I think it is time to reject Islamism

'Unthinkable' provokes thought about questions that sometimes are glossed over too easily by those in the US.

There are some detainees in the UK who have been in prison for the last 9 years, without a single question having been asked of them.

The launch of a new report by the Islamic Education and Research Acadamy highlights some interesting facts about the perception of Muslims in the UK.

Eliza Mannigham-Buller is presenting herself as a sound voice today - lets not forget her credentials as someone who fully backs the use of torture evidence.

Why is so much emphasis placed on protecting the identities on those complicit in torture - it is almost like they are the victims.

The re-arrests of the men acquitted from the Ricin trials last week have invoked public rage and outcry over the treatment of these exonerated men. In particular, a number of the jurors from the original trial contacted Cageprisoners to voice their concerns over what they see to be a clear violation of the rule of law and fundamental principles of justice that the UK has always been so strong in protecting. What is becoming clear to them, is that the government is slowly turning the UK from being a liberal democracy, into becoming a hegemonic oligarchy.

Phil Shiner has developed the practice to attract top ranking lawyers in the areas of human rights and administrative and public law through acting for Gurkha soldiers facing discrimination in the British army and in relation to the conduct of British troops in post-occupation Iraq. He has dealt with international law issues through, for example, representing CND in a judicial review challenging the Government's decision to go to war and instructing barristers on the legality of the Mutual Defence Agreement between the US and UK. Cageprisoners spoke to him about his British clients detained in Iraq, the abuse of Iraqis by British troops and the legality of the war.

Returning from Guantanamo Bay, Airat Vakhitov has been persecuted by the Russian authorities despite continually proving that there is no case against him over suspected terrorism. His story, related in this Cageprisoners interview, is one of complete rejection from every single community he has encountered. Having first been picked up by the Taliban government as a Russian spy, he was later handed over to the Americans who having put him through torture sent him to Guantanamo Bay where he was continually abused. Now that he is back in Russia, life for Airat has not improved at all. However, despite all the rejection and persecution he has faced, he still stands up for his right to live a free man.

Since March 2003 Majid Khan was among those being held by the US in secret detention after it was suggested that he was an Al Qaeda operative. In late 2006 Majid was one of 14 ‘High-Value Detainees’ moved from secret detention to Guantanamo Bay to face processing through the Military Commissions established by President Bush.

While on a research mission to Pakistan in late 2006, Asim Qureshi (Cageprisoners) and Zachary Katznelson (Reprieve) met with the wife of Majid Khan, Rabia Yaqoob, to learn how her husband had ended up in Guantanamo Bay. The following interview is that of a wife and a mother who on just getting to know her husband, had him snatched away before she really knew what it meant to be married.