Concerned Family 4 PARA Son

Contact Wait Out

OCC has been contacted by a veterans family about injustice in Afghanistan towards their son and a corrupt minister... So why is the British Government sending so much charity funding to Afghanistan?


We hope you will join our campaign group on facebook: OCC


Regards

OCC

They know who he fought with and against, is his life safe in the hands of Afghan Officials..!



Dear Sir/Madam,


My name is Maria Bxxxxxx, I write to you on behalf of myself and my parents, Mr P Malone and Mrs V Malone.


My Brother, and former British Paratrooper Anthony Malone is being held in the Pul-e-Charkhi prison in Kabul, Afghanistan. Anthony has served a sentence of two years for fraud but two and a half years later he is still being held because he can’t pay the alleged debt, which we believe is a clear violation of international law.


Anthony has had very little legal representation so far, or translations of any court proceedings or written explanations of any charges and evidence against him, also he has been unable to call witnesses and present evidence in his defence.


Anthony went to Afghanistan in 2002 to set up a security-and-logistics business. He fell foul of a senior Afghan politician, who claims Anthony owes him money, which he denies. Initially he was convicted of debt, even though it's not a criminal offence, and sentenced to ten months in prison. He was due for release in November 2008. However, the public prosecutor refused to release him on the grounds that he owed money to the Afghan people. He successfully appealed his conviction and had it dismissed.
Then, a few days later, he was taken back to court and re-convicted on six counts of fraud. He was sentenced to two years, to be served from the date of his original sentence, and should therefore have been due for release on January 23 this year. But in a catch-22 situation, the Afghan authorities are once again refusing to release him until he has paid the alleged debt.


We are a desperate to help Anthony and would very much appreciate any support you might be able to offer. We appeal to your sense of what is right and just, to help release my Brother from the horrific conditions and treatment he is enduring.


If you would like more information please don‘t hesitate to contact myself or my Father on the details below.


We look forward to your response,

Yours faithfully,


Maria Bxxxxxx


The following is more information about Anthony Malone's suffering in Afghanistan prison of hell...!


Anthony Malone's campaign website


Lionheart film clips

Daily Mail National Paper Article on Anthony Malone

The Sunday Sun National Paper Article

PQ's At the House of Commons

Support our Armed Forces

The following is a list of tabled questions over the past week in the House of Commons with reference to our military injured, bereaved families let down and veteran issues. I have also placed some more information attained via other sites and news articles. Thanks for your time in reading this site and please keep leaving your comments. Yours OCC



Ainsworth: MoD failed the bereaved

Wales: veterans failed by system

War veterans: arrest scandal


Figures: Discharged from service


Help: Prior to Discharge and re-skilling


Resettlement: Information given


Homelessness: Number of Veterans on the streets

First Class Post

First Letter to ConLib

The first letter sent to the coalition government is below and we hope to get a reply very soon. All replies will be published so our supporters are able to judge the response and give their views. 


We also have a facebook site were you sign up and give your views on our campaign and if you believe we could approach this in another direction. 



Regards

Nick OCC

P.S August 3rd 2010: We still await a reply from ministers on our questions raised above. We believe the failure to answer our letter is simple: The long over due SDR is going to have a massive impact on our injured troops.

Honeymoon is Over

Answers plus Commitment

Just a Normal day at the office so please show us some respect...!



One Common Cause has asked if Nick Harvey, Defence Minister if he is willing / able to meet with use to discus some concern we have about the Medical Discharge Process as outlined in EDM 361 and EDM 473. We would also like to discus the purpose of the re-introduction of Manning Control Points for service personnel.

We already know under the Labour Party, military personnel were admin discharged when they should have been Medically Discharged we also know that alcohol intake has increased within the armed forces which we believe could be down to service personnel self medicating due to stress or mental health issues (PTSD).

The Conservative Party's Armed Forces Manifesto launched in April of this year pledged to set up a screening programme for service leavers. 'The Conservatives say their top defence priority will be to "repair the broken Military Covenant". Ensuring that Forces' families and veterans are taken care of plus tracking and monitoring veterans' mental health after they leave the Armed Forces'.  However Andrew Robathan The Minister for Personnel, Welfare and Veterans. Stated on Radio 4 , that he has been advised against standardised mental health screening as it might create 'stigma' among service leavers. One Common Cause will writing a letter to Dr Liam Fox, Nick Harvey and Andrew Robathan requesting who advised against this screening programme when only Last month, the Centre for Defence Medical Health at Kings College London warned that the NHS could be overwhelmed with veterans that served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from PTSD. Full Story HERE

OCC

Updates on EDM's

Information to Share




Nick Harvey MP has made the Governments Defence Team. Nick has been very supportive towards One Common Cause and put in place the Early Day Motion 361. Which you can read by going into the discussions tab and going to EDM's. LINK

Those service personnel and veterans that have lost their hearing, due to service life and operational duties, will understand only to well how hard it is to get support for hearing aids. Compensation is another minefield which should be addressed and made easier to claim.LINK

PTSD has been outlined on how it could stump the NHS in the UK. One Common Cause and many other groups have been saying this for some time now. On the BFBS defence debate, in which OCC attended, we brought this very issues up and asked how the funding and treatment plan would be implemented. If you wish to see the answers given them please go to the discussion tab or the links on this site, BFBS debate. LINK

SDR on its way already: LINK

Robathan becomes veterans minister. Well, he will be getting a lot of letters from One Common Cause. I am sure he'll be more accommodating than the last one we had. LINK

Compensation payouts to be withheld until 2012. Clarification will be requested by OCC on this leaked memo. LINK

Manning Control Point@}**

Back Door Method :-(


They will concentrate on the 12 and 15 years in service employment. Is that due to the fact their closer to 22 years service and their pension rights?......Forward thinking by some civil servant[s]; this would allow them to do the same again in 4 years time to those presently at 9 years service?


We believe those hardest hit will be our mentally ill (afghan fear) or PTSD as well as our injured service personnel. One Common Cause understands the need to clear line serial numbers from active units but the time frame for treatment needs to be quicker. Some injured service personnel wait months for reviews and the subsequent operation[s] and rehab. Headley Court has a backlog of those requiring rehab. Therefore the duty care and wellbeing needs to be challenged before Manning Control Points are reintroduced.


I have also been informed by friends within the armed forces that soldiers unable to deploy to Afghan when their unit next deploys could face MCP. If you aren't a member of the BAFF then maybe you should be!


MCP article for those that wish to be better informed.


Those in the MoD that wish to bring back MCP should view this clip and remember what our troops have been through. Unlike some they don't have the privilege of desk in safe old England


To those that have lost loved ones in conflict please be aware there are some upsetting clips within this film.


Respectfully yours
OCC

Given From the Heart

This is a letter from a veteran soldier that's been treated like all other veterans are. I am sure many veterans that will read this letter will be able to see their own situation and the way they have or are being treated by the MoD. OCC

To whom it may concern,


I am a disabled ex veteran whom was injured in N.Ireland whilst serving on operations. I served approx 8 years as an infantry soldier in The Princess of Wales’s Royal regiment.


After being injured I was not correctly diagnosed and left untreated for 9 months. I collapsed at home one evening and was taken to a civilian hospital in Salisbury . After 2 weeks of exhausting and painful tests I was diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis. Due to the length of time I had been left and untreated I had a 4ft clot in my right leg which ran from my big toe to a valve in a vein behind my stomach.


I was treated immediately by the staff of the NHS due to the life threatening nature of the condition. I spent a month on the ward and was unfortunate enough to contract MRSA. I survived this and in total spent around 3 more weeks on a civilian ward where I became well enough to go home. I was not visited once by any members of my unit of representatives from the British army.


I then spent 1 year on sick leave which meant blood tests twice a week and lots of physio therapy. I was told that I would inevitably lose my lower right leg as the injury was progressive due to now having no deep vein in my leg. This is a consequence to not being treated and continuing my operational commitments to the Regiment. I was medically discharged from the British army approximately 16 months after my diagnosis. I was not offered any rehabilitation or other career options due to the severity of injury.


I was awarded a war pension and a service invalidity pension as I was injured on operations. My disability was graded at over 35% at this point despite the fact that it would become worse.


On being Medically discharged I felt abandoned and somewhat bitter that I was now unemployed and homeless due to the fact that I had not been treated by the British army and the appointments I had received for medical investigations had not relayed to me as I was on operations and those operations were considered far more important.


I began a lawsuit with the MOD and after many appointments and specialist where involved I got into debt by £47k which I was liable for should I be unsuccessful at trial. The MOD went through 6-8 barristers during my 6 year battle with them. The legal aid system got to a point where they would not fund the case due to the expense and I had to pursue a no win fee claim. The MOD accepted full liability the day before trial which is usually the case with such trials. The MOD does not like this sort of thing shouted from the roof tops.


A few months after my success I was sent a letter from the pension’s agency telling me that my war pension would be reduced due to a third party claim against the MOD. Just yesterday I have been told I will now lose half of my service invalidity pension also. I cannot begin to tell you how insulted I feel by this. How many other veterans are being penalised by this same very system that was designed to help them.


I have never claimed a penny from any benefits of any form of tax relief since leaving the forces. I work full time despite being disabled and having a family to support is my drive for that.


Should I leave my job today and claim disability benefits, housing benefits, careers allowance and probably a lot more others that I don’t know about I would effectively be better off! I would love to speak to somebody about this and possibly run a story if given the opportunity. I will continue this conquest until somebody is willing to help me let the veterans and general public of this once great county know just what underhanded tactics are being dealt out.


I thank you in advance for your time.


Damian Thompson
War Pensioner