In our final episode of season one, Katherine and Paul are joined by human rights lawyer, founder of Reprieve and all-round international justice powerhouse, Clive Stafford Smith. 

Clive candidly discusses his work representing prisoners facing the death penalty, those held in secret prisons (including Guantanamo Bay), and the victims of assassination by drones. He also shares his less-than-glowing views on the criminal justice system, our treatment of criminals and forensic science.

He even uses his incredible mind-melding abilities to interrogate Katherine and Paul (not like that) and poses a series of head-scratchers. Would you send someone you love to prison? What’s the worst thing Paul’s ever done? Is Katherine a marxist? All this and much more...

It’s an important conversation to hear, but be aware it occasionally features some strong language and there are descriptions of torture. Possibly not one for the kids.

Links, resources and episode timestamps (for all you skippers out there) below.

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ABOUT CLIVE STAFFORD SMITH

CLIVE STAFFORD SMITH JD OBE is the founder of Reprieve, a London based human rights charity that focuses on the direct representation of prisoners facing the death penalty around the world, those held in secret prisons, and the victims of assassination by drones. Born in Cambridge, he is a dual UK-US national. He was educated at Radley College, where he studied science and mathematics. His law degree comes from Columbia Law School in New York. He worked for nine years at the Southern Center for Human Rights, a charity in Atlanta; in 1993, he founded the Louisiana Crisis Assistance Center, a non-profit law office in New Orleans specializing in the defence of capital cases at the trial level; he founded Reprieve in 1999. In early 2002 he was one of three lawyers who filed the initial litigation in Rasul v. Bush, to force the Bush administration to respect the rights of Muslim prisoners in Guantánamo Bay and other secret prisons. In 2000, he was awarded the OBE by Queen Elizabeth II for “services to humanity”. He has been involved in more than 300 death penalty cases in the US and around the world, and has helped secure the release of 80 detainees in Guantánamo Bay, where he continues to represent a further 7 detainees. He lives in Dorset.

Twitter: CliveSSmith

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LINKS AND RESOURCES

Reprieve https://reprieve.org.uk/ 

Kris Maharaj https://reprieve.org.uk/update/kris-maharaj-turns-80/ 

Ahmed Raabbani https://reprieve.org/cases/ahmed-rabbani/ 

‘The World of Reprieve’ by Clive Stafford Smith https://www.greenbelt.org.uk/talks/the-word-of-reprieve/ 

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TAKE ACTION

https://reprieve.org.uk/take-action/

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00:00 - Welcome to Somewhere To Believe In

00:30 - Katherine and Paul catch up

03:00 - Feedback from listeners

04:40 - Introducing Clive Stafford Smith and his work

05:49 - Clive joins the conversation

06:00 - Clive on covid and human rights

09:50 - Clive on how he got into law

11:00 - Clive on the British legal system

14:14 - Clive on innocence and fair trials

15:50 - Clive on forensic science

16:50 - Clive on prison

19:00 - Clive on the criminal justice system

24:10 - Clive on rehabilitation

25:30 - Clive on secret executions

26:20 - Clive on doing better

28:20 - Talk Snippet from GB2017 ‘The World of Reprieve’

37:30 - Clive on Guantanamo Bay

42:20 - Clive on hunger strikes

44:30 - Clive on what we can do to help

47:00 - Clive on violence and pacifism

50:40 - Clive on faith

54:00 - Clive on passion

58:36 - Katherine and Paul reflect on the conversation with Clive

01:07:00 - How to get in touch with us

01:08:10 - Thank you’s

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A huge thanks to the Greenbelt Volunteer Talks Team for all their hard work on editing this episode. Our podcast music is ‘I Can Change’ by Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires.

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https://www.greenbelt.org.uk/

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