May 23: Global Day of Action to Close America's Torture Camp at Guantánamo NOW and End Indefinite Detention
May 19, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
We received this from The World Can't Wait (worldcantwait.net):
World Can't Wait will join 50 organizations in mass protest of the ongoing torture of 154 men at the U.S. torture camp at Guantánamo Bay. Witness Against Torture organized the response for Friday, May 23, on the anniversary of a speech where President Obama, responding to intense global response to the hunger strike of almost all the prisoners, said his administration still aims to close the prison.
Guantanamo captives in January 2002. Photo: Petty Officer 1st class Shane T. McCoy, U.S. Navy
In the last year, says the coalition, "only 12 men have been released. 154 remain, nearly all of whom have never been charged with a crime. 76 were cleared for release by the U.S. government years ago. 56 men are from Yemen, the largest national group at Guantánamo, but they remain subject to an effective moratorium on their release based on their nationality. No one from Yemen has been freed since the May speech.
"Up to 40 prisoners continue to hunger strike, and many are being subjected to forced feeding—a practice condemned by international human rights organizations, medical associations, and members of the U.S. Congress. New lawsuits in U.S. courts lay bare the extreme cruelty of the forced feeding at Guantánamo. To quell the public outcry against the prison, the U.S. military in December 2013 stopped reporting the numbers of hunger strikers. More recently, it has classified their protest, in Orwellian fashion, as 'long term non-religious fasting.'"
Actions are planned in 33 U.S. cities and Poland, England, Mexico, Germany, Australia and Canada.
Volunteers Needed... for revcom.us and Revolution
If you like this article, subscribe, donate to and sustain Revolution newspaper.