An Evening of Alternative Endings: Reprieve's 10th Birthday Party.

 Over the past ten years, Reprieve has provided an alternative to what would otherwise have been the bleakest of endings for many of our clients.

Jon Snow hosted Reprieve’s 10th anniversary celebrations, An Evening of Alternative Endings, at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on London's Southbank.

Patron Julie Christie and friends of Reprieve, including Philip Pullman, John Le Carré, David Morrissey, Peter Davison, Lemm Sissay, Ralph Brown and Vanessa Redgrave lent their talent

Some of the endings were written by those present, including speculations by Philip Pullman and our Chair Lord Bingham. 

Special guests included Clive Stafford Smith and former Guantánamo prisoner Omar Deghayes

 This year Binyam Mohamed was finally released from Guantánamo Bay; Samantha Orabator returned to London after facing the death penalty in Laos; British judges refused to allow the government to suppress evidence of MI5 involvement in torture- and Reprieve, key to all of these events, turned 10!

Reprieve is a vibrant legal action charity of just 18 full time staff punching well above our weight. We provide frontline investigation and legal representation to prisoners denied justice by powerful governments across the world, from death row to Guantánamo Bay and other secret prisons.

Our Lawyers were the first in to Guantánamo Bay, demanding that the prisoners there be given legal representation. We have acted for the 51 Guantánamo prisoners who are now free and we currently act for a further 32. We also assist 32 British Nationals facing the death penalty around the world, none of whom can afford to pay for representation. 

We had a great success this year when our youngest client, Mohammed el Gharani, was released from Guantánamo Bay to Chad, after a seven year ordeal that began when he was just 14 years old. Reprieve represented Mohammed in the U.S courts, when a Federal Judge found the he was not and had never been an enemy combatant, and should be released.

Mohammed finally returned to Chad on June 11th, and his words to Reprieve, on our speaker phone, as he walked out of the Chad police station, rang through the office: - I am Mohammed el Gharani and I am free! It was a wonderful moment. 

A Reprieve volunteer describes their favourite moment of the night,        

My favourite moment was when Omar Deghayes was interviewed by Jon Snow. It reminded me why everyone was there. It brought the focus back to the clients Reprieve represents and the justice we strive for. His description of his time in detention was very moving, describing Clive as ‘scruffy’ lawyer who came to him after four years of anonymity. It was a wonderful reminder about not giving up the fight.

At the heart of this moving and poignant evening was the shared sense of involvement in our clients’ stories and in Reprieve’s commitment to them. We raised over £50,000 at this event; a resounding and much appreciated show of support which will provide alternative endings to our most desperate clients.