The Guantanamo Human Rights Commission was launched at a press conference at the House of Commons on January 20 2004. Its first function will be to organise and sponsor a visit to Washington by family members of European detainees and their lawyers. The visit, which will be hosted by the American Civil Liberties Union, is scheduled to take place the first week in March when the US Supreme Court is due to hear submissions on behalf of some of the detainees at Guantanamo.The purpose of the visit is to appeal as simply and directly as possible to the American people about the plight of the men in Guantanamo, who are denied their human rights to be charged and tried according to the standards of American and international law. The Commission�s longer term objective is to achieve an end to all forms of internment without trial, whether in Guantanamo, or in Britain in Belmarsh and Woodhill, or on the island of Diego Garcia.
The patrons of the Guantanamo Human Rights Commission are: Margaret Drabble, Sir Richard Eyre, Rabbi Albert Friedlander, Sir David Hare, Sir Ian Holm, Lord Judd, Hari Kunzru, Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP, Dr James MacKeith, Vanessa Redgrave, Mr Iqbal Sacranie, Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui and Ahdaf Souief.
The commission's website can be found at www.guantanamohrc.org