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CAGEPRISONERS

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22 December 2012 

British involvement results in rendition of Mahdi Hashi to the US

On 21 December 2012, the FBI released a statement that Mahdi Hashi and two others had been charged in Brooklyn, New York and face life in prison. 

The family of Mahdi Hashi have been concerned about his whereabouts ever since a former detainee in a Djibouti prison claimed to have seen Mahdi detained by US forces. Until yesterday, his location was still unknown.

Hashi became the victim of rendition when the US chose to take him without any process from Djibouti to the US, the details of which are currently unclear. 

It is the UK government, however, who have exacerbated this situation by removing Mahdi’s citizenship, and allowing for him to be detained in Djibouti without charge or trial, claiming that they had no responsibility for him. 

Not having any government to represent his interests, as CagePrisoners believes he might have been left stateless, Mahdi now faces charges of being involved with al-Shabaab, a claim that his friends and family strongly deny. 

Research Director for CagePrisoners, Asim Qureshi, said of the news, 

“Mahdi Hashi has been the subject of all manner of unlawful behaviour. We believe that since the problems the UK government has had with deportations and extraditions, it has been easier for them to remove the citizenship of individuals, thus allowing them to be victims of drone strikes or rendition by third party countries. Mahdi is the latest example of how the UK government has disingenuously used the citizenship removal, to permit others forms of illegality to take place.” 

You can find more information about Mahdi Hashi’s case at:

www.mahdihashi.net 

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Notes:

CagePrisoners is a human rights NGO that exists to raise awareness of the plight of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other detainees held as part of the War on Terror. We aim to give a voice to the voiceless.

CagePrisoners Ltd

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London

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