WASHINGTON - January 8 - Eight years ago next Monday, the Guantanamo prison opened for "war on terror" detainees. On January 11, activists and Guantanamo lawyers will mark the anniversary by demanding that President Obama make good on his pledge to close the prison as first step towards restoring the rule of law. Further, the group opposes any plan for holding prisoners without charge or trial in the U.S. and denounces the White House's expansion of Bush-style detention in Afghanistan.

Schedule, Monday, January 11, 2010

Members of Witness Against Torture will rally in front of the White House at 11:45 a.m. to protest the lack of progress toward justice for detainees since Obama took office and demand from the administration true change.  Speakers will announce a 12-Day Fast for Justice in Washington DC, ending on January 22-- the Obama administration's self-declared, and now-voided, deadline for closing Guantanamo.

"As fear of terrorism again grips the nation, we need to stand more firmly on the principles of justice and the rule of law, and not go further down the disastrous path of the last eight years," says Matt Daloisio of Witness Against Torture. "Obama promised to break with the Bush administration. But in so many areas-- from the continued use of rendition, to the ongoing detention of innocent men at Guantanamo, to the refusal to prosecute alleged torturers-- he has sustained the policies of his predecessor and he is in the process of expanding these policies at the Bagram prison in Afghanistan."

After the demonstration, activists will stage a dramatic Guantanamo prisoner procession to the National Press Club. There, they will join the Center for Constitutional Rights for a press briefing featuring detainee lawyers and human rights activists. The briefing, led by CCR Executive Director Vince Warren, will include the reading of letters from men released from Guantanamo and exonerated of wrong doing. The letters directly appeal to President Obama and call for the prison's closure and justice for all men held there