Oct 18, 2022

Family distraught after call from Baghdad jail: Brian Glendinning

Family distraught after call from Baghdad jail: Brian Glendinning

“He’s not well. He has no energy. I really think he’s given up. The conditions are terrible. We’re trying to get paracetamol for him and a visitation by the Embassy”, Brian’s wife Kimberly tells us.

Brian’s family endured a painful call from the Baghdad detention facility where he has been detained for over a month. “It’s disheartening when you hear stories from others who have been jailed for over a year before eventually being exonerated and released. Brian’s in an extreme situation, it’s unimaginable and it could happen to anyone”.

John Glendinning has been relentless in his campaigning. “He doesn’t stop”, said Radha Stirling, the extradition crisis consultant who has been helping the family. “John is constantly messaging me asking what more he can do. It’s a desperate situation and they are well aware that they could lose their beloved family member.

No family should have to go through this because a bank in the Middle East has decided to exploit their membership with Interpol.

John Glendinning wants his brother home!

“Anyone who takes out a credit card, bank loan or mortgage with a bank in the Middle East is at significant risk of being listed as a fugitive on the Interpol Red Notice database”.

Brian’s MP has written to Qatar’s Ambassador to the UK to step in and help. “If the Ambassador picked up the phone and requested the extradition request be withdrawn, Brian would be promptly released”, explains Stirling. “It’s not good for trade, investment, the World Cup or tourism, to be tormenting British nationals like this. It’s time to make these practices a thing of the past”.

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Douglas Chapman, MP for Dunfermline & West Fife, said: “I’m aware of the case involving Brian which has been raised with me as his MP. We have been in touch with both the family here and the Foreign Office in London and Baghdad. “Through the efforts of Brian’s family, their legal people on the ground in Iraq and with the support of the Foreign Office and Radha Stirling [a campaigner on unjust detentions], we are trying to secure Mr Glendinning’s release and his safe return home to Scotland. “With the World Cup due to start soon in Qatar this is not the time for the event’s hosts to be in the news for all the wrong reasons and I hope, in this case, good sense can prevail.”

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Consular staff have been informed of Brian’s state and have requested a visitation. However, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was called on to intervene at a diplomatic level but has so far failed to respond. Stirling added “Other countries like Canada, Malaysia and the US have secured the release of their citizens through diplomacy and Britain needs to do the same. The Interpol Red Notice should never have been published in the first place and Brian should never have been arrested in Iraq. The UK government has the ability to put an end to Brian’s detention right now. The only question is whether they are willing”.