Witness Against Torture: No More Torture, No More Indefinite Detention: Shut Down Guantanamo International Day of Action – Friday, Jan. 11
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 10, 2008
10:09 AM
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CONTACT: Witness Against Torture
Eric Laursen, 917-806-6452
Sheila Stumph, 214-226-0503, 973-445-5382
Michael McGuire, 443-831-7198
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No More Torture, No More Indefinite Detention: Shut Down Guantánamo
International Day of Action – Friday, Jan. 11
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WASHINGTON, DC - January 10 - Tomorrow, human rights advocates will engage in a
dramatic action to demand an end to six years of torture and abuse at
Guantánamo and justice for those detained indefinitely in direct
violation of U.S. and international law.
January 11, 2008 marks six years of detention without hope of release
for nearly 300 men at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo. “We declare
this day as an International Day of Action to Shut Down Guantánamo,”
says Sheila Stumph of Boston, Massachusetts, a member of Witness Against
Torture, which called today's action. “We stand with thousands more from
Paris, France, to Ware, Massachusetts, who act on behalf of victims of
the war on terrorism and for law and justice.
Human rights advocates will march on the Supreme Court at 12 noon
wearing orange jumpsuits and black hoods, representing each of the men
still detained at Guantánamo. “Our procession will be solemn and
silent,” says Michael McGuire of Baltimore, “almost as though we are
haunting the three pillars of American government – Executive,
Legislature, Judiciary – with the crime of torture and abuse they are
responsible for.”
At the Supreme Court, advocates will formally appeal to the nine
Justices to affirm in Al Odah v. United States and Boumediene v. Bush
what all the rest of the world knows: that torture and the suspension of
Habeas Corpus are not only immoral and unconstitutional, but are war
crimes for which U.S. officials must be held accountable. Outside the
Court, advocates will read testimonies and names of prisoners, perform
street theater, and hand out information.
With these actions, people of conscience and justice call on the U.S.
government to:
* Repeal the Military Commissions Act and restore Habeas Corpus;
* Charge and try or release all detainees;
* Clearly and unequivocally forbid torture and all other forms of cruel,
inhuman, and degrading treatment, by the military, the CIA, prison
guards, civilian contractors, or anyone else;
* Pay reparations to current and former detainees and their families for
violations of their human rights; and
* Shut down Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib, Bagram, and all secret CIA detention
facilities.
Last year on January 11, 500 people processed from the Supreme Court to
the U.S. Federal District Court in Washington, DC; there, nearly 90
people entered the court to bring the names and testimonies of
Guantánamo prisoners to the Court’s attention. Many were arrested
without identification, taking only the names of men at Guantánamo to
ensure that these names are heard by the criminal justice system.
About Witness Against Torture
Tomorrow's action is the latest by Witness Against Torture, which came
into being in December 2005 when a group of 24 friends walked to
Guantánamo to visit the prisoners – an action following the nonviolent
tradition of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker. Upon returning to the
U.S., they continued the work with public education and community
outreach, networking and resource sharing, and acts of nonviolent civil
resistance to draw attention to the plight of prisoners in Guantánamo
and victims of the war on terrorism everywhere.
The International Day of Action launches a concerted campaign to Shut
Down Guantánamo. For more information, please visit www.witnesstorture.org.
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