Free Mahmoud Abu Rideh

We declare our concern for the condition of control order detainee Mahmoud Abu Rideh and support his request to be allowed to leave the United Kingdom or for his control order to be lifted. Following an attempt on his life, wheel chair bound Abu Rideh remains hospitalised to this date and has been refusing food and, much of the time, water for over a month. He has been coughing up and excreting blood. He has vowed to continue his strike until he is allowed to leave the UK, preferring death to such humiliation.

Lord Carlile, the government's Independent Reviewer of anti-terrorist legislation has stated that Control Orders, which are reviewed on an annual basis, should not be used for longer than two years. Despite this, Mr Abu Rideh has been held under a Control Order for three years, and before the three years of Control Order existence he had already been interned for 3 and a half years indefinitely without trial. He has witnessed his children endure the resulting isolation, scrutiny and pressure. He has never been questioned by police, charged with any offence, nor have his solicitors been shown any evidence of why he is considered a security risk.

Psychiatrists' reports over now seven years have shown Mr Abu Rideh to have become deeply paranoid, isolated and depressed. The Control Order regimes have driven several men beyond despair, to choose a return to a country where they are likely to be tortured, or to choose, like Mr Abu Rideh, to die. If his Control Order can be lifted as suddenly, and without explanation, as that of a Tunisian man known as E was last week, his life would be saved.

We urge the Home Office to comply with his request for deportation or for the control order to be removed. Though past wrongs against him cannot be healed, justice should still be sought. Mr Abu Rideh should not be made to suffer further or for such injustice to lead to a loss of life, as is now feared.