THE LORDS REJECT APPEAL, BUT THE FIGHT GOES ON!

THE HOUSE OF LORDS DECISION

On 14th November 2002, the appeal committee of the House of Lords refused Samar and Jawad permission to appeal. Yet another set back. On the positive side, the refusal of leave to the Lords means that they have exhausted the appeals procedures in this country, so Samar and Jawad can now go straight to the European Court of Human Rights. At the same time they can apply to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) to investigate their wrongful convictions and refer them back to the Court of Appeal. If leave to the Lords had been granted, it would have taken many more months, even a year or more before the hearing took place. In the current climate, the Lords can be a graveyard for important cases. Now Samar and Jawad can avoid that wasted time, and instead pursue the two options that are much more likely to have a successful outcome.

Appeals to the House of Lords are only granted in cases which the appeal committee believes raise an arguable point of law of general public importance. If they consider that the appeal does not raise such a point, leave to appeal will be refused. This is what has happened in Samar and Jawad’s case.

Samar and Jawad’s case relates to breaches of the fair trial guarantees in Article 6 of the European Convention, and so perhaps the best place to get a fair judgment is the European Court of Human Rights itself. A successful judgment there would result in the case then going back to the Court of Appeal to decide whether Samar and Jawad’s convictions should be quashed. It is a sad fact that it can take a year or two to get a case into the European Court.

Samar and Jawad are, sadly, aware that any hopes of a swift end to their predicament have been dashed. This has been increasingly clear at least since the travesty at the Court of Appeal in 2000. Amazingly, both have managed to retain their extraordinary resilience and both remain the committed, compassionate people they were before this nightmare started eight years ago. The strength that has got them through until now will be needed in excess as their imprisonment drags on towards their parole eligibility dates in 2005. There is still plenty more campaigning to be done.


MESSAGE FROM JAWAD

The House of Lords has refused us leave to appeal. This was the last political act that the British justice system has delivered against us as Palestinians political prisoners. Not only did they blindly and wrongly close ranks behind the court of appeal judges, but they kept up a tradition of injustice towards Palestinians that was pioneered by their predecessor Lord Balfour.

We have had an unfair trial - a large amount of relevant evidence was withheld from both the defence team as well as the trial judge, both during and after the trial. This crucial evidence pointed to a more credible scenario and culprits. By withholding it, the prosecution and security services were able to allege that an intelligence vacuum existed, and thereby kept only Samar and Jawad in the frame. When we finally arrived at our appeal, the judges confirmed that a cover-up had occurred and they explained it by five counts of ‘human error’. The Court of Appeal judges continued the injustice that we suffered at trial, by continuing to withhold the evidence from us and by seeing it in secret they decided that it wouldn’t have made a difference to our trial anyway. This type of conduct by the Court of Appeal, has been declared to be breach of the right to fair trial by the European Court of Human Rights in the famous M25 case. However, that did not stop them. Therefore, our case is still not resolved and we are seeking justice in Europe, because it is clear that we will not get in Britain.

Some people might think that we should thank our lucky stars that at least we had the benefit of some due process of law, as opposed to the many people that are currently interned on the say so of the intelligence services. However, if you look at the crucial points in our case that is exactly what happened - it is the uncontested say so of the intelligence services that the judges actually upheld, and all other considerations of justice and human rights law were disregarded. Therefore we found ourselves in the familiar territory that many Palestinian prisoners face when they are arrested and jailed under the instructions of Israeli intelligence services. It is also ironic that the Israelis say that they are using the British emergency laws that were enshrined in mandate Palestine as a basis for their oppression. We felt the full force of that law, slightly disguised, in our trial and appeal and during last 8 years. However, this law was reinstated unashamedly in its crudest imperialistic, racist and unjust versions in the form of the new anti-terrorist legislation.

In the midst of all this I do not expect justice for us in Britain, as I don’t expect justice for many innocent Palestinian political prisoners inside Israeli jails. The latest rejection by the House of Lords confirms that this racist, inhuman injustice is condoned at the highest levels, and continues in many different guises.

We will carry on with the struggle for freedom and justice in our case, as part of our people’s struggle for justice and freedom. I’m grateful for your continued support and solidarity that has helped, and continues to help expose this injustice, and which gives us strength the to fight on through these difficult times.


SUPPORTING THE DECATEGORISATION OF SAMAR AND JAWAD

In order to bring some improvement to Samar and Jawad’s lives, whilst they continue to fight for their release, representations have been made to the prison authorities for further decategorisation to a lower risk category. It also helps the parole process if a prisoner is already placed in a lower risk category.

After successful campaigning, the initial decategorisation for Samar and Jawad from Category A to Category B, two years ago, ended their humiliating strip-searches and improved their contact with the outside world. Visitors did not require checking by the Home Office anymore. Since then Samar and Jawad, as model prisoners, have been moved to new prisons. In these prisons Jawad and Samar are expected to have increased access to work and education (for women prisoners the facilities are often poorer compared to those in men’s prisons, and this is currently the case for Samar). Prisoners are kept unlocked for most of the time (this is always dependent on staffing levels). More importantly, with decategorisation, Samar and Jawad can be moved to semi-open/open prisons. These offer an opportunity for town visits and special home leave, so that Samar and Jawad’s dream of being able to walk under open skies can come true, whilst they continue their fight for justice.

Jawad is expecting his decategorisation review to take place in early March. Samar is currently awaiting a date for a review. Her review should have occurred sometime ago, but for some reason the system appears to be stalling.

Since Jawad’s decategorisation review is coming up in the first week of March, your support may be needed if the prison authorities refuse his decategorisation. Therefore, we may have to call on sponsors and supporters of the campaign to help bring pressure on the decategorisation process. Outside support is crucial because it brings pressure to bear on the prison authorities to treat Samar and Jawad less severely.
(Caution: In some cases people have been denied decategorisation or parole because they protest their innocence.)


EARLY DAY MOTION

The Early Day Motion that was before the House of Commons last year, has been tabulated again, and currently has the signatures of 40 MPs. EDM 202 addresses points regarding the cover-ups in the case of Samar and Jawad and calls on the British Government to address its failure to release relevant information. You can access the text of the EDM on our website or on http://edm.ais.co.uk.


POLITICAL PRISONERS

Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), at their AGM on Saturday 8th February 2003, outlined a new programme of campaigning and solidarity for Palestinian political prisoners. PSC appointed a person to co-ordinate this new and welcome area of its work. The Freedom for Samar and Jawad campaign sought to incorporate the case of Samar and Jawad into this programme. The point was made that, in addition to Marwan Baghrouti and the hundreds of other Palestinian detainees currently languishing under unlawful Israeli detention, there are also Palestinian political prisoners outside of Palestine such as Samar and Jawad. PSC was invited to re-affirm its support for the fight for freedom and justice for Samar and Jawad, as well as to recognise and campaign for Samar and Jawad, not just as the victims of a miscarriage of justice, but also as political prisoners. The amendment was emphatically accepted by conference.

Samar and Jawad have always considered themselves as prisoners who are serving time to meet the corrupt political needs of various governments, and it is a reassuring development that they have been officially recognised as such by the Palestinian campaigning community.


FORTHCOMING ACTIVITIES

A collection of Jawad’s paintings will be displayed in an exhibition of his work in the near future. The theme of the exhibition will be Palestinian Political Prisoners.

Also look out for our joint events with Al-Awda and Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Don’t worry these will be parties, not just meetings!!!


IDEAS FOR FUTURE ACTIVITIES

The campaign would appreciate any ideas that supporters may have, regarding future activities. We are always looking for new ways to keep up the pressure and secure freedom and justice for Samar and Jawad.