Letter to Arab Ambassadors - August 2000

Excellency Ambassador, Embassy of


Your excellency,

Samar Alami and Jawad Botmeh: Arab victims of a miscarriage of justice

As a British citizen, I am seeking your help for the above two Palestinians, who are from Lebanon and Bethlehem respectively. In school, I was encouraged to be proud of being British, and particularly proud of both our police force and legal system. These schooldays are now long over, and experience has sadly taught me that although we have much to be thankful for in this country, our legal system and political judgements can be fallible. Mistakes can be made which can lead to the most tragic miscarriages of justice.

Such a miscarriage of justice occurred when Samar Alami and Jawad Botmeh were convicted of "conspiring" to cause explosions in relation to bombs at the Israeli Embassy in 1994. They are clearly innocent, but have been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. In the original trial, the police said they operated in an "intelligence vacuum", as Samar and Jawad were branded a "home-grown amateur group". But intelligence reports which have come to light since the trial indicate that crucial evidence pointing to the responsibility of others, was withheld from the judge, jury, and defence, which makes the trial quite unsound, and the sentences completely unfair. Since then, Public Interest Immunity Certificates (PII's) have been signed, with the effect that although the government and prosecution have access to the information, it is denied to the defence.

I fear that there may be continuing reluctance of our government to release the information, and that diplomatic representations to our government will be the only way to rectify this injustice. Certainly, in spite of hundreds of British supporters of Samar and Jawad, their decategorisation (from Category'A') was not addressed until there was diplomatic representation from Lebanon and Palestine, including from Dr. Abdul-Shafi and Dr. Sarraj. Other countries use diplomatic pressure to support their citizens prisoners (even though their actions may not have been endorsed) - examples are the Irish on behalf of IRA; Israel on behalf of 10 Iranian Jews convicted of spying in Iran; and Britain on behalf of the nurses convicted of murder in Saudi Arabia. This is not to mention the considerable -albeit unseen- Israeli pressures, which are a considerable force to counter.

Samar Alami & Jawad Botmeh are innocent and yet have already lost several years of their youth behind bars. I hope you will ask your country to exert its considerable influence to bear on the British Government to find a way to release soon. As Arab governments, through their own legal systems have found ways of doing this when pressurised by the British Government (i.e. nurses in Saudi Arabia), it is only right that our government should respond to your requests in an equally magnanimous way. Had these Palestinians been in Israeli instead of British jails, they would no doubt have been released in the latest amnesty, as " no Jewish blood" was spilt.

I thank you for your concern, and will send further information if you wish.

Yours sincerely

Addresses of Arab Embassies

- H.E. Hussain Ali Abdellatif, Ambassador, Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman, 17 Queen's Gate, London SW7 5HE. - H.E. Mohamed Belmahi, Ambassador, Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco, 49 Queen's Gate Gardens, London SW7 5NE. - H.E. Ahmed Benyamina, Ambassador, Embassy of Algeria, 54 Holland Park, London W11 3ES. - H.E. Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Khalifa, Ambassador, Embassy of the State of Bahrain, 98 Gloucester Road, London SW7 4AU. - H.E. Timoor Dagistani, Ambassador, Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, 6 Upper Phillimore Gardens, London W8 7HB. - H.E. Khaled al Duwaisan, Ambassador, Embassy of the State of Kuwait, 2 Albert Gate, London SW1X 7JU. - H.E. Dr. Hussein Al-Emary, Ambassador, Yemen Embassy, 57 Cromwell Road, London SW7 2ED. - H.E. Adel Al Gazzar, Ambassador, Egyptian Embassy, 26 South Street, London W1Y 6DD. - H.E. Dr. Sami Glaiel, Ambassador, Syrian Embassy, 6 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PH. - H.E. Dr Al-Gosaibi, Ambassador, Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, 30 Charles Street, Mayfair, London W1X 7PM. - H.E. Easa Saleh Al-Gurg CBE, Ambassador, United Arab Emirates Embassy, 30 Princes Gate, London SW7 1PT. - H.E. Ali Mohsen Hameed, Director, The Arab League, 52 Green Street, London W1. - H.E. Khemaies Al-Jahenawi, Ambassador, Tunisian Embassy, 29 Prince's Gate, London SW7 1QG. - H.E. Ali. M. Jaidah, Ambassador, Embassy of the State of Qatar, 1 South Audley Street, London W1Y 5DQ. - H.E. Abdel Mahmoud Nour El-Daiem, Ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of Sudan, 3 Cleveland Row, St James's, London SW1A 1DD.