Author: Witness Against Torture Staff

Our Latest Press Release: Rights Groups Send An Open Letter to President Obama and Ashton Carter: Free the 57 Guantánamo Prisoners Approved for Transfer

Together the undersigned organizations call for the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to be closed, and we ask President Obama and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter to swiftly transfer the 57 prisoners at Guantánamo who have already been cleared for transfer—the majority for over five years—and release or charge in a federal court those who have not been cleared for transfer.

May 23 marks the second anniversary of President Obama’s promise to resume releasing prisoners from Guantánamo, after Congress raised legislative obstacles, which he made during remarks at the National Defense University. The President’s promise was prompted in particular by a prison-wide hunger strike at Guantánamo, undertaken by men who—according to SOUTHCOM Commander General John Kelly—were “devastated” that the administration had “backed off” closing the prison.  

Since that speech, 44 men have been freed. However, 122 men remain at Guantánamo, even though almost all of them have never been charged, let alone tried, for any crime. It is time for President Obama, and Defense Secretary Carter, to take action to transfer the 57 men still held who have already been approved to leave Guantánamo, and to release or charge in federal court those who remain.

Today, just days before the anniversary of President Obama’s promise, a delegation of British MPs is visiting Washington, D.C., to discuss the release of Shaker Aamer, one of the 57 and the last British resident in Guantánamo. This follows the creation of a cross-party Parliamentary Group, and a motion passed by the British Parliament in March, calling for his release and return to his family in the U.K., and a similar call made by Prime Minister David Cameron in a meeting with President Obama in January.

As well as calling for the transfer of the 57 men cleared for transfer, including Shaker Aamer, we also call on the administration to speed up the Periodic Review Boards (PRBs), designed to review the cases of the men who have not been cleared for transfer and are not facing trials. Since the PRBs began in November 2013, 14 men have been reviewed and nine have been cleared for transfer. If the process does not speed up, it will take until January 2021 to complete the reviews—19 years after Guantánamo first opened.

The prison at Guantánamo is an expensive mistake that—according to national security officials, and President Obama—harms U.S. security interests. The U.S. government must act to close the prison as quickly as possible.

• Amnesty International USA
• Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)
• Close Guantánamo
• Code Pink
• Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)
• National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT)
• No More Guantánamos
• Reprieve
• September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
• Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC)
• Veterans for Peace
• We Stand With Shaker
• Witness Against Torture (WAT)

For further information, please contact Andy Worthington of Close Guantánamo at: andyworthington87@gmail.com

or Matt Hawthorne of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) at: mhawthorne@nrcat.org

For further information about the British Parliamentary delegation, please contact Katherine O’Shea of Reprieve at: katherine.oshea@reprieve.org

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

Witness Against Torture’s Friday Fast for Justice started in 2005.  In the months prior to their trip to Guantánamo Bay to protest the detention facility there, a group of 25 people began fasting on Fridays in solidarity with the prisoners engaged in hunger strikes, protesting their innocence and the conditions of their detention.  Upon their arrival the group was denied entry, and they vigiled and fasted for three days outside the gates.  Every January since 2009, WAT has gathered in Washington, DC to vigil, act, and participate in a multi-day liquids-only fast, in protest of Guantánamo and in recognition of the detainees’ hunger strikes there.

In March 2013, the world became aware of a massive hunger strike underway at Guantánamo; the strike was to last for months, with all but a few elderly prisoners refusing food and medicine from prison authorities.  Lawyers for the detainees reported that hunger strikers were losing consciousness and experiencing severe drops in body weight.  Some were hospitalized, and dozens—up to 46 on any given day, according to the government count—were brutally force fed in defiance of the United Nations, the World Medical Association, and the International Red Cross.  In response, on March 24 members of WAT and other human rights organizations embarked on a seven-day fast and series of actions in solidarity, to amplify the protest of the 166 men imprisoned at that time.

WAT held demonstrations in various locations—from New York City, to Chicago, to Perrysburg, Ohio.  Over 100 people nationwide participated in the fast.  Fasters also wrote letters to the detainees and made phone calls to the White House, U.S. Southern Command and the Department of Defense asking that the prison close.

At the end of that seven day fast, the number of men hunger striking at the prison had continued to increase.  Rather than simply end the fast, WAT decided to initiate a rolling fast.  At least one person per day fasted from midnight to midnight, made phone calls to people in power, and sent one letter to a prisoner at Guantánamo.  The rolling fast initially lasted 30 days, and was eventually extended for ten months.  Over 250 people around the world participated in WAT’s rolling fast, with a total of 31,272 hours fasted.

In January 2014, 155 men remained at Guantánamo.  WAT felt compelled to continue some form of fasting in solidarity with those who continued to hunger for justice at the prison, and so we re-initiated the Friday Fast for Justice.  There are over 50 people who currently participate.

We are committed to continuing the Friday Fast for Justice, and are asking people to consider joining.   As we enter the Christian season of Lent, we invite you to fast for one or more Fridays during Lent and beyond, until the prison at Guantánamo is closed.

Individuals who sign up are asked to fast—in any form they like—on Friday, to make phone calls, contribute a photo to the anti-Guantánamo social media campaign, and to write a letter to a prisoner at Guantánamo.  Those who sign up to fast will get more specific instructions via email.  You can sign up here  for the fast.

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

Dear Senator McCain,

I am the woman who spoke out in the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the status of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay on February 5th. I’m sure you heard my words, “Give them the rights of prisoners of war!” before I was arrested.

I attended the hearing in an orange jump suit to silently protest the very existence of Guantanamo prison, and I expected to hear a reasonably rational discussion of the pris-on and its future. I planned to listen respectfully, holding my sign reading “I died waiting for justice: Adnan Latif, Died September 8, 2012,” to remind the Senators and admin-istration officials that Adnan Latif either committed suicide or was killed at Guantanamo after ten years of torture and unjust detention, and six years after being cleared for re-lease. The Capitol police appropriately allowed me to peacefully express my opposition to Guantanamo in that public forum.

I was so shocked, however, by the vitriol of the senators who chose to attend the hear-ing that I felt I had to respond. I was appalled by their hateful statements — statements that contribute to a hostile climate that foments tragic hate crimes. Less than a week after the hearing three young Muslim Americans were murdered in North Carolina al-most certainly because they were Muslim.

Although Senator Graham talked about following the laws of war and the principles of the Geneva Conventions, his Senate colleagues made it clear that they care little about such things. Senator Cotton would have more Muslim men locked up as terrorists in Guantanamo without due process. He certainly wouldn’t want them tried in an open court where they could face their accusers and challenge the evidence used against them: “The only problem with Guantanamo Bay is that there are too many empty beds and cells…. We should be sending more terrorists there to keep this country safe. As far as I’m concerned, every last one of them can rot in hell. But as long as they don’t do that then they can rot in Guantanamo Bay.”

Senator Manchin thinks the detainees are not being treated harshly enough: “I’d like to see a few of them in the United States hardened prisons… to see if they’d change their attitude just a little bit. I know we could do a little different job on ‘em here than they’re doing over there.”

And when I exhorted the committee to at least give the men at Guantanamo the rights of prisoners of war, Sen. Manchin responded by saying, “I just want to say — their attack on this country — they lost their rights.” Think about that: a U.S. Senator doesn’t think that human beings in U.S. custody should have rights. Not one Senator spoke up in disagreement.

I wonder if Sen. Manchin shares the attitude of former vice president Dick Cheney who, when asked for comment on the torture practices revealed by the Senate Intelligence Committee report of early December, replied: “I’d do it again in a minute.” Indeed, it sounded to me as though several of your colleagues are of Cheney’s mindset.

I must ask, what about you, Sen. McCain? And, if not, why have you not publicly dis-tanced yourself from Cheney’s remarks and those of your Senate colleagues?

I remember admiring your doing what you could to rebuff Cheney and then CIA Director Porter Goss, when they descended on your office to plead for a CIA exemption from the amendment you were pushing banning torture.

As a captive in North Vietnam, you had first-hand experience with torture. Given that, and recalling your principled opposition to torture a decade ago, it is painful for me to watch you sit placidly as some of your colleagues indulge in hateful demagoguery. I trust that you are particularly aware of the importance of upholding the rights and dignity of all prisoners, including those held in U.S. custody.

As ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, you took active part in the Senate Armed Forces Committee Inquiry Into the Treatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody. The “First Conclusion” of the report released on December 11, 2008 stated that a Presidential Order signed by President George W. Bush “opened the door to con-sidering aggressive techniques.”

The report noted specifically that on Feb. 7, 2002, the President issued a written deter-mination that the Geneva Convention protections for POWs did not apply to al-Qaeda or Taliban detainees, and that following that determination, techniques like waterboarding were authorized for use in interrogation. It would take more than four years for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule, in June 2006, that the prisoners’ right to habeas corpus rights was being violated by the Military Commissions Act.

This year marks the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta with which courageous Eng-lish nobles wrested from King John the writ of habeas corpus and other rights. I am embarrassed for my country that President Bush suspended that fundamental right for so many years, and “opened the door” for torture. Worse still, torture continues at Guantanamo, and you and others in high office have the power to stop it.

Guantanamo detainees were subjected to torture techniques masked as “enhanced in-terrogation” (waterboarding, multiple forms of sensory deprivation, sensory overload and sexual humiliation — the list goes on and on). And you and your Senate colleagues should remember that they are still being subjected to torture (e.g., long-term solitary confinement, brutal forced-feeding procedures, forcible cell extractions) as well as out-rages upon their personal dignity (e.g., genital searches and cavity searches before and after meeting with their lawyers).

Senator McCain, I imagine you may regret calling “lowlife scum” those of us who, at Congressional hearings, speak out against consigning the Magna Carta, the Constitu-tion, and the rule of law to the dustbin of history. With all due respect, it is “lowlife” for public officials to pander to the worst of human instincts – revenge, racism, and scape-goating – no matter how many votes such appeals might garner. It does you no credit to preside – and sit by nonchalantly – at the shameful hearing on February 5 at which I am proud to have been arrested.

You need to use your chairmanship to restore respect for the rule of law, and lift the United States out of the category of rogue state. In the name of common decency, I urge you, as Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, to insist that the U.S. begin according the Guantanamo prisoners in U.S. custody their lawful human rights.

Yours truly,

Helen Schietinger
Washington, DC

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.

Participants in our eight day fast started each day with a time of reflection. This year, asked to briefly describe who or what we had left behind and yet might still carry in our thoughts that morning, I said that I’d left behind an imagined WWI soldier, Leonce Boudreau.

I was thinking of Nicole de’Entremont’s story of World War I, A Generation of Leaves, which I had just finished reading.  Initial chapters focus on a Canadian family of Acadian descent. Their beloved oldest son, Leonce, enlists with Canada’s military because he wants to experience life beyond the confines of a small town and he feels stirred by a call to defend innocent European people from advancing “Hun” warriors. He soon finds himself mired in the horrid slaughter of trench warfare near Ypres, Belgium.

I often thought of Leonce during the week of fasting with WAT campaign members.  We focused, each day, on the experiences and writing of a Yemeni prisoner in Guantanamo, Fahd Ghazy who, like Leonce, left his family and village to train as a fighter for what he believed to be a noble cause.  He wanted to defend his family, faith and culture from hostile forces.  Pakistani forces captured Fahed and turned him over to U.S. forces after he had spent two weeks in a military training camp in Afghanistan.  At the time he was 17, a juvenile.  He was cleared for release from Guantanamo in 2007.

Leonce’s family never saw him again.  Fahd’s family has been told, twice, that he is cleared for release and could soon reunite with his wife, daughter, brothers and parents.  Being cleared for release means that U.S. authorities have decided that Fahd poses no threat to the security of people in the U.S. Still he languishes in Guantanamo where he has been held for 13 years.

Fahd writes that there is no guilt or innocence at Guantanamo.  But he asserts that everyone, even the guards, knows the difference between right and wrong. It is illegal to hold him and 54 other prisoners, without charge, after they have been cleared for release.

Fahd is one of 122 prisoners held in Guantanamo.

Bitter cold had gripped Washington D.C. during most days of our fast and public witness.  Clad in multiple layers of clothing, we clambered into orange jumpsuits, pulled black hoods over our heads, our “uniforms,” and walked in single file lines, hands held behind our backs.

Inside Union Station’s enormous Main Hall, we lined up on either side of a rolled up banner.  As readers shouted out excerpts from one of Fahd’s letters that tell how he longs for reunion with his family, we unfurled a beautiful portrait of his face. “Now that you know,” Fahd writes, “you cannot turn away.”

U.S. people have a lot of help in turning away.  Politicians and much of the U.S. mainstream media manufacture and peddle distorted views of security to the U.S. public, encouraging people to eradicate threats to their security and to exalt and glorify uniformed soldiers or police officers who have been trained to kill or imprison anyone perceived to threaten the well-being of U.S. people.

Often, people who’ve enlisted to wear U.S. military or police uniforms bear much in common with Leonce and Fahd.  They are young, hard pressed to earn an income, and eager for adventure.

There’s no reason to automatically exalt uniformed fighters as heroes.

But a humane society will surely seek understanding and care for any person who survives the killing fields of a war zone.  Likewise, people in the U.S. should be encouraged to see every detainee in Guantanamo as a human person, someone to be called by name and not by a prison number.

The cartoonized versions of foreign policy handed to U.S. people, designating heroes and villains, create a dangerously under-educated public unable to engage in democratic decision-making.

Nicole d’Entremont writes of battered soldiers, soldiers who know they’ve been discarded in an endless, pointless war, longing to be rid of their uniforms.  The overcoats were heavy, sodden, and often too bulky for struggling through areas entangled with barbed wire.  Boots leaked and the soldiers’ feet were always wet, muddy, and sore. Miserably clothed, miserably fed, and horribly trapped in a murderous, insane war, soldiers longed to escape.

When putting on Fahd’s uniform, each day of our fast, I could imagine how intensely he longs to be rid of his prison garb.Thinking of his writings, and recalling d’Entremont’s stories drawn from “the war to end all wars,” I can imagine that there are many thousands of people trapped in the uniforms issued by war makers who deeply understand Dr. Martin Luther King’s call for revolution:

“A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war, ‘This way of settling differences is not just.’ This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love.”

This article first appeared on Telesur.   

Kathy Kelly (Kathy@vcnv.org) co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence (www.vcnv.org). On January 23^rd, she will begin serving a 3 month sentence in federal prison for attempting to deliver a loaf of bread and a letter about drone warfare to the commander of a U.S. Air Force base.