Nearly a year after the expiry of President Obama's own deadline to close the camp, 173 prisoners remain, most of them in limbo: either cleared for release but with nowhere safe to go or else neither charged with any crime nor held as prisoners of war. Prisoners cleared for release and still imprisoned by the US without charge or trial for nearly nine years include former British residents Shaker Aamer and Ahmed Belbacha.

Earlier in the day, a letter addressed to Prime Minister David Cameron signed by 75 MPs, MEPS, councillors and campaigners, including representatives of many NGOs, was delivered by hand to No. 10 Downing Street by a delegation from the London Guantánamo Campaign and Peacestrike.

Signatories to the letter included Guantánamo survivor Bisher Al-Rawi, Green MP Caroline Lucas, Labour MP John McDonnell, Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP (Lib Dem), Jean Lambert MEP (Green), Lindsey German (Stop the War Coalition), Kate Hudson (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament), Bruce Kent (Pax Christi), Walter Wolfgang (Labour CND) and journalists Victoria Brittain and Andy Worthington. In addition, there were messages of support for the vigil from Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Karen Buck, and Green London Assembly Members Cllr Jenny Jones and Cllr Darren Johnson. A shorter version of the letter was published in both the print and online editions of the Guardian newspaper:
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/11/guantanamo-closure-obama-deadline

See also:
Open Letter to Prime Minister David Cameron on Ninth Anniversary of Guantánamo
 https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/01/471851.html
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/01/471851.html

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