Mother of Cdn young man, Jack, who's been illegally detained for 7 yrs in Syria. Author of 'Reasonable Cause to Suspect', pub Feb 2023 by
@dundurnpress
@joolielovely
@Yasir_Naqvi
@melaniejoly
@GAC_Corporate
Dear
@GAC_Corporate
There's 1 simple way to stop this anguish once & for all. Just drop yr appeal against Judge Brown's declaratn to repatriate all Cdns. Honestly it's that simple. End the lies, anguish, more lies, more anguish. Then repatriate them. All on one plane. That simple
To judge who rolled her eyes when we described Jack's torture in court
To MP who shrugged his shoulder when we said Jack is hungry & barely alive
To Supreme Crt who refused to hear families' appeal
To 4 Foreign Ministers who never replied to my letters
YOU ARE ALL COMPLICIT
Go, Harry!
'Democracy fails when your press fails to scrutinise and hold the government accountable, and instead choose to get into bed with them so they can ensure the status quo'
@HackedOffHugh
@DailyMailUK
Yep,
@DailyMailUK
did this to me, too. I made mistake of saying a sentence to them & they made up 5 quotes on subject I didn't even touch upon. They also quoted things my neighbours supposedly said, which would have been extremely hurtful, until I realised they made those up too
For an act of peaceful civil disobedience to block an oil pipeline, a judge designated Jessica Reznicek a "terrorist" and gave her a draconian 8-year prison term.
Courts must not be used by the fossil fuel industry to silence the heroes who defend our Earth.
@FreeJessRez
A thread: If Shamima Begum had sneaked off school with 2 friends at age of 15 to join foreign legion against Putin in Ukraine, wld she be forced to explain how she'd become radicalised, to accept blame for killings carried out by military forces, to show remorse for her decision,
This is my son in this photo, emaciated & abandoned. He's uncharged & untried. UK police say no evidence he's done anything wrong. Gov stripped him of citizenship so he can't defend himself & claim we are 'wasting their breath' in saying this is wrong
Happy 27th birthday, Jack. I haven't seen you since you were 18. We miss you every single minute of every single day. We will never give up fighting for your release. Your nightmare will be over soon. Mum xxx
I gained terrorism conviction for sending £200 for glasses for son in Syria. In 2014 I gave payment of £250 to Sara Khan's charity 'Inspire', hoping they could help me get him home. Does that make Sara Khan recipient of payment frm terrorist? Perhaps CT police should investigate?
Sara Khan - the threat from
#extremism
is broad, severe and we need a response that involves all society. But we must guard our right to protest and offend. She praises
@sajidjavid
for speaking out on hatred and extremism.
@kennardmatt
White phosphorus that remains in the ground in Fallujah after the deadly US attacks in 2004 is still causing horrific birth defects like this. The Western world cannot bear to look so has turned a blind eye
This blatant difference in media treatment of 2 schoolgirls is as stark as that of Kate Middleton & Meghan Markle. People who point to my family as 'proof' this blatant difference is not true, please stop. The exception (of white citizenship stripping) proves the rule
My family was duped, vilified & criminalised by police, charity & academia who claimed to be helping us get Jack out of Syria. Jack's still detained on basis of their lies. Am grateful to
@Lowkey0nline
for giving me 1st opportunity in 7 yrs to reveal truth
We’re incredibly excited to announce the publication of REASONABLE CAUSE TO SUSPECT a powerful and unforgettable new memoir from
@CampaignforJack
.
Out in Spring 2023 from
@dundurnpress
!
Find out more about the book here:
@IrwinCotler
9 Cdn men, 4 women, 14 Cdn children are held hostage in NESyria by military groups. They have absolutely no rights & have been abandoned by Cdn gov. Gov is in fact fighting families in court to keep them there. It wld be helpful if Cdn commentators cld also publicise their plight
Shamima Begum's appeal fails bc Brit gov is most treacherous, authoritarian gov since Cromwell. She's deemed security threat not bc UK's multibillion security industy can't cope with 1 young woman but- like Julian Assange- bc of what she can reveal abt treachery at heart of state
Shamima Begums appeal fails. But someone from her legal team has just said “this isn’t over”. If you want to understand how we got here. Listen and watch The Shamima Begum Story. She gives me her full account and we interrogate it.
Just to say, my name is Sally, my Muslim son's been held in n. Syria 2 years longer than Shamima,& this gov is using him and me to prove to UK public they don't just pick on brown people. Islamophobia cuts across race, ethnicity, class & politics so that ingrained hate trumps all
IMO
#ShamimaBegum
should be brought home - she’s a British citizen who was groomed as a child at 15. If her name was Sally, and the offender someone closer to home, everyone (quite rightly) would seek help her yet people are denying Shamima the same🤔
@mohammedakunjee
Geneva Conv was waived in big way 7 years ago. Difference is, US knew it wouldn't need to ask for waiver bc there's no outrage over prisoners being kept in conditions that wld be criminally condemned for animals
Instead, anyone citing Geneva Conv is called terrorist sympathiser
One consequence of this is that public opinion has been poisoned to such an extent, it's deemed perfectly acceptable for West govs to arbitrarily detain 10s of 1000s of people in Syria- 2/3 of whom are children- on grounds they are vicious murderers until they can prove otherwise
As morbid as it is to say, the murderous vigilante targeting of Muslims taking place is not only an extension of the 2 decades long war on terror which has displaced 37 mill ppl, but a return on an investment in relentless war propaganda from think tanks to newspapers.
@Zubhaque
And to those who say 'but the white boy also had his citizenship removed', I say this is why state spent £6m on our criminal trial - so that this issue descends into sectarian bickering about race/ethnicity/culture/Britishness instead of abt grave human rights abuse by the state
Thank you, Tim, for exposing truth: 'Jack remains symbol of this gov’s shameful unwillingness to confront hardest of its responsibilities. Jack & Shamima Begum, two highest profile prisoners, had their UK citizenship revoked in response to media outrage'
Important statement frm
@DrSalmanButt
. More people need to realise that labelling innocent people as extremists, inc sock-knitting, pacifist grannies who try to rescue their children from war zones, is state's quickest & laziest way of shutting down all opposition to its policies
This is a victory for ALL of us
"I believe the discourse of 'extremism' is truly dead"
@DrSalmanButt
comments on his latest triumph against the government.
Watch the full video at:
@AsaWinstanley
@dimitrilascaris
When we relayed my son's report of torture in Syria to UK gov, Boris Johnson, then Foreign Sec, said (according to FCO disclosure) he didn't need to do anything as 'Letts family are not popular'. C4 reported this. Whole country just shrugged. This is state of UK's 'human rights'
In 2014, I gave £ to Sara Khan's org Inspire in the hope she could help bring my son back from Syria. She agreed to help. Then I got convicted for terrorism for trying to get my son back from Syria. Why was she not convicted for receiving terrorist funds?
Reading the new Sara Khan report on 'hateful extremism' and I've only got
@Jhus
' 'Must Be' sage-like wisdom reverberating in my head 🤷🏽♂️
Note that Khan has been almost entirely silent on the instances of racism by Tories - this is all political.
@AsimCP
Legal harassment. I'm so sorry for what you have to go thru. My younger son who's never done anything wrong, in fact recently got First in his Philosophy degree, went thru this process at airport 2 yrs ago bc of his unfortunate surname. The bullies in playground now have uniforms
Stitched up by Telegraph. What a surprise. Told
@josieensor
I felt guilty I've been unable to protect my child from consequences of stupid decision to go to Syria. Never said he joined terror grp bc he didn't. Doesn't stop Brit press frm repeating old lies
@Jonathan_K_Cook
Syria's been battlefield for war betwn Russia & US since Assad invited Russia to join militarily in 2015. Russia won war. To save face, US pretended war had been against IS all along. US still holds 1000s of political hostages - many of whom tried to flee IS - to keep up pretence
And if it were their own daughter? Everyone thinks it couldn't happen to them. People are v quick to condemn without thinking about full story. Why? Because they would be seen as terror apologists? Because this gov in collusion with media maintains stranglehold on the narrative?
Judging from the reaction on social media by British Muslims (doesn’t mean that it’s representative) many believe Shamima Begum shouldn’t be allowed back into Britain.
Irish national is repatriated, put on trial, serves sentence & returns to her child in the time it takes for Shamima to have her citizenship stripped, her child die, denied justice in Brit courts, left in unlawful detention. Which is more grown-up country?
To all my lovely supporters,
@Rob_Oliphant
, parl sec to
@melaniejoly
, this aft committed to meeting w/ me to talk abt repatriation of Jack & other 18 Cdns. This meeting has been a long time coming
I've therefore halted hunger strike
Thank u for all yr kind messages of support
Relatives not informed if their loved ones are alive or dead. Is US-led coalition - now distancing itself from SDF - unable to account for detainees in their custody? Dumped their bodies in mass grave & that's it? This is not 'what happens in war'. This was slaughter in captivity
Valentine was priest killed by Romans, & Valentine's Day is day to remember all those unjustly jailed. Today I'm marking 1735th day of illegal detention of my lovely son, Jack, who I haven't seen or spoken to fr 5 yrs. We love you, Jack & we're counting the days until you're home
Gov gets its own Muslim-only supermax prison &
@HanifQadir
gets to decide how long prisoners are in for, plus how much he'll charge gov to 'de-radicalise' them. Perfect symbiotic relationship
@fahadansari
The government says it plans to make it easier to isolate terrorist offenders from other prisoners in separation units. But
@HanifQadir
tells us this could create its own problems if the causes of radicalisation aren’t addressed.
My report produced by
@hilamay_
on
#C4News
Let me get this straight - Tommy Robinson poses with gun on top of Israeli tank in occupied West Bank, says he would fight for Israel in a war, & WE get terrorism conviction for sending to Muslim country £200 which police admit didn't go to a terrorist? Brit 'democracy' sick joke
“In solitary confinement I started to go insane & talk to myself,” Letts said. “I thought dying was better than my mother seeing me insane so I tried to hang myself.” As his mother, I've had to imagine this for 41/2 yrs, w/ full knowledge of
@GAC_Corporate
@MarikaRose
@HKesvani
Love the way
@DavidTCDavies
accuses people who are protesting against water pollution of contributing to the murder of David Amess. Can't get much lower in politics than that
@melaniejoly
That's rich coming from u, Melanie. You pretend u haven't known where my Cdn son is for 7 yrs. It requird civil delegation last yr to 'find' him. Our family had pain of not knowing if he was alive for 3 yrs. Why do u care abt Israeli hostage families but not Cdn hostage families?
@melaniejoly
Your dept's been trying to 'determine whereabouts' of my son for 7 yrs even tho we told you where he was. In Aug 2023, his detainers claimed they didn't know where he was until last day of a civil delegation trip. UN has told you this is 'enforced disappearance'. Anything to say?
'Human rights grps warned Russia & Ukraine that parading POW before media is violation of int law.' So why was this not violation of int law when
@BBCNews
@cnni
@RohitKachrooITV
(who also handed him his citizenship revocation)
@SkyNews
did this to my son?
Fittingly, advance copies of 'Reasonable Cause to Suspect' have arrived 1 day ahead of Ottawa court hearing, where Judge Brown will decide whether to continue torture of ~45 Cdn citizens in illegal Syrian detention camps or not. Advance orders available in Cda/US/UK. Quotes below
Younger son told me today he got 1st in his philosophy degree from top univ he doesn't want identified as he's trying to live normal life despite fact his brother wrongly smeared by tabloids in absence of evidence w UK state trying to ensure he never gets out of illegal detention
@iainoverton
@AmnestyUK
When
@AmnestyUK
started to chase the popularity route just like everyone else - seeing themselves as competitors against other charities for those elusive donor funds - they lost all sense of their core principles & mission. Such a sad waste of a once brilliant org
@KreaseChan
This case is extremely important. E3's citizenship was revoked on 'secret evidence' relating to national security. However, on his return from 5 yrs of exile, there was not enough evidence to arrest him at airport. Evidence was so secret it didn't actually exist. How many more?
CAGE welcomes the return home of British man after winning back his citizenship
E3, returned to the UK on Friday 11th February and is now back home with his family after many years of forced separation.
Read the full statement here:
#StopNABB
#Citizens
Today marks 5th anniversary of Jack's illegal detention in Syria. 1827 days in foreign dungeon.
4 yrs ago
@GAC_Corporate
told me they were doing everything they cld to secure his release. Now they say they can't even tell me if he's still alive.
Pls sign our petition below
Not exactly a scoop, I'm afraid. CBC reported this in 2015: Cdn gov completely ignored evidence &, along with UK, decided to blame the 15-yr-old victim. Disgusting & immoral behaviour on part of Cdn gov
@Yasir_Naqvi
@melaniejoly
@shephardm
@CliveSSmith
Exclusive: A spy working for Canadian intelligence smuggled Shamima Begum and her two friends from Bethnal Green into Syria and Britain later conspired with Canada to cover up its role, according to explosive news claims
@thetimes
The US Govt. sent their bodies home bodybags, no names just their ISN Numbers. All organs & parts of the neck had been removed so that no autopsies could be performed. No apology. No explanation. Imagine getting your son like this.
#PinkShirtDay
is important day in our house as we raise awareness about bullying and promote kindness, empathy, & understanding.
We must all help build strong communities to support one another as kids need & deserve safe spaces free from bullying.
Wear your pink shirt proudly!
And this, my friends, is why we need proper investigative journalists like
@markcurtis30
&
@DCKennard
. Without their sterling work, this righting of a serious wrong never would have happened. All power to you guys
Unbelievable: French gov cites 'security reasons' in blocking 2 lawyers at Iraq/Syria border trying to visit mother & child detainees in Syria camps. AANES wants local trials- how, w/o lawyers? Eur govs need to stop playing games w/ our relatives' lives. We've had enough!!
2 avocats français, Marie Dosé & Ludovic Rivière, missionnés par
@ASFFrance
et
@batonnierparis
, ont été bloqués à la frontière syro-irakienne (Semalka) et interdits d'accès au Rojava
Communiqué du Collectif des Familles Unies
In Jan 2018, Jack told Cdn consular officer he'd spent 35 days 'in room abt as tall as I am & half that in width'. Sounds similar to one below. We can't ask him bc he's incommunicado. After 13 Jan, Judge Brown will decide if this is acceptable treatment for Cdn citizens
@DCFraser
Kudos to
@judyatrinh
at
@CTVNews
, who says in this broadcast what no journalist has had the courage to say in past 7 years:
'Most were arbitrarily detained & many were victims, not militants, & all are subjected to rampant abuse'
From Discover on Google . How strange this appears immediately after I criticise Prevent & police. And that my access to internet was jammed for 2 days.Also strange no mention of £millions spent prosecuting us even though police gave us permission to send £
"Bring them home," said [Gen. Frank] McKenzie. "That's what needs to happen and our State Department's aggressively working to that goal right now. Indeed, the entire international community is, but the pace is too slow right now."
There's so much to this story of police corruption & Prevent/Channel collusion (orgs feeding at trough of Home Office funding) that came out in our trial but wasn't reported in press. Full exposure coming out soon - watch this space (unless my brakes mysteriously fail first ...)
Agree. We were referred to Prevent officer to stop us 'slipping into terrorism' (how does anyone 'slip' into terrorism- we're not talking banana skins).Police knew said 'Prevent' officer was suspended as 'Channel' officer b/c of illegal activity, but used him anyway as police spy
@CliveSSmith
If she's such a threat, what exactly is UK paying for when it pays salaries of police, CT officers, courts, probation, prison guards, Home Office civil servants, military, security services, intelligence, etc? All that £ & they're still threatened by one traumatised young woman?
I'm getting lots of messages today from people saying they can't believe I don't have my boy back yet
I can't believe it, either
Over past 7 years, I've written to 4 Cdn Foreign Ministers begging them to get Jack out of foreign dungeon where he's slowly dying
Not one replied
@guardiannews
One by one, Brit state takes away vehicles of protest from its citizens. First, it's criminalising disruptive or 'noisy' protests. Now, criminalising boycotts. What's next? Petitions? Soon only option left will be writing to yr MP & we all know how effective that is
@Yasir_Naqvi
Shocking news from France: families arrested for crime of..sending £ to loved ones in Syria to buy basic food provisions in camps where everything has to be paid for. Payments known abt for years, so why now? Bc
@FamillesDes
has publicly challenged gov's inhumanity & lawlessness?
Communiqué du Collectif des Familles Unies
Depuis ce matin: arrestations, perquisitions, gardes à vue & convocations de familles par la DGSI
Leur crime : avoir envoyé de l'aide à leurs petits-enfants détenus dans des camps dans le NE de la
#Syrie
Someone please explain why NO-ONE is standing up in Parliament asking why UK gov supports prison camps for 2 yr-olds. NO-ONE in entire Parl - gov or opposition - thinks there's anything wrong with this??? 34 Brit children held prisoner in Syria. All perfectly fine, apparently
1/2 For Father's Day: Jack's message to his father, Red X letter, Nov 2018: ‘After nearly 2 yrs here I realise I’m no longer considered human & have become a new, more despicable creature w/ far less rights in eyes of supposedly civilised world. I’ve become a piece of wheat in...
When prisoners in NE Syria protested lack of food & water in Mar '20, SDF general said their forces quelled the 'insubordination'. Since when is demanding water 'insubordination'? Water was cut off for 2 days in 40 deg heat. Western coalition govs backing this absolute cruelty
🇨🇦 gov is fighting families in court to ensure loved ones are kept in Syrian prisons like this. FOR YEARS. Although ordered by court to stop this abuse, it's put all efforts into prolonging it. It also led global campaign to end arbitrary detention for all citizens EXCEPT ITS OWN
@5742Days
My younger son knew Martha from school. Such a beautiful girl. My heart goes out to you, I think of your courage and spirit often, particularly when I walk past Martha's bench in the park. Your selfless campaigning in the past 6 years will have saved so many lives.
Pics like this are:
- why prisoners held incommunicado
- why govs pretend can't access prisons
- why gov tells families they need to prove mistreatment while deliberately instructing their captors not to allow access
Bc govs prefer their cruelty to remain behind closed doors
Accept the fact she will probably die in a foreign camp with her family being told they cannot send money to Ukraine to return her body, bc any money to Ukraine is, of course, considered money for terrorism?
Well, I think we all know the answer to that.
@GeorgeMonbiot
A better answer to yr Q is fact UK liberal/left intelligentsia consistently turned blind eye to draconian anti-terror legislation that drastically altered civil liberties after 9/11. Bc this only impacted Muslims, no one else cared. Sorry to say you have been part of this, George
@declassifiedUK
Lady A sent me to prison too. Against advice of lawyer, police, even prosecutor. Aristocratic rule in UK goes back long way- in her case 1000 yrs, aft her family granted land in return fr clearing Scotland of wild boar. Read all abt it in my new book 'Reasonable Cause to Suspect'
Still no proof of life from my son for 15 months now. Yet
@BBCNews
can film him in prison whenever UK gov says so. His parents aren't allowed to know whether he's still alive, but
@sommervilletv
is. I cannot think of a worse indictment of this disgusting government.
So, it takes Guantanamo judge 14 years to decide Gul's detention was unlawful. How many years will it take US & allies to admit incarceration of uncharged detainees in NE Syria's death camps & prisons - Guantanamo Mark 2 - is unlawful?
@UK_CAGE
@MansoorAdayfi
@glynco
@CliveSSmith
The judge found Guantanamo detainee Assadullah Haroon Gul was not a member of al Qaeda or an associated force and as such, his detention was unlawful. Gul was a member of the Hezb-i-Islami militia, which entered into a peace agreement with the Afghan government in 2016.
Docs revealed how Ericsson helped pay bribes [$37m] to ISIS - but let's divert eyes of world to 2 parents who sent £223 to help their son escape from ISIS. Meanwhile Ericsson gets settlement deal for $1bn & son still arbitrarily detained. Well done, world
On Mon 27 Mar, 🇨🇦 gov goes to court in attempt to keep Jack in arbitrary detention by foreign non-state actor forever. Justice Brown- who had to remind gov it is signatory to Universal Declaratn of Human Rights - ordered gov to repatriate him but gov said UN evidence 'irrelevant'
by news crew that she is no longer British, to be forced to confess her guilt on national TV, to be told by Supreme Court that she is too dangerous to be allowed a fair trial, to be detained by a foreign military force hired by the gov whose citizenship she used to have, to be
…
Thank you to
@AsimCP
for this thoughtful & nuanced review of 'Reasonable Cause to Suspect'. Unlike much of the British press, he highlights pernicious role of the state in our persecution & conviction
We continue to campaign for Jack's freedom
Today desk torturers at
@GAC_Corporate
will argue they shld be allowed to perpetuate the physical & mental degradation & annihilation of my son. Why do they want to destroy another human being? Why is Cda allowing this cruel charade? Why does gov decide who is human & who is not?
Remember Argentinian families asking what happened to their 'disappeared' relatives? Syrians asking Assad if their relatives had died in prison? Cdn & UK govs can't tell us if our son is alive or not - for over a year now. Why is this not a scandal?
@patrickwintour
@GeorgeMonbiot
to be told death of her 3 babies was her own fault, to have journalists line up to report camp gossip as to what atrocities she probably did, to account for shock of Brit public at her inurement to brutality of war, to be incarcerated in a camp with no hope of release, to be told
BREAKING: 4 children & 3 women just shot dead by SDF militia in al-Hol camp. Yet family members are asked to 'prove' their relatives' lives are at risk before
@GAC_Corporate
will 'consider' repatriation. REPATRIATE NOW
@melaniejoly
@lettatayler
@PaulChampLaw
France has 300 women and children in Syria’s IS camps. When can they return home?
"It's one of the most shameful moments in contemporary French history" (Marie Dosé)
by
@frankandrews__
@fahadansari
Stark contrast to 18-yr-old Safaa Boular, who was sentenced to LIFE after undercover MI5 officers posed as the commander of her dead husband in order to encourage her to mount an attack on London. Not sure why MI5 officers are exempt from laws against incitement to violence
Here's hoping Jack can be part of this pic next year. The efforts of
@stewglobal
& his ilk to prevent this frm happening only redouble our efforts to see our son again. Love & solidarity to all those campaigning to release their children frm torture camps & prisons
@GAC_Corporate
“Nothing prepares you as parent to hear yr child tell u they've been tortured,” said John Letts. “For yrs we were scared of saying anything in case there'd be retaliation against him by Kurd forces but it’s 5 yrs & our silence not made situation any better”
1/2 I've met best & worst of humanity in battle to free Jack from black hole prison supported by 🇨🇦 gov
Worst are spineless Lib MPs who say they've no influence, know nothing abt my son, but support gov's position of his exile
Best are those who fight every day for human rights
Can we get something straight about Shamima Begum?
What someone deserves is based on the suffering they were willing to inflict on others.
But we don't rape rapists, torture torturers or murder murderers.
This isn't about what she deserves or who she is.
It's about who WE are.
This is ONLY evidence required to detain someone in high security prison for 2 years on charges of terrorism - a neighbour worried that someone on her street had converted to Islam. This is 'law' that Supreme Court upheld yesterday. This would be comical if it weren't so tragic
denied contact with her family or lawyer, beaten if found in possession of mobile phone, subject to death threats by other camp inmates, kept in flimsy tent throughout freezing winters, drink water polluted by oil & parasites, again be told this is her own fault, her parents
ostracised by their community & harassed, her friends & contacts visited & interrogated by counterterrorism police, told she can only have fair trial (on 'secret evidence') if she can make her way out of locked camp while under 24hour armed guard, again told this is her own fault
As our Prevent charity officer
@HanifQadir
told us he was working w/ 'highest levels of gov' to gain police permission for us to send £ to Jack. He later testified in court he was 'horrified' when police gave us that permission. I was convicted largely on testimony of this stooge
Yusuf Zahab, 17-yr-old Australian boy, hit in head by US Apache helicopter during IS attack on Hasaka prison has died. It was Yusuf who pleaded for help in voice message reported in NYT. RIP Yusuf & shame on Aust gov & all govs for allowing their captive citizens to die like this
We live in a world where a camera in your computer can give tech mining companies info on your household objects in order to send you targeted ads, but no politician can tell you if your son is alive or not. Something has gone seriously wrong & no one is even talking about it
Also no medical care in Guantanamo2 in Syria.
@ICRC
has been BANNED from visiting NE Syria prisons since Hasakah riots in Jan 2022- on 'security grounds'.
@GAC_Corporate
says it's had no news of prisons since 2019. My request for proof of life turned down by authorities last week
From
@ellenwhinnett
today: ~20 women & children were removed temporarily from alRoj in recent days for DNA testing to confirm their identities be4 they're issued w/ emergency passports to allow their travel back to Australia..gov is planning to bring families back in about 3 grps