January, 15 2010, 08:06am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Joshua Brollier, cell: 931-436-3616, joshua@vcnv.org
Helen Schietinger, cell: 202-344-5762, h.schietinger@verizon.net
Human Rights Activists to Confront Torture-Memo Author John Yoo at Book Signing
Thirty-five to forty human
rights activists from Witness Against Torture will protest the appearance of
Bush administration Department of Justice attorney John Yoo at the Federalist
Society at 11:30 on Friday, January 15.
When | What | Where |
11:30pm-1:30pm |
WASHINGTON
Thirty-five to forty human
rights activists from Witness Against Torture will protest the appearance of
Bush administration Department of Justice attorney John Yoo at the Federalist
Society at 11:30 on Friday, January 15.
When | What | Where |
11:30pm-1:30pm | Demonstration | Tony Cheng's Restaurant, 619 H Street, N.W. Washington, DC |
Author of the notorious "torture memo," Mr. Yoo
helped authorize the use of torture against men detained by the US in
Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and other "war on terror" prisons. Outside
the Federalist Society demonstrators dressed in "detainee outfits" (orange
jumpsuits and black hoods) will hold placards calling attention to Yoo's
complicity in criminal policies and acts.
"It is
both tragic and infuriating that one of the chief architects of U.S. torture is
given a forum to peddle his corrupt ideas, whose effect was the gross
violations of U.S. law and basic human rights," says Matt Daloisio of Witness
Against Torture. "To our dismay, President Obama has chosen not to hold Mr. Yoo
and the other architects of Bush's torture policies accountable in courts of
law. So we must condemn Mr. Yoo in the court of public opinion,
remind him and others of his crimes, and work to discredit his bankrupt legal
philosophy."
Witness Against Torture is a grassroots movement that came into being in December 2005 when 24 activists walked to Guantanamo to visit the prisoners and condemn torture policies. Since then, it has engaged in public education, community outreach, and non-violent direct action. For the first 100 days of the Obama administration, the group held a daily vigil at the White House, encouraging the new President to uphold his commitments to shut down Guantanamo.
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