ANTI-war campaigner Yvonne Ridley is calling on the Middle East to withdraw its diplomats from the US.
The former Northern Echo journalist, who was captured in Afghanistan at the beginning of the war, is a co-founder of the political lobby Respect.
Yesterday, she called "on all the Arab governments to recall their ambassadors from Washington in protest against both the occupation and the appalling prisoner abuse".
Ms Ridley and Respect co-founder Ynunus Bakhsh are standing as candidates in the European parliamentary elections.
Her call for the Middle East withdrawal comes ahead of a meeting organised by the party in the St Mary's Centre, Middlesbrough, at 7.30pm next Tuesday.
Peter Smith, chair of Teesside Against the War, claims that "only an early withdrawal from occupied Iraq can save that blighted country from an unfolding disaster."
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