Why we’re supporting the campaign to close Guantánamo Bay.

Recently Lush’s co-founder Mark Constantine met human rights lawyer and director of Reprieve Clive Stafford Smith. Stafford Smith represents many of the prisoners in Guantánamo and when Mark heard about desperate situation of two current detainees - Al Jazeera News cameraman Sami Al Haj and British resident Binyam Mohamed, he decided Lush should get involved.



Guantánamo Bay is a story of both despair and hope. Both Sami and Binyam have been tortured and held without trial for over five years. But even in the most hellish of places the human spirit can survive. Risking his own life, Sami has bravely gone on hunger strike until he is given a fair trial. Other prisoners waiting to be released from a low-security section of the camp have managed to create life, literally, by taking seeds from their meals and planting them in the scorched earth of their outdoor holding cell, making their own secret garden of watermelon, peppers, and a single two-inch lemon tree.

To champion the cause of Sami and Binyam, Lush co-founder and product creator Mo Constantine and perfumer Simon Constantine (Mark and Mo’s son) have invented our new Ballistic, Guantánamo Garden (£2.75).

Designed to tell the story of Guantánamo, the ballistic is colored orange like the jumpsuits worn by prisoners and is scented with traces of synthetic civet to give it a hint of animalistic, raw, dark feeling. But it is the uplifting, detoxifying orange flower absolute and peace-inducing jasmine that dominates the intoxicating smell. Placed on top of everyone one is a white sugar dove.

Drop it into the bath and you’ll instantly realize that this creation is all about hope when a hidden photo of Sami or Binyam floats to the top of your bath, urging you to take action by logging on to www.Reprieve.org.uk. All the proceeds Lush make from Guantanamo Garden (ex. V.A.T) go to Reprieve.

Stafford Smith has been absurdly accused by the US government of sneaking in contraband underpants to his clients, which gave Reprieve the idea to print the slogan FAIR TRIAL MY ARSE on a pair of briefs. For the week of 3rd March Lush will be displaying their large orange pants in shops windows and will also be donating 100 per cent of the proceeds of its Charity Pot hand cream to Reprieve’s life-saving work representing prisoners who cannot afford legal representation.

This campaign is about two very simple things: everyone is entitled to a fair trial, and nobody should be tortured. Please help Reprieve reunite prisoners with their rights by supporting them here. www.Reprieve.org.uk

“The most effective counter-terrorism strategy any government can employ is the universal enforcement of human rights, and Reprieve is delighted that the staff at Lush have taken up the fight for justice for the prisoners in Guantánamo Bay”. Clive Stafford Smith.


(Clive Stafford Smith)

“Because Lush is a cosmetics company we normally campaign over the rights of mice and rabbits being harmed in pointless and cruel safety experiments, but when humans are being treated worse than rats in a cage we knew it was time to launch an initiative to close Guantánamo”. Mark Constantine