From the Archive

Come to DC for Torture Awareness Week

Join Witness Against Torture (WAT) in Washington DC during Torture Awareness Week (June 21 to 28, 2015) for the trials of WAT members who were arrested on January 12 for witnessing in Congress. Twenty-two people spoke out on behalf of those who have been detained, tortured and murdered by our government, in two different places in the Capitol.   Details of the trials are below.

Newsletter: Join us in Cleveland, No Separate Justice, More

Open letter to John Kerry from Helen Schietinger and Jeremy Varon

February Newsletter: Protest at Senate Hearing , Friday Fast for Justice, April Retreat

A Brief History of the Friday Fast for Justice

This kind [of unclean spirit] can be driven out only by prayer and fasting.
                                                                                   — Mark 9:29

An Open Letter to John McCain

Senator John McCain
241 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC, 20510

Shaker Aamer

Shaker Aamer is the last British legal resident in Guantánamo Bay. Born in Saudi Arabia in 1968, he moved to the US in his early 20s, then in 1991 went to London, where he worked as a translator with immigration cases. There he met his British wife, Zin, and settled down. A decade later, with their three children, and soon pregnant with a fourth, they moved to Afghanistan. Aamer’s father-in-law explains that they wanted “an Islamic atmosphere”. Then 9/11 happened and everything changed.

Listen to Excerpts from Mohamedou Slahi’s New Book

I’ve just finished reading Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s new book, Guantánamo Diary. It is the first book published by a still-detained Guantánamo detainee, and, as one might expect, it is a harrowing read. However, the pages are also full of humor, compassion, and forgiveness, which is somewhat shocking coming from someone who has suffered as much abuse as Slahi has. It seems to perfectly capture the circuitous nature of interrogation of an entire decade and the no-win situations detainees were placed in over and over again, despite any evidence against them. It’s well worth the read, and I encourage you to both purchase it and sign the petition to free its author right away. Below are some excerpts read by Benedict Cumberbatch (The Hobbit, Sherlock, The Imitation Game), Stephen Fry (V for Vendetta, narrator of the Harry Potter book series), Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, Pride and Prejudice), and Dominic West (The Wire, The Affair), who narrates an 8-minute documentary about the book’s creation.

Inside the Uniform, Under the Hood, Longing for Change

From January 4 – 12, 2015, Witness Against Torture (WAT) activists assembled in Washington D.C. for an annual time of fasting and public witness to end the United States’ use of torture and indefinite detention and to demand the closure, with immediate freedom for those long cleared for release, of the illegal U.S. prison at Guantanamo.

January Newsletter: Fast for Justice Review