Not surprisingly, I've been feeling more tired than usual the last few days, but have also had much joint pain, an expected symptom of myelofibrosis. On an extra visit to haematology out patients paracetamol four times a day, and codeine twice a day was prescribed.

In view of the drop in Hb in spite of the reduction in the dose of hydroxycarbamide I will get a transfusion on Friday morning.

Blood results last 7 months 9.06 27.05 25.03 2.03  21.01  24.12  26.11 29.01 Normal Hb 93 96 98 98    101 104 109 100 130-180 WBC 2.55 2.91 3.15 3.36 3.52 4.00 3.02 3.10  4.5-10.0 Neutrophils 1.14 1.3 1.57 1.78    1.6 1.8 1.16 1.43 2.0-7.5 Plt 296 342 369 449    494 551 391 427 150-450

Tuesday at the House of Lords, with Hannah Couchlin, a law student at Dundee University studying Scottish and English law with a specific interest in human rights law, now assisting the All-Party Group on Child Health & Vaccine Preventable Diseases 

Jeremy Corbyn MP speaking at seminar on mercenaries in Bahrain June 2, 2015

Jeremy Corbyn MP, speaking a the seminar on Bahrain's mercenaries, the main tool of oppression.

Because the regime doesn't allow journalists into the country there is very little reporting about mercenaries in the mainstream international media. but evidence was given at the seminar by an independent journalist who went there as a tourist, and by the Islamic Human Rights Commission; Complaints are being made to the UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination’

Vascular

Note from Consultant Vascular Surgeon to GP of April 19

"He continues to do very well from his EVAR point of view [EndoVascular Aneurysm Repair, the replacement of the aorta with a plastic substitute, done in 2010]. His repeat duplex scan showed that there is no endoleak with biphasic flow through the stents and the sac measures only 3.3 cm exactly the same as has been done six months ago. His main concern is from the leg point of view he feels that his claudication distance was chronic. It is becoming much symptomatic now. It is at short distance bilaterally affecting the calves".

"It comes at around 30 to 50 yards when he has either to stop or go at a very slow pace. I can see that he had only a scan in 2011 that picked up a left SFA 2 cm occlusion [ie a blocked femoral artery] He had no scans on he right leg. I am arranging for him to have a repeat bilateral arterial duplex scan in a few weeks time and I have booked him to have a repeat EVAR scan in six months' time".

The leg scans are now booked for next Wednesday, June 3,

Haematology

Blood results last 7 months
27.05 25.03 2.03  21.01  24.12  26.11  29.1 Normal Hb 96 98 98    101 104 109 100 130 - 180 WBC 2.91 3.15 3.36    3.52    4 3.02 3.1 4.5 - 10.0 Neutrophils 1.3 1.57 1.78    1.6 1.8 1.16 1.43 2.0 - 7.5 Plt 342 369 449    494 551 391 427 150 - 450

Note: Hb, WBC and Neutrophils are all at their lowest levels over this period. Hydroxycarbamide is reduced from 5 to 4 times a week until the next consultation in 8 weeks' time.

Kohee, a good student

My honorary granddaughter Kohee Gurung's school award!

Kina's party for Lindsay's birthday

With Mebrak Ghebreweldi - for a useful discussion on Eritrea

Parliament resumes

Parliament met for the first time since the election today, for the Commons to elect their Speaker, and for peers to affirm or swear.new oaths of loyalty to the Queen. In he Lords there was the usual arcane procedure at the beginning of a new Parliament, under which Black Rod is sent to fetch MPs to hear a message being delivered on Her Majesty's behalf ostensibly by a Commission of Privy Councillors, but actually read out by the  Clerk. The MPs stand at the bar while the the message is read, accompanied by Black Rod, whose function appears to be purely decorative. On his occasion, however, as they all turned round to leave, the Prime Minister had to dodge a blow from the end of Black Rod's  rod, see https://twitter.com/rosschawkins/status/600296448186515456/photo/1.

A week ago last Sunday night I had a violent attack by a gastric virus and was out of action for most of the week including the Lubbock Lecture at the Oxford University Engineering Laboratories on Friday, given by Professor Hugh Durrabt-Whyte FRS, Professsor of Engineering at the University of Sydney, on Rise of the Machines. He is a world renowned expert on robots, who pioneered the family of methods for simultaneous localisation and mapping - SLAM - of robots in an unknown environment.  Lyulph tells me a video of the lecture will be on the Engineering Department's website in about a week.

Lots more people joining Liberal Democrats

Membership of the Liberal Democrats is now at more than 54,417 and increasing every hour.

Since polls closed on Thursday, 9,473 new members have joined the Liberal Democrats!

They are joining right across the country, and they are not just people who've been members before.

Some are people who have never joined a party in the past, but now want to stand together against the things this Conservative government is already threatening to do, such as repealing the Human Rights Act, preparing to leave the European Union and reintroducing the snooper's charter.

The General Election

In the face of difficult conditions and regular negative predictions, Liberal Democrats remained strong, united and determined throughout the campaign, and our activists worked their socks off.

The result was beyond our worst imaginings, and did scant justice to the years of dedicated service to their community and our party by our MPs and workers, let alone to their tremendous efforts during the campaign itself.

No doubt at all, going into coalition with the Tories in 2010 was the cause of the disaster, but we acted out of concern for the good of the country. Our action then delivered five years of stable government, for which the Tories have been rewarded and paradoxically, we have been punished.

We are incredibly proud of  Liberal Democrat achievements in government, such as:

• Cutting taxes for 24 million working people
• Equal marriage
• Ended child detention
• Investing billions of pounds to help disadvantaged children in school
• The largest increase in apprenticeships ever
• The biggest revolution in the pensions system in a century
• Giving citizenship to children born overseas to mothers not married to their partners
• Adding caste to the list of protected characteristics in the Equality Act

Clinical gerontology March 31

I note that he was reviewed by Professor M from a cardiac perspective with a view to having knee replacement surgery. He underwent angiography which showed stable disease and that his graphs were still patent. Unfortunately he was told by by the vascular team that they awere a bit reluctant for him to have a total knee replacement because he has such poor blood supply in his affected leg.

From an osteoarthritic point of view his knee is getting progressively worse. He says that he gets pain from certain angles but no locking. He clarifies this further and   said he is fine when he is on the static exercise bike but when he is walking it can sometimes be a little difficult. He has used paracetamol on as as required basis in order to manage his knee pain and has also used paracetamol gel to good effect. He is happy with his pain control regime.

He has reported that he is a bit concerned about his blood pressure. I understand that you increased his ramipril to 2.5 mg about two months ago. He regularly records his blood pressure and has been achieving systolic readings of between  10-170 mmHg. I understand that he has sent you a spreadsheet about his home readings.

He tells me that things are stable from a haematological perspective and that he has become a little anaemic but at present the plan is to watch and wait.

I examined him today blood pressure 146/59, pulse 66 bpm, saturations 96 on room air, weight 65 kg and temperature 36.4. Examination of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems was normal.

Last day of the general election campaign

Final day of the campaign

Stronger Economy. Fairer Society. Opportunity for Everyone

Voters face the biggest political decision of their lives

On the penultimate day of the election campaign, Nick Clegg said “you face the biggest political decision of your life”.

With the polls neck-and-neck and no party likely to hold a majority in parliament, voters face the prospect of a new government lurching to the extreme left, the extreme right, or breaking up the country unless they vote Liberal Democrat to anchor Britain to the centre ground.  

Nick Clegg said only the Liberal Democrats will provide “stability, unity and decency” after Polling Day, highlighting six ‘red lines’ which must be agreed to as part of any coalition negotiations in the next government. These key policies will benefit millions of people across the country by creating a stronger economy and fairer society with opportunity for everyone.

The Liberal Democrats outlined six 'red lines' during the election campaign covering: education, the economy, tax, health, public sector pay and the environment:

1. Invest an extra £2.5bn in education – benefitting 11.5 million pupils aged 2-19
2. Invest £8bn a year by 2020 in the NHS – benefitting 53.9 million people in England
3. £2.7bn of pay rises for public sector workers – benefitting 5.4 million workers
4. Cut taxes by £400 for working people - benefitting 30 million individuals
5. Introduce a 'stability budget' in the first 50 days – benefitting the entire UK population
6. Fight climate change and protect nature - benefitting the entire UK population

Nick said: “Tomorrow, you face the biggest political decision of your life. Our economic stability, our decent British values of openness, generosity and tolerance and the unity of our United Kingdom are all at stake.

“Without Liberal Democrats to keep the next Government safe, stable and fair, Labour or the Conservatives will be left to run a messy and unstable minority Government, dependent on the SNP on the one hand or UKIP and the DUP on the other.

“The Liberal Democrats will give a heart to a Conservative Government and a brain to a Labour one. Every Liberal Democrat MP makes Labour’s reckless borrowing and the Conservatives’ ideological cuts less likely. And every Liberal Democrat MP is a barrier between Nigel Farage and Alex Salmond and the door to 10 Downing Street.”

We face a second election before Christmas without the Liberal Democrats in Coalition

Britain faces a second General Election before Christmas without Liberal Democrats to provide stability in coalition, Nick has warned.

The Liberal Democrat leader said it would be impossible for a minority government to pass key legislation without signing off controversial concessions to the nationalists and Nigel Farage.

It means a Labour or Tory-minority would collapse if they failed to offer ‘sweeteners’ to the SNP, UKIP or the DUP – or their own backbenchers rejected these backroom deals.

This makes a second General Election in 2015 election almost inevitable without more Lib Dem MPs in parliament.

The warning comes as party analysis reveals:

• A minority Labour government would not be able to pass a Queen’s speech without conceding full fiscal autonomy to the SNP.
• A minority Labour government would not be able to pass a Spending Review if reliant upon SNP “ending austerity” votes, without conceding on their plans to make savings in the first year from departmental budgets and welfare cuts.
• A minority Conservative government would have to find an additional £1bn for Northern Ireland to buy DUP votes to support a Spending Review.
• A minority Conservative government would have to slash funding for international aid to buy off UKIP and Right Wing Tories.
• A minority Conservative government would not be able to pass a Queen's Speech without conceding to UKIP's demands to hold an EU referendum this year - undermining Cameron’s claims he wants to stay in Europe after negotiating a new settlement.
• A minority Labour government would not be able to pass key budgetary votes as the SNP have stated they will vote against estimates if they include the cost of Trident.

Nick said: “The last thing Britain needs is a second election before Christmas. But that is exactly what will happen if Ed Miliband and David Cameron put their own political interest ahead of the national interest.

“The only party that will ensure stability is the Liberal Democrats.”

PS My personal suggestions to the Party as to how we can avoid cuts to benefits that will again hit the poorest in society:

Restore the cuts on alcohol duties that were made by Osborne in the first budget, and commission Sheffield University in collaboration with HMRC to assess the revenue that could be raised by further rises in alcohol taxation, and the effects the increases would have on reducing expenditure on  the health and criminal justice systems.

Index taxation on cigarettes and tobacco by 2 more than average earnings index.
Impose taxes on sugar.
Revalue properties for council tax and create higher bands above present limits

What the papers say

Independent  “Many of the good things the Coalition has done are owed to the Liberal Democrats. Nick Clegg may not personally recover from the tuition fees debacle, despite being right (eventually). But history will record him as the man who turned a party of protest into one of government. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/in-defence-of-liberal-democracy-10224221.html The Times “Nick Clegg made a bold decision to take the Liberal Democrats into government. Power has been a justified gamble for the Liberal Democrats…Their signature policy of taking people who earn £10,000 or less out of taxation altogether has been one of their successes.” http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/leaders/article4430579.ece Sunday Times "...[the Coalition] did survive and this has been a period of political stability that would have been the envy of many majority governments of the past. Mr Clegg deserves to survive and so do his closest Lib Dem colleagues in government. Tory supporters in Labour-Lib Dem marginals may wish to vote for the Lib Dem candidate..." http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/comment/article1551497.ece FT  "The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition has shown European-style cohabitation can work. At this delicate moment, the best outcome would be a continuation of the 2010 coalition between the Conservatives and Lib Dems. Mr Clegg’s party has proved a responsible partner in government. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/e61ce174-ea94-11e4-96ec-00144feab7de.html#axzz3Yo3wlBqy The Yorkshire Post  "Mr Clegg does deserve credit – and respect – for taking uncomfortable decisions...in order to maintain a strong and stable government." http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/debate/yp-comment/the-yorkshire-post-opinion-five-more-years-for-the-coalition-best-option-is-tories-and-lib-dems-1-7240364 The Sun “[We have a message] for Tories in 14 unwinnable seats where only the Lib Dems can beat Labour: Give the Lib Dems your vote this time.”

Tactical voting

Sunday Times, Sunday May 3, 2105:

“Even when the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition was formed, many pundits gave it little chance of surviving a few months, let alone five years. But it did survive and this has been a period of political stability that would have been the envy of many majority governments of the past...Mr Clegg deserves to survive and so do his closest Lib Dem colleagues in government. Tory supporters in Labour/Lib Dem marginals may wish to vote for the Lib Dem candidate.”

Labour supporters in Conservative/Lib Dem marginals may also wish to vote for their LibDem candidate. Take Montgomeryshire, for instance!

"Working People"

Why do Messrs Cameron and Milliband always talk about what they are going to do for "working people"? That leaves out children, pensioners, the severely disabled, full time parents, voluntary carers, and people trying to get a job. Life is tougher for them.

The 1970 election - and now

Next Friday Liberal Democrats may not be celebrating a great victory, but it will be a lot better than 1970, see https://youtu.be/cq8PMfpA-6g?t=5h40m45s! My prediction that Mr Heath's Government would last no more than 6 months, and that we would regain Orpington, were both wrong.

This time, now that Milliband has definitively ruled out any deal with the SNP, it looks as if there will be a minority Government, and it would be even more likely to suffer defeat in the Commons within six months. But now we have the Fixed Term Parliament Act, early elections can be held only if  a motion for an early general election is agreed either without a division or by at least two-thirds of the whole House, or if a motion of no confidence is passed and no alternative government is confirmed by the Commons within 14 days. None of the Parties will be keen to fight another election soon after this one, so when an inevitable defeat does occur, the opposition might then abstain on a confidence motion, depending on what the polls are then saying. The situation would create a degree of uncertainty that doesn't bode well for the economy.

Maurice's new work photo

Vascular

Yesterday, six monthly scan to check EVAR (endovascular aneurysm repair), see Friday July 16, 2010. Its  an artificial plastic aorta, and its working OK. We had a discussion with the consultant about the blockages in both femoral arteries and he agreed to have them scanned with a view to possible angioplasties. I don't think Professor M will approve.

Bach Cello Suite No 2 in D minor

I have resolved to listen to some music before shutting down for the night. This evening it was the immortal Rostropovich playing Bach's cello suite No 2 in D minor.

View from my office window 17.40 this afternoon

Institute of Fiscal Studies analyses Party manifestos

Yesterday the IFS confirmed that the Liberal Democrats are the most transparent party in our manifesto. Tories give a “misleading impression” of cuts. Labour give “disappointingly little” information on borrowing and do not provide enough funding for the NHS.

The IFS found:

●       Lib Dems most transparent of all the parties

●       Lib Dems only party that will end austerity in 2017/18

●       Lib Dems will deliver £8bn for NHS and invest in public services

·         Conservatives will embark on £30bn of cuts to public services that are “not mentioned” in their manifesto

·         Conservatives manifesto gives “a misleading impression” of the scale of the cuts to public services

·         Conservatives “have not provided anything like complete details” of how they would eliminate the deficit

·         Labour will only increase spending on the NHS by £4.2bn - which the IFS describe as “a very tight settlement”

·         Labour “not spelling out” how much they would cut unprotected departments by

·         Labour have provided “disappointingly little” information on what they would borrow

·         SNP debt scenario similar to Labour’s

·         IFS said today that austerity would continue for longer under the SNP

·         SNP will spend more on debt interest and less on public services than the Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrats plan to help carers

Disability manifesto / King’s Fund

Stronger Economy. Fairer Society. Opportunity for Everyone

Disability manifesto

A £150m package for Britain’s 6.5 million carers is being announced by the Liberal Democrats today as part of our Disability Manifesto.

The package will help carers across Britain who support their loved ones who are older, disabled or seriously ill.

Around  one in every eight adults provide unpaid care for family and friends. Under the Liberal Democrats these carers will receive a £250 grant to ease the cost of looking after family members who require support for 35 hours or more each week over a 12 month period.

In addition, the NHS will have a legal duty to identify carers and introduce an innovative new ‘Carer’s Passport’ that provides people who look after ill and vulnerable loved ones with privileged support.

This could range from more flexible visiting hours and free hospital parking, through to free cinema tickets, free restaurant meals, and free gym sessions.

Carers could get an additional five days paid additional ‘care leave’ a year, and would be allowed to do more work without losing their Carer’s Allowance by extending the ‘earnings limit’ from £110 per week to £150 per week, putting more money back into their pockets.

In government, the Liberal Democrats would also appoint a new cross-government ‘Carer’s Champion’ to ensure carers get a voice at the heart of government.

The Disability Manifesto also includes measures to simplify the disability benefits system and protect benefits for the disabled from cuts to welfare, encourage employers to take on more people with disabilities who want to work, give people with disabilities better access to transport, and tackle disability hate crimes.

King’s Fund report

The latest King’s Fund quarterly monitoring report suggests the NHS is facing its “biggest challenge for years” with mounting deficits, worsening performance and declining staff morale.

That's why Liberal Democrats have a credible plan to invest the £8 bn per year that NHS bosses say it needs by 2020. We are the ONLY party to come up with a plan.

We will invest £1bn from higher taxes on the wealthy to enable the NHS to provide care closer to home, so fewer people have to go into hospital.

The NHS needs more than investment. So we are calling on all parties to join us in a non-partisan review of health and care after the election to ensure our NHS is safeguarded for the future.

Lindsay's office

Migrant deaths in Mediterranean

House of Lords Official Report November 4, 2014 Column 1619

Lord Avebury (LD): My Lords, does my noble friend note the comment made by the UN special rapporteur on migrant rights that it is appalling to bank on a rise in the number in people who drown acting as a deterrent? Does he think that the EU views a steep rise in the number of people killed with complacency, if not with satisfaction, because more people are drowning and acting as a deterrent?

Lord Bates: It is certainly not the case to say that the Government have been passive on this. My right honourable friend the Home Secretary had meetings with her Italian counterparts last month, and will meet them again this month. We have extended our offers of support and of course we have looked at the countries from which most of these migrants are coming, namely Syria and Ethiopia. We are putting large sums of money—£700 million in the first instance, £360 million in the second—to try and help people to give themselves a proper life at home.

Its all very well to say, as the inane Philip Hammond does, that "we must target the traffickers". We don't have any jurisdiction over what criminals are doing in Libya, where there are two competing governments plus the Daesh and no effective law enforcement. There's a faint hope that the two governments might reach a compromise at UN brokered talks in Nigeria, but if not, there's no hope of dealing with the traffickers or the increasing flow of destitute migrants.

After May 7

The polls are consistently predicting that neither Labour or Conservatives will have a majority in the next Parliament and while they could all be wrong, don't bet on it. Betfair says that 87% of thepunters are putting heir money on a hung Parliament.

That seems to indicate another coalition, but the British people wouldn't take kindly to a deal between Labour and the SNP, the only combination which might produce a Commons majority. The alternative would be a minority Government.

The moderating influence of a strong LibDem contingent will be essential to stability in any imaginable scenario..

Outlaw caste discrimination

The Liberal Democrat manifesto, published today, says

"We will... outlaw caste discrimination"

We had fought hard with others  to insert a provision in the Equality Act to treat caste as an aspect of race, but the best we could achieve was to give the  Government an obligation to make such an Order, without specifying a date for it, see http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2013/24/section/97. The Tories, under pressure from high caste Hindus, created a process involving two consultations, a feasibility study and other delaying mechanisms lasting two years, so that the law had not come into effect by the General Election.

People who want to end caste discrimination in the UK have an opportunity now to ask the candidates for their constituency standing in the election if they will support the implementation of this law without further delay in the next Parliament.

Cataract operation

Just got home at 15.30 from St Thomas's where I had a cataract operation on my left eye, having had the right eye done a few weeks ago. It took about 30 minutes, a bit longer than the previous one because the surgeon was instructing someone. The eye feels a bit sore as is natural,  and so far the sight from it is blurred, though  I dare say that will improve over the nest few days. No other engagements for the rest of today.

Wednesday evening

This morning when I woke up the eye was inflamed and painful. We rang the hospital and went there for it to be examined. Saw the duty eye doctor after a couple of hours' wait, by which time the paracetamol I had taken earlier had kicked in and I was feeling much better. The doctor said the inflammation wasn't abnormal - though I didn't experience it when the cataract in the right eye was operated on a few weeks ago. Vision of the left eye is still slightly blurred, but that's caused b the macular degeneration, not the operation. Probably I will be able to see reasonably well for the remaining 14 months or so of my life.

Copy letter to FCO Minister who deals with Saudi Arabia

Note: As expected, this example shows that letters to FCO Ministers about important human rights issues from several weeks before general election purdah started will not receive substantive answers.

From Lord Avebury                                                                                       P1501032

March 1, 20015

Dear Tobias,

 A new law has been enacted in Saudi Arabia  with effect from February 1, 2015,    The Penal Law for Crimes of Terrorism and its Financing (Royal Decree No. 44 (12/2013).   The effect of it is

a.       To criminalise any conduct that “disturbs public order” (a charge used frequently against dissenters and human rights activists) and anyone aiming to “infringe the interests of the kingdom, or its economy, or its national or social security.” This would cover any criticism of Saudi law, policy or the authorities within or outside Saudi Arabia.

b.       To grant extensive powers to the interior minister, undermining the due process rights of the accused in existing Saudi law. The minister is given power to order arrests of terrorism suspects without going through the public prosecutor, as well as powers to access the suspect’s private banking and communications information, all without any judicial oversight.

c.        To give the Saudi Specialised Criminal Court (SCC) authority to hear witnesses and experts without the presence of the defendant or the defendant’s lawyer.  It does not require the court to inform the defendant or his/her lawyer of the content of the testimony, and  allows the court to convict on evidence that the defendant is incapable of knowing or challenging. 

d.       To list offences that shall apply to anyone, whether of Saudi or foreign nationality, who commits or aids and abets in the commission of an offence described in the law while outside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia thus allowing those who are concerned about human rights in Saudi Arabia to be convicted in their absence and without knowing the evidence against them. 

e.        To restrict a suspect’s right to access to a lawyer for an undefined time, the period to be determined by the investigating agency.  This would deny access to a lawyer during interrogation in contravention of the provisions of the Saudi criminal procedure law.

f.        To raise the current legal limit on the time officials may hold a suspect in pre-trial detention from 6 months to 12, with power to the SCC to grant an unlimited extension, and increases detention of the terrorist suspect incommunicado from 60 to 90 days from the date of arrest.

Saudi Arabia is at the bottom of the list of countries in the world for observance of human rights (See the global survey of Freedom in the World 2015), below China, Cuba and Russia!  Its record in relation to the Shia minority and human rights activists is atrocious and many have been kept untried for years in Saudi jails. As you know, capital punishment is handed down frequently, and so is flogging, up to 1000 lashes at the rate of 50 a week in public.   

You are probably aware of the case of the British citizen Abdul Hakim Gellani, dob    December 11, 1964, director of a travel agency that specialised in pilgrimages to Mecca.  On November 19, 2005, while on a business visit to Saudi Arabia, Mr Gellani was arrested in Mecca by the Saudi Security Services. Following intervention by the FCO, as well as a law firm contracted by Mr Gellani’s family, the Saudi authorities finally acknowledged his arrest and detention on December 14, 2005.  On December 18, 2005, Mr. Gellani was transferred to Ruwais Prison in Jeddah  and received a welfare visit from the British Consulate the following day, but did not receive a full consular visit until March 12, 2006. He went on a hunger strike protesting his conditions of detention and lack of a fair trial. He was not charged in accordance with the Saudi Law of Criminal Procedure.  He was not brought before a judge until July 19, 2006, when he was released.  He then tried to leave Saudi Arabia and the FCO gave him a new passport, his existing passport having been seized by the Saudi authorities, but the Saudis refused to give him an exit visa.

Following an interview with Al-Jazeera that covered detention conditions in Saudi prisons, Mr Gellani was re-arrested by the Saudi Security Services on August 8, 2007 at Hotel Morjane, his temporary residence in Mecca. The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied Mr Gellani’s detention until September 23, 2007. Subsequently, his family learned that he had been transferred to Ruwais Prison, where he was held incommunicado until October 27, 2007 when he received a visit from the British Consulate, the first since his re-arrest. After that visit, he was allowed regular calls to his family and further consular visits.  

 Mr Gellani was held in solitary confinement and, on several occasions, had to sleep on the floor, without blankets and in a constantly lit cell. He was subjected to severe beatings and humiliation. On other occasions, he was denied the Koran and was handcuffed for several days. Such treatment, together with the fact that Mr Gellani did not know when his detention would end, amounts to torture or inhuman and degrading treatment and represents a grave breach of Mr Gellani’s rights under the Saudi domestic laws and international law.  In neither of his periods of detention was Mr Gellani   charged, and although he was brought before a judge several times, he was told that he could not be heard without a lawyer.

In September 2010, Mr Gellani’s family, with the help of a London-based law firm and the intervention of the FCO, succeeded in obtaining a Saudi lawyer to represent him in court proceedings. However, the lawyer was prevented from appearing in court at Mr Gellani’s last hearing, scheduled for September 26, 2010 as he was arrested on the day of the hearing and detained for three days by the authorities for interrogation. Thus Mr Gellani was not given a fair trial, nor had he proper access to legal counsel, let alone to information regarding the length of, or reasons for,  his continued detention. The matter was considered by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in late 2010 and they produced an Opinion.   The Opinion was communicated to the Saudi Government on December 28, 2010 but no response was ever received.  Mr Gellani was released over nine months after the Opinion was communicated and no compensation has ever been paid to him.  

 In light of the gross and persistent violations of human rights by Saudi Arabia, and their treatment of UK citizens in particular, it is manifestly inappropriate for the state to be a member of the Human Rights Council, and I would be grateful if you could let me know whether there is any mechanism by which they can be ejected from the Council?

As regards the new law mentioned above, could you please tell 

a.    How the Government will protect British Citizens detained under this new law.

b.     What guidance they intend to give to companies and individuals engaged in trade with Saudi Arabia or conducting business in Saudi Arabia.

c.    What amendments they will make to the travel advice given on the FCO website on the risks visitors to Saudi Arabia may incur under the new law.

Tobias Ellwood Esq MP,

Foreign & Commonwealth Office

London SW1A 2AH.

David says "... the failure to find a just settlement and a genuine peace process, has led to a further 35 years of hatred, lost lives, and lost opportunities.

David Alton's photographs of our visit to Shatila Palestinian refugee camp, 1980

''