Nick at the Australian GetUp! direct action group has assured me in an email that avaaz, the organisation running the global petition, is legitimate and that two former GetUp! staff are now working with them.

avaaz argues that “For the first time, some of [President Bush’s] top advisors have called for closing this affront to international law, including his own Secretary of Defense. This split inside the Administration gives us a real chance close Guantanamo forever.”

“We will run the petition in key US newspapers as soon as we have signatures from every country,” avaaz writes in an email roundrobin some of you have probably already received.

You can sign up here:

 http://www.avaaz.org/en/close_guantanamo