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This Friday, join us in rallying to close Guantanamo
January 11, 2008 Shut Down Guantanamo
This Friday, January 11th will be the sixth anniversary of the incarceration of the first prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It is an inauspicious date -- one that signifies much of what has gone wrong with U.S. foreign policy in the past few years. Together with the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, the Catholic Worker-rooted Witness Against Torture, Amnesty International, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and other human rights groups, the Fellowship of Reconciliation is calling for the return of the rule of law and the closure of this prison.
Several dozen vigils and rallies will be held throughout the country. I will be participating in an interfaith vigil in New York City, organized by the Metro N.Y. Religious Campaign Against Torture ("Say No To Torture"). If you are in the NYC area, I invite you to join me in downtown Manhattan, beginning at 12:30 p.m. on Friday the 11th.
Hundreds of protesters will descend on Washington, D.C. that same day, for a program that will include worship, speeches, and nonviolent civil disobedience. Many people will risk arrest wearing the orange jumpsuits of Guantanamo detainees, and taking their names. Please join us, in person or in spirit.
Prisoner dies at Guantánamo
When I posted my blog entry yesterday about the upcoming international day of action to close the Guantánamo prison, I did not even realize that one week ago, a detainee at the prison had died.
Last night, I learned by email that on Sunday, December 30th, U.S. authorities had announced the death of Algerian detainee Abdul Razzak from colon cancer. Razzak had been held at Guantanamo without charge since January 2003 and had undergone chemotherapy beginning in October 2007. He is the fifth detainee to die in U.S. custody at Guantanamo since the prison opened in 2002. The four other deaths involved apparent suicides.
Following Razzak's death, U.S. authorities claimed that no other prisoners are in immediate danger of dying, though lawyers for several of the detainees disagree. Lawyers contend that at least four of the approximately 275 men currently at Guantánamo are gravely ill and are not being afforded adequate medical treatment. According to lawyers, two detainees have not been treated and at least one other detainee needs a risky procedure that they argue should not be performed at Guantanamo because it lacks the appropriate medical equipment. Read more about this serious issue in an article in the Miami Herald newspaper:
http://www.miamiherald.com/1060/story/363922.html
NYC Vigil -- Rain but not rained out
Threatening rain developed into a torrential downpour for New York City's Prayer Vigil to End Torture and Shut Down Guantanamo. But what is rain compared to waterboarding? It didn't dampen enthusiasm but rather strengthened resolve to speak out for shutting down Guantanamo.
To see some pictures from the NYC event, check out my Jan. 11th Witness Against Torture set on Flickr.com. I have been unable to locate any Flickr Group(s) dedicated to the day's activities [Flickr was experiencing upgrade problems this weekend], but the tags found by clicking and enlarging the pictures are useful in finding pictures from events worldwide, i.e., http://flickr.com/photos/tags/Guantanamo/
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