Documentary film about the US supermax prison to which British citizens Babar Ahmed and Talha Ahsan were extradited in 2012.

Listen to this, one man’s description of his solitary confinement cell in the US.  Now imagine sitting in that cell during this period of the year. Even for those who are not Christians or practicing Christians, the holiday season can be an especially lonely and painful time to be caged in a solitary cell.  For those who are still in touch with friends and family on the outside, this period is a constant reminder of everything they’re missing – for example family dinners, vacations, or time off with friends or loved ones. For those who are not in contact with folks on the outside, the holiday season can symbolize the personal cost of their prolonged isolation. It’s the same day-in, day-out torture, but magnified, especially for those who imagine their friends or family on the outside celebrating or spending time together.

Racial profiling, torture, solitary confinement and decades in prison fighting for justice. These may be signatures of the US-led war on terror but such practices have been in motion for a long time. Robert King, one of the 'Angola 3', knows first-hand what it meant then as much as it does now and discusses his thoughts with CagePrisoners.

Last July, when prisoners held in long-term solitary confinement in Security Housing Units (SHUs) in Pelican Bay State Prison in California embarked on a hunger strike to protest about the conditions in which they are held, I was pleased to find the time to wrote about it (which I did here, here and here -- and again in October, here and here), as it had long been apparent to me that the abusive conditions to which foreign prisoners were subjected at Guantánamo -- though shockingly innovative in terms of arbitrary detention -- was otherwise a reflection of how America treats tens of thousands of domestic prisoners held in isolation, in some cases for decades.

Background

Saddek Sbaa is a 24 year old man who was born in Morocco. He arrived in Netherlands at the age of five due to his father’s employment. He grew up in The Hague where he also studied to become a system operator and worked. In summer 2009, he went on holidays with three of his friends to visit Kenya. During their trip, they used tourist facilities and were guided by the local police.

A welcome new initiative to ban solitary confinement throughout the world, launched on Human Rights Day.