Close Guantanamo Vigil U..S Embassy 4-6pm Thurs Jan 11th
London Catholic Worker | 07.01.2007 18:43
Thursday January 11th. is the 5th. anniversary of the U.S. Prison on Guantanamo receiving its first prisoner.
Thursday January 11th. 2007 will see an international day of action to Shut Down
Guantanamo stretching from Washington DC to Guantanamo Bay to Sydney to London!
Thursday January 11th. 2007 will see an international day of action to Shut Down
Guantanamo stretching from Washington DC to Guantanamo Bay to Sydney to London!
Thursday January 11th. is the 5th. anniversary of the U.S. Prison on Guantanamo receiving its first prisoner.
Thursday January 11th. 2007 will see an international day of action to Shut Down
Guantanamo stretching from Washington DC to Guantanamo Bay to Sydney to London!
*In LONDON the Catholic Worker will be hiolding a vigil on
Thursday January 11th.from 4pm-6pm
outside the
U.S. Embassy
24 Grosvenor Square London, W1A 1AE
More information Ph. 077 2699 7638
*ALSO LONDON
On Wednesday Jan 10th. 6pm outside Downing st.
Join the London Guantanamo Campaign and
its supporters
as we mark this day with a vigil outside Downing Street demanding the closure of the prison.Date:
Wednesday 10th January 2007
Venue: Downing Street
Time: 6pm For more information please contact:
London_gitmo@yahoo.co.uk /07961033271
*In BIRMINGHAM
Thursday Jan 11th 1.30pm Birmingham
HIATTS - Suppliers of handcuffs, shackles and chains -
for African slaves in the 19th century to the
prisoners in Guantanamo Bay in the 21st
On the fifth anniversary of the illegal prison camp
at Guantanamo Bay, join our birthday protest outside
the Hiatts factory in Birmingham
11th January - 1.30pm
BALTIMORE ROAD, BIRMINGHAM 42
For more information, contact: 07721 427690
/ bhamguantanamocampaign@yahoo.co.uk
Break the Shackles
Break the Chains
Close Guantanamo Bay
www.guantanamo.org.uk
*In WASHINGTON DC there will be major civil nonviolent
disobedience on Thursday January 11th,
check out www.witnesstorture.org for more details.
*International Delegation Travels to GUANTANAMO, CUBA to
Protest Infamous US Prison
Delegates include mother of current prisoner, former Guantanamo
detainee, and high-level US peace activists
On January 9-13, a first-ever international delegation of former
prisoners, families of current prisoners, US lawyers and human rights activists
will travel to Guantanamo, Cuba to hold a conference on prison abuses and
march to the Cuban-side security gate of the US Naval Base to call for the
closure of the illegal prison. The protest in Cuba is part of the January 11
International Day to Shut Down Guantanamo, the day that marks the
5-year anniversary of the first prisoners being sent to Guantanamo.
"I am traveling all the way from Dubai because by heart is
overflowing with grief over the abuse and ongoing detention of my son," says Zohra
Zewawi, whose son has been tortured and blinded in one eye during his
detention, and has never been charged or tried. Her son was imprisoned in September 2002 and is still a prisoner in Guantanamo. Asif Iqbal, a former detainee who was freed on no charges after years of abuse, is coming to show his
support
for the basic rights of detainees.
All prisoners deserve humane treatment and fair trials, which is not
happening in Guatanamo," says retired US Army Colonel and delegate
Ann Wright. "US federal courts, not military commissions, should hear the
cases against those charged with terrorist acts and the infamous prison in
Guantanamo should be immediately shut down."
The group, organizing by US groups CODEPINK: Women for Peace and
Global Exchange, will hold a press conference in Havana on January 9, a
conference in Guantanamo on January 10 on prison conditions and international
law, and then on January 11 will march from the center of Guantanamo to the
security gate of the US Naval Base where the prison is located to hold an
interfaith service and call for the closing of the prison. The group will then
travel to Havana to debrief the press on January 13. A smaller group will
then travel to the US to lobby Congress to shut the prison, restore Habeas
Corpus, repeal the Military Commissions Act, and give all detainees
fair trials or release them.
In both Guantanamo and Havana, the award-winning film Road to
Guantanamo will be screened, with a post-showing dialogue with e film
co-producer Mat Whitecross and former prisoner Asif Iqbal, whose horrific story of
detention is portrayed in the docu-drama.
The 12-person delegation also includes renowned US "peace mom" Cindy
Sheehan whose son was killed in the war in Iraq; Adele Welty whose
firefighter son was killed on 9/11; US human rights/peace leader Medea Benjamin of Global Exchange and CODEPINK; retired US Colonel and diplomat Ann Wright who resigned over the invasion of Iraq; and legal director of the US
Center for Constitutional Rights Bill Goodman who has taken the cases of
Guantanamo detainees to the US Supreme Court.
On January 11, the International Day to Shut Down Guantanamo,
protests will be held all over the world, including England, Australia and Holland.
In the US major protests will take place in Washington DC and New York City,
plusdozens of cities throughout the country, including outside the US
Southern Command in Miami.
For interviews with delegates traveling to Cuba, contact Medea
Benjamin by phone or medea@globalexchange.org. For information about US and other international protests on January 11, see www.witnesstorture.org or
contact Matt Daloisio, 201-264-4424.
There will also be actions at the following locations......
Jan 11: Actions Around the Globe
Check www.witnesstorture for more information
Below is a developing list of cities that are organizing events as part of the January 11th International Day of Action. Click on the city for more information about their event.
Albany, NY
Amherst, MA
Amsterdam, Holland
Boise, Idaho
Brevard, NC
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Doral, FL
Chicago, Illinois
Corvallis, Oregon
Dublin, Ireland
Duluth, Minnesota
Glasgow, Scotland (Jan 10)
Greenfield, MA
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Goose Creek, SC
Edinburgh, Scotland
Eureka, CA
London, UK
Lansing, MI (Jan 12)
Managua, Nicaragua
Miami, Florida
Minneapolis, MN
New Haven, CT
Melbourne, Australia
Montclair, NJ
Newcastle, Australia
New Haven, CT
New York City, NY
Northhampton, MA
Philadelphia, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
San Andreas, CA
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Saratoga Springs, NY
Seattle, WA
Sydney, Australia<
Syracuse, New York
Tallahassee, FL
Tuscon, AZ
West Chester, PA
Warsaw, Poland (Jan 6)
Washington, DC
Wichita, KS
Thursday January 11th. 2007 will see an international day of action to Shut Down
Guantanamo stretching from Washington DC to Guantanamo Bay to Sydney to London!
*In LONDON the Catholic Worker will be hiolding a vigil on
Thursday January 11th.from 4pm-6pm
outside the
U.S. Embassy
24 Grosvenor Square London, W1A 1AE
More information Ph. 077 2699 7638
*ALSO LONDON
On Wednesday Jan 10th. 6pm outside Downing st.
Join the London Guantanamo Campaign and
its supporters
as we mark this day with a vigil outside Downing Street demanding the closure of the prison.Date:
Wednesday 10th January 2007
Venue: Downing Street
Time: 6pm For more information please contact:
London_gitmo@yahoo.co.uk /07961033271 *In BIRMINGHAM
Thursday Jan 11th 1.30pm Birmingham
HIATTS - Suppliers of handcuffs, shackles and chains -
for African slaves in the 19th century to the
prisoners in Guantanamo Bay in the 21st
On the fifth anniversary of the illegal prison camp
at Guantanamo Bay, join our birthday protest outside
the Hiatts factory in Birmingham
11th January - 1.30pm
BALTIMORE ROAD, BIRMINGHAM 42
For more information, contact: 07721 427690
/
bhamguantanamocampaign@yahoo.co.uk Break the Shackles
Break the Chains
Close Guantanamo Bay
www.guantanamo.org.uk
*In WASHINGTON DC there will be major civil nonviolent
disobedience on Thursday January 11th,
check out www.witnesstorture.org for more details.
*International Delegation Travels to GUANTANAMO, CUBA to
Protest Infamous US Prison
Delegates include mother of current prisoner, former Guantanamo
detainee, and high-level US peace activists
On January 9-13, a first-ever international delegation of former
prisoners, families of current prisoners, US lawyers and human rights activists
will travel to Guantanamo, Cuba to hold a conference on prison abuses and
march to the Cuban-side security gate of the US Naval Base to call for the
closure of the illegal prison. The protest in Cuba is part of the January 11
International Day to Shut Down Guantanamo, the day that marks the
5-year anniversary of the first prisoners being sent to Guantanamo.
"I am traveling all the way from Dubai because by heart is
overflowing with grief over the abuse and ongoing detention of my son," says Zohra
Zewawi, whose son has been tortured and blinded in one eye during his
detention, and has never been charged or tried. Her son was imprisoned in September 2002 and is still a prisoner in Guantanamo. Asif Iqbal, a former detainee who was freed on no charges after years of abuse, is coming to show his
support
for the basic rights of detainees.
All prisoners deserve humane treatment and fair trials, which is not
happening in Guatanamo," says retired US Army Colonel and delegate
Ann Wright. "US federal courts, not military commissions, should hear the
cases against those charged with terrorist acts and the infamous prison in
Guantanamo should be immediately shut down."
The group, organizing by US groups CODEPINK: Women for Peace and
Global Exchange, will hold a press conference in Havana on January 9, a
conference in Guantanamo on January 10 on prison conditions and international
law, and then on January 11 will march from the center of Guantanamo to the
security gate of the US Naval Base where the prison is located to hold an
interfaith service and call for the closing of the prison. The group will then
travel to Havana to debrief the press on January 13. A smaller group will
then travel to the US to lobby Congress to shut the prison, restore Habeas
Corpus, repeal the Military Commissions Act, and give all detainees
fair trials or release them.
In both Guantanamo and Havana, the award-winning film Road to
Guantanamo will be screened, with a post-showing dialogue with e film
co-producer Mat Whitecross and former prisoner Asif Iqbal, whose horrific story of
detention is portrayed in the docu-drama.
The 12-person delegation also includes renowned US "peace mom" Cindy
Sheehan whose son was killed in the war in Iraq; Adele Welty whose
firefighter son was killed on 9/11; US human rights/peace leader Medea Benjamin of Global Exchange and CODEPINK; retired US Colonel and diplomat Ann Wright who resigned over the invasion of Iraq; and legal director of the US
Center for Constitutional Rights Bill Goodman who has taken the cases of
Guantanamo detainees to the US Supreme Court.
On January 11, the International Day to Shut Down Guantanamo,
protests will be held all over the world, including England, Australia and Holland.
In the US major protests will take place in Washington DC and New York City,
plusdozens of cities throughout the country, including outside the US
Southern Command in Miami.
For interviews with delegates traveling to Cuba, contact Medea
Benjamin by phone or
medea@globalexchange.org. For information about US and other international protests on January 11, see www.witnesstorture.org or contact Matt Daloisio, 201-264-4424.
There will also be actions at the following locations......
Jan 11: Actions Around the Globe
Check www.witnesstorture for more information
Below is a developing list of cities that are organizing events as part of the January 11th International Day of Action. Click on the city for more information about their event.
Albany, NY
Amherst, MA
Amsterdam, Holland
Boise, Idaho
Brevard, NC
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Doral, FL
Chicago, Illinois
Corvallis, Oregon
Dublin, Ireland
Duluth, Minnesota
Glasgow, Scotland (Jan 10)
Greenfield, MA
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Goose Creek, SC
Edinburgh, Scotland
Eureka, CA
London, UK
Lansing, MI (Jan 12)
Managua, Nicaragua
Miami, Florida
Minneapolis, MN
New Haven, CT
Melbourne, Australia
Montclair, NJ
Newcastle, Australia
New Haven, CT
New York City, NY
Northhampton, MA
Philadelphia, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
San Andreas, CA
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Saratoga Springs, NY
Seattle, WA
Sydney, Australia<
Syracuse, New York
Tallahassee, FL
Tuscon, AZ
West Chester, PA
Warsaw, Poland (Jan 6)
Washington, DC
Wichita, KS
London Catholic Worker
Homepage:
http://www.witnesstorture.org
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AMNESTY ACTION US EMBASSY 10a.m. - 11.30a.m. THURSDAY
07.01.2007 19:40
See for details:
human rights
More on Delegation to Guantanamo Bay.....
08.01.2007 12:45
On January 9-13, a first-ever international delegation of former prisoners, families of current prisoners, US lawyers and human rights activists will travel to Guantanamo, Cuba to hold a conference on prison abuses and march to the Cuban-side security gate of the US Naval Base to call for the closure of the illegal prison. The group, organized by US groups CODEPINK: Women for Peace and Global Exchange, will hold a press conference in Havana on January 9, a conference in Guantanamo on January 10 on prison conditions and international law, and then on January 11 will march from the center of Guantanamo to the security gate of the US Naval Base where the prison is located to hold an interfaith service and call for the closing of the prison. The group will then travel to Havana to debrief the press on January 13. A smaller group will then travel to the US to lobby Congress to shut the prison, restore Habeas Corpus, repeal the Military Commissions Act, and give all detainees fair trials or release them.
Former Guantanamo prisoner and family of current prisoners:
Asif Iqbal is a 25-year-old British citizen who was held, in extrajudicial detention, as a terror suspect in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps. Iqbal and his friends Ruhal Ahmed and Shafiq Rasul were captured in November 2001 in Afghanistan and then taken to Guantanamo. Known as “The Tipton 3” because the three young men are from Tipton, England, they were all released on March 9, 2004 with no charges. They reported that during their detention they were repeatedly punched, kicked, slapped, forcibly injected with drugs, deprived of sleep, hooded, photographed naked and subjected to body cavity searches and sexual and religious humiliations. The 2006 film The Road to Guantánamo is a docu-drama depicting the harrowing story of their detention.
Taher Deghayes is the brother of current Guantanamo detainee Omar Deghayes. Taher and his mother are coming all the way from Dubai to raise awareness about Omar’s case, and to call for his release. Omar is a British resident, law school student, husband and father who was arrested in Pakistan, taken to the Bagram airbase prison in Afghanistan, and then brought to Guantanamo in September 2002. He alleges that he was abused and tortured, including blinded by pepper spray. For more information on Omar, see
Zohra Shaban Zewawi is the mother of Guantanamo detainee Omar Deghayes. She is traveling from Dubai to Cuba because her “heart is ruptured with sadness” over the indefinite detention of her son as an “enemy combatant.” Zohra insists that her son, who has never been charged or tried, is innocent and should be freed. For a family photo and letter from Zohra, see
Other delegates:
Medea Benjamin is Cofounder of the human rights group Global Exchange and CODEPINK: Women for Peace. She traveled to Afghanistan to document civilian casualties, set up an Occupation Watch Center in Baghdad to investigate abuses by the occupying forces, and lobbies Congress to end the war and respect human rights.
Tiffany Burns is an organizer with Gold Star Families for Peace, a group of relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq who are trying to bring the troops home. She is part of a campaign to get the US Congress to stop funding the war in Iraq.
Jodie Evans is Cofounder of CODEPINK: Women for Peace and co-author of the book Stop the Next War Now. She is a member of the Women’s Committee of Human Rights Watch. We organizes US women to protest the war in Iraq.
Bill Goodman is an attorney and legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights. Goodman’s landmark cases include Rasul v. Bush, representing the Guantánamo detainees before the Supreme Court, and Arar v. Ashcroft, the first case to challenge extraordinary rendition or outsourcing torture.
Catherine Murphy is a sociologist and documentary filmmaker. She has produced several social-issue documentaries. She is also a subtitle editor and cameraperson. She will be documenting the trip.
Cindy Sheehan, “peace mom” whose son Casey was killed in Iraq, is head of Gold Star Families for Peace. She became famous worldwide when she camped outside of George Bush’ Texas ranch in Crawford in June 2005 Texas to demand why our troops have been sent to Iraq. She is author of Dear President Bush and Not One More Mother’s Child.
Adele Welty, the mother of firefighter Timothy Welty who perished at the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001, is a member of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. She protests the war in Iraq to prevent Timmy's legacy from being used to justify the killing of innocent civilians. Adele has traveled to Afghanistan and Iraq to meet with families of civilian casualties.
Colonel Ann Wright served 29 years in the military and 16 years in the diplomatic corps, including as Deputy Ambassador at four missions. Among her many posts, Ms. Wright re-opened the US Embassy in Kabul in December 2001. She resigned in March 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war and now works full-time as an advocate for peace and human rights, crisscrossing the country speaking and lending support to soldiers who refuse to fight in Iraq.
Mat Whitecross is a film editor and director of the docu-drama The Road to Guantaanamo, the story of three young men, Ruhel Ahmed, Shafiq Rasul and Monir Ali, Muslim British nationals who grew up near Birmingham, England, who were held for more than two years under the custody of Afghani and American forces. The movie received the Silver Bear award for direction at the 2006 Berlin International Film Festival.
Update
Homepage:
http://www.witnesstorture.org
Report from Warsaw "Shut Down Guantanamo" Action
08.01.2007 12:55
5 activists dressed in orange overalls ( and with sensory depriving blackened goggles, face masks, ear muffs) acted as the prisoners, 1 person acted as CIA torturer of the month while another 'US soldier' co-ordinated their sadistic practices - in addition to this, a short street theatre action was staged with 2 young anarchists playing 2 acts:
1) Warsaw 1943: A German interrogator with a Warsaw citizen/resister who is being tortured, beaten, killed;
then
2) Guantanamo 2007: A U.S. interrogator and unknown Guan. detainee who is being tortured, beaten, killed.
A narrator conveyed the similarities in tactics/ideologies applied by the respective repressive regimes .
We had a banner 'End State Terrorism' and 10 placards with prisoners' names, photos, arrest dates and places of arrest under the title, 'Guantanamo Torture Victim'. A number of other placards depicted the tragically well-known photos of the torture methods used in Abu-Ghraib and other military brigs.
After our CIA candidate rounded up and black-hooded 5 spectator/participants and made them stand in stress positions, etc. we walked a 1/2 kilometre to the Polish Ministry of Defence at 12.45pm past the British embassy, Ministry of Justice and Prime Minister's office. When we eventually reached the Ministry the 5 prisoners lined up once again holding placards of Guan. inmates while Polish complicity in the extraordinary rendition programme and it's facilitation through Szymany airport, assistance in the War on Terror through troop deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan was addressed by speakers.
The ever reliant Food Not Bombs crew then served us a beautiful soup to revive our drooping body temperatures. The weather was miserably damp and cold.
Finally, we headed to our local anarchist Infoshop where we showed the documentary 'Gitmo' with Polish dubbing to about 15 people.
The mainstream newspapers' websites have done lengthy reports of the action and as all lazy journalists like to do, they took long extracts from our press release:)) We expect that the Monday print editions will carry reports of the action. An internet poll on whether Guantanamo should be closed down is currently at Yes, 57%; No, 37%: No opinion, 6%.
The poll can be followed here:
You can find them pictures of the action at
Damien
e-mail:
Warsaw, Poland
AUDIO LINK - David Rovcic's Song "Guantanamo Bay"
08.01.2007 16:28
Fan
Homepage:
http://www.soundclick.com/pro/view/01/default.cfm?bandid=111310&songid=2281305&content=song
LINK-Former Gitmo Inmate Returns to the Bay to Call for Closure of the Prison
10.01.2007 12:35
Update
Homepage:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070109/wl_afp/usattacksjustice_070109224859