It is my pleasure to clarify some of the undercurrents.
My lawyer 2009.. apparently approached the british naval attache at the embassy.. to get confirmation of my flight bookings night of 17sept 2008.
This would have proved that I did not drive across military border post.. and that all my alibis were truthful.
Apparently...British military stood back and stated categorically that at the time of my arrest, I was operating alone in kuwait, out of their care as a civilian contractor.
As such, it was a civilian matter and nothing to do with them.
If I had been on a military transport or official escort , as was normally my practice.. it would have been in their interest to assist.
So it was a justified response by them , because I was on my way home on leave and had left the shelter of the military the night before.
I had to settle for this, understanding the extreme sensitivity of the high security military relationship that was being threatened.
Embassy warned me about this politely.
What I had caused ,was an appalling shame.. an extreme embarrassment and it was my duty and obligation to keep myself and this debacle as far away from my company..Inchcape and KBR,
the associated British M.O.Defense primary contractors.. and the british forces ... as possible.
I did that.
Asking Tony Blair or his office for advice or influence ... once, is a knock on the door.
Twice, a second time... they might open to see whos there....
Thrice they ask your name.
Four times they might look at your letter... and suggest trying the neighbours.
Thats how it works..or doesnt..
Persistence has a better chance....
I am attending a religious school.
It is the most insidious brainwashing mechanism put in place to reorientate the most evil criminals in the country.
I am compelled to participate for obvious reasons.
They love having me in there.
For many of the poor criminals in here, it is a very good thing...as for the first time in their criminal lives they get sight of social values and some self discipline... no spitting.. no killing...no more raping..and...
the alternative is too sad for me to explain here.
I am one alone here in this jail..
a single, educated, white, english speaking, still christian, British Citizen.
I tried swimming against the flow initially.. but it was futile.
They scorned my religious fortitude and broke my wooden cross.. lured me to their heathen ways. Threatened me and attacked me twice.
They rubbed my nose into their precious sacred dogma and cajoled me into faux conversion rituals.
I found my safe middle ground and have only become stronger.. more resolute and my support groups have burgeoned.
They commend me and inspire me to keep going.. hoping....
And we are doing it..many of us now...
I have a limited protection amongst some "friends" in here, who respect my individuality and the consistent good example I have set... they cannot be seen to be too sympathetic or to be following too closely in my infidel ways....but weve survived thus far and it remains always ..
that I am alone here..
And my smile every day hides my constant torment.. an effective facade against my, once failing resolve.
No matter how much I have tried to assimilate.. I could never become quite like any of them.
I couldnt.. i tried..
I joined the mosque and attended all the classes as I applied myself to the language .. culture.. religion and social practices....and ive enjoyed it and I am proud of my modest achievements there.
After all the years .. I had no choice, but to go with the flow, and martyrdom is not my track.
I made the best of it .. but its been so hard and so humiliating.
I learnt other things.. more and better !
I swam obliquely downstream and found my compromise..
I learnt how to grab a hold on the riverbank.. but i will still never be one of them.
I am alone here ...and frozen out of their groups because of my continued loyalty to my roots and my heritage.
Embassy seemed to be dissapointed in me because of these Muslim affiliations.. though I cant yet quite isolate their exact attitudes or sentiments but i will learn more at my next meeting with them.
Even the kuwait church groups scorn my entanglement with the web of islam and the clutches of its spinners.
I am so alone.
In order to get through every day where embassy are compelled by their diplomatic limitations, and keep their polite distance from this worthy cause. .. I have to make my own path through this cultural and political minefield.
But they will soon be on board with us.
I am compelled to do anything that will afford me the briefest reprieve and even as Embassy fco are so respectfully cautious still..they will soon see the reasons for my apparent disloyalty or ingratitude.
I am alone here.
Nobody needs a sad sack..
I am not that..
Im fine..
Better, stronger ..
And maybe learnt a tutch.?
But please dont be deceived by my faux bravado or stoic smiles.
This torment is such a continued trauma.
This trumped-up punishment is a gross violation of my human rights.This has been ignored for all the above reasons.
The matter of my exoneration or immediate release has been constantly avoided..because the authorities all see that I am in good health and monitored under maximum security.... but they will never know the sadness.. horror.. trauma that I have so well hidden year after year.
Im not doing that anymore..
Im not going to conceal the twisting blade they've already driven so deep.
My dear mother died in the clouds of shame and sadness alone without my hand at her side because of this.
My old dad ailing now in his last years, waiting too.. in vain.
Even as i have made these empassioned appeals to embassy and various government agencies on all sides... they have all stayed well aloof and impotent.
Some basic personal items, sent to me from far away at enormous expense and great effort.... dental floss. Underpants.. marmite.. bedsheets and covers.. lay untended .. unaddressed for over a year at embassy... as diplomacy failed. The prison beurocracy seemed to be inflexible.
Six registered packages addressed to british embassy kuwait , were stolen at kuwait postal depot.
Dissapeared.!
Nothing was said or done..
I fear so much causing any ill to my tentative relationship... even now, too afraid to phone them.
I am so alone ..
All this should have been suitably resolved diplomatically long ago.
It was sadly such a great trauma and dissapointment .. specially to all those caring friends that sent them...a travesty of compassion.. but I forgive them.
I know that when I do get out of this jail one day, to address the offices legally.. and in my detailed publications. .. that they will scoff saying "why ?".. "for goodness sakes Gareth.. didnt you say something sooner..?" "
You poor fellow..""we had no idea"
"Oh we gave you everything we could Gareth... but ignored your mistrials for political sensitivities.."
"So sorry you didnt point this out eight years ago Gareth.."
"We needed only to phone the Amir... you should have written more clearly Gareth"
"You seemed so happy Gareth"
"Our hands were tied"
"Gareth ..you must understand that Fco may not intervene in a sovereign criminal judiciary...especially as political tensions are so strained globally."
And we respect that...
Well .. Ive been saying all this for a long time but have been continuously rebuffed.
There are thankfully crowds of thousands who have now witnessed this spectacle.
All it would have taken, was one phonecall..
It could have been settled long back..
Still..and I am ever grateful to them for having come this far under the circumstances and, though years delayed... they will join with us in the success of this long concealed truth and its justice.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/appeal-to-the-authorities-and-the-emir-of-kuwait?utm_medium=email&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=thank-you
