Hannah Slater or Emma Knight. Also see the Facebook page.

Monday May 16, 7 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington.
Hull University, Lecture Theatre 15, Wilberforce Building, Cottingham Road, Hull, HU6 7RX.
This event was organized by Hull University Amnesty International Society.
For further information, please email. Also see the Facebook page.

Thursday May 26, 7 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington.
Upstairs at The Exhibit, Restaurant, Bar and Cinema, 12 Balham Station Road, Balham, London, SW12 9SG.
This event was organized by Wandsworth Amnesty International Group.
For further information, please contact Sara Mason.

Friday May 27, 1 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington.
Institute of Education, Room S13, IoE Student Union, 20 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AL.
This event was organized by the Institute of Education Amnesty International Society as part of its “International Education and Culture week” from May 23 to 27.
For further information about the screening, please contact Samuel Mejias. Also see the website here for information about all the other events taking place during the week.

June 2011

Thursday June 9, 7 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington.
Cardiff University, Wallace Lecture Theatre, Main Building, Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3QN.
This event was organized by Cardiff Stop the War and Cardiff University Amnesty International Society.
For further information, please contact Adam Johannes by email or on 07940 108146.

Monday June 13, 8 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington.
Three Tuns Inn, Salop Street, Bishops Castle, Shropshire, SY9 5BW.
This event was organized by Bishops Castle Amnesty International Group, and there was an opportunity to meet Andy before the screening, at 7.30 pm.
For further information, please contact Janny Phillips.

Thursday June 16, 6.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington.
York University, Room V/045, Vanbrugh College, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD.
This event was organized by York University Amnesty International Society.
For further information, please contact Josh Levy. Also, see the Facebook page, and see here for maps and directions.

* UK FILM FESTIVAL DATE *
Sunday June 19, 1.40 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.”
Followed, at 5.20 pm in UCL’s Darwin Theatre, by Q&A with Andy Worthington and Polly Nash.
AV Hill Lecture Theatre, South Junction, Malet Place, UCL.
This screening was part of the Open City London Documentary Festival, and specifically part of “Exposing Guantánamo,” a weekend of films put together by London-based documentary film promoters Dochouse, which also featured “The Road to Guantánamo,” “Gitmo: The New Rules of War” and “You Don’t Like the Truth: 4 Days Inside Guantánamo,” the new film about the Canadian — and former child prisoner — Omar Khadr. The Q&A followed the screening of “You Don’t Like the Truth,” with Andy and Polly scheduled to be joined by Brent Mickum (US attorney for Shaker Aamer and Abu Zubaydah), Omar Deghayes, and Mat Whitecross, co-director of “The Road to Guantánamo,” although they were all unable to attend.
To contact Open City, please email, or for press inquiries contact Elizabeth. To contact Dochouse, please email or phone: 020 8237 1220.

* PARLIAMENTARY SCREENING *
Tuesday June 21, 6 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.”
Followed by Q&A with Tom Wilner, Caroline Lucas MP, Andy Worthington and Polly Nash. Moderator: Victoria Brittain.
Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House, Bridge St., London, SW1A 2LW.
This Parliamentary screening, hosted by the MPs Caroline Lucas (Green, Brighton Pavilion), Jeremy Corbyn (Labour, Islington North) and Peter Bottomley (Conservative, Worthing West), was “to raise awareness of the ongoing plight of the remaining 171 prisoners at Guantánamo (who are still, for the most part, held without charge or trial in a prison that remains a monstrous aberration from international norms), and, in particular, to raise awareness amongst MPs of the fact that one of these men still held without charge or trial is the British resident Shaker Aamer.” The Q&A session included US attorney Tom Wilner (featured in the film, who was Counsel of Record to the Guantánamo prisoners in their cases before the US Supreme Court), who was visiting London for this event, as well as Andy Worthington and Polly Nash, and was moderated by the journalist Victoria Brittain. Also invited were: Brent Mickum (who represents Shaker Aamer, and also the supposed “high-value detainee” Abu Zubaydah), British lawyer Gareth Peirce, and former Guantánamo prisoners Omar Deghayes and Moazzam Begg, but they were all unable to attend.
The screening was free, and those attending were asked to RSVP to Cath Miller (for Caroline Lucas), and to copy Polly Nash. For more information, see here.

October 2011

Friday October 21, 2011, 6 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington.
Room NK1, New King’s Building, King’s College, University of Aberdeen, AB24 3FX.
This event was organized by the University of Aberdeen Amnesty International Society and the Amnesty Aberdeen group.
For further information, please contact Matthew James Biro, the President of the Amnesty student group. Also see the university group’s Facebook page, and Amnesty Aberdeen’s website.

December 2011

Tuesday December 6, 2011, 5.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A with Andy Worthington.
Middlesex University, Room G190c, The Grove Building, Hendon Campus, London, NW4 4BT.
This event was organized by Amnesty International Middlesex Society.
For further information, please contact Nadira Irdiana, President, Amnesty International Middlesex Society. Also see the Facebook page, and, for directions, see Map 1 here.

For further information, interviews, or to inquire about broadcasting, distributing or showing “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo,” please contact Polly Nash or Andy Worthington. Below, on YouTube, you can watch the first five minutes of the film via Orchard Pictures, from whom you can also pay to watch the whole film online. You can also pay to watch it online, for just £1, via Journeyman Pictures.