Moazzams poem of freedom

Good morning World. There is something truly beautiful about the night. I feel in control of time. Like I have all the time in the world...I can surf...I can nibble...I can pray...I can read...I can play my guitar...I can potter...I can write! How lucky I feel...

But my mind wanders... to those in the world who are forced to be alone in a state of complete isolation without that sense of control that I so take for granted. What must that do to a human being? The only scientific research to be done on this in 40 years gives us the answer: Quite simply, it breaks the mind down and if left for long enough, will disfigure the personality irreparably. The mind becomes open to even the most gentile of suggestions.

So what then of people at Guantanamo bay? Or in the Pakistani, Syrian and Egyptian prisons? To be honest with you - I don't expect anything better from Syria, Egypt and the like. These countries have no concept of justice and a track record of inhumanity that could fill the entire blogosphere.

But America and the UK were built on an intellectual foundation of justice and the rule of law. Don't get me wrong, I'm not idealising. But no one can doubt there is more justice here than in almost all eastern countries.

So how can we, as Westerners, allow this to happen? Day after day as I enjoy my freedom, I cannot forget that fellow Brummies and fellow human beings have been subjected to or indeed are enduring this treatment right now.

If you do nothing else today, go visit www.amnesty.org and at least educate yourself about what warm blooded human beings like you or I, are going through.

There you will find a video of post from fellow Brummie and writer Moazzam Begg. It is a poem he wrote while in maximum security isolation at Camp Echo in Guantanamo. Before I go back to sleep I am left with what I believe is an obviously rhetorical question: Will anything ever justify mans inhumanity to man?

Unfortunately, not everyone believes such a question is rhetorical.