Sing When You’re Losing!

Sunny Hundal is overjoyed. Evidently Amnesty International have published a report detailing their human rights activism in Afghanistan. Hundal seems to be suggesting that publication of this report legitimises Amnesty UK’s partnership with the jihadi pressure group Cageprisoners:

Wait! I thought they were in league?? I’m getting all confused here, because according to certain defenders of human rights Amnesty was acting LIKE the Taliban. All very confusing isn’t it…. or not.

But surely countering human rights abuses is the the kind of thing Amnesty was set up to do? Wasn’t highlighting human rights abuses rather than contextualising “defensive jihad” precisely their remit? Shouldn’t Amnesty be unapologetic advocates of universal human rights instead of forging partnerships with Cageprisoners whose business is to promote jihadist Islam and its exponents such as Anwar al-Awlaki and Ali al-Timimi?

There was a time, well before Gita Sahgal magnificently blew the whistle on them, when Amnesty UK took pride in publicising events such as this one, called ‘Stop the Spread of Guantanamitis”, held in October 2009.

Take a look at the list of speakers there:

Louise Christian from Christian Khan Solicitors
Imran Khan from Imran Khan Solicitors
Kevin Laue from Redress
Amnesty Representative
Sunny Hundal from Pickled Politics
Representative from Reprieve
Helen Bamber from Helen Bamber Foundation
Andy Worthington journalist and author of ‘The Guantanamo Files’

Organisations in support include;
Redress
London Guantanamo Campaign
Cage prisoners
Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers

[My emphases]

Oh dear, Sunny Hundal and Cage Prisoners sharing an Amnesty platform. That explains a lot, doesn’t it?

Had Amnesty International issued a press release with news of a discontinuation of their partnership with Defensive Jihadists, then that would have been a legitimate reason for joy. Unfortunately Amnesty UK have not done anything of the sort.

No doubt there will be more reports made to the public to smokescreen their covert activities with organisations such as Cage Prisoners, while closing down all debate internally, so that buffoons like Hundal and his confrères can feel vindicated.

Nevertheless, let us end on a winning note. Amnesty have not organised any more events with Cage Prisoners that we know of. So no more international speaking tours and no poetry reading soirées for Moazzam Begg on the Amnesty ticket.  And that is surely an indication, albeit a small one, that Gita Sahgal’s whistleblowing campaign has had some effect.

So carry on Hundal!