For the last three years, Witness Against Torture has presented short runs of posters featuring quotes from former and current Guantánamo detainees. This week, we are releasing five new posters designed by WAT member Justin Norman. These artistic renderings of the plight of the detainees will hopefully engage people in a new way. We hope you like them. Furthermore, you can purchase printed images of these posters on our website. These purchases help in raising funds for our efforts to shut down the detention center that continues to hold them. Click here to check out the new posters, which are all available on our website store.

Got Five Minutes? We need your help sharing these provocative images on Social Media.

On social media people are most likely to share a photo or a meme rather than an article – this is the most effective way to get the men’s message into the social media world. In the past, these posters have been highly effective. The “Imagine” poster has been shared over a thousand times on Facebook, and another,  the “Begg” poster, which has been used by a former detainee as his profile image. Everyday of this week, we will be posting a new design on our Facebook page. You can help us extend our reach by visiting our Page and clicking “Share.” You can also post them to your own wall or a friend’s wall . This will take about five minutes, and will draw attention to the men that continue to be indefinitely detained without charge or trial.

SAVE THE DATE: January 5th-13th, 2015

Every January, the Witness Against Torture community gathers to fast and take action in Washington D.C. to remember the opening of the prison camp in Guantanamo.  This January 11th, 2015 marks 13 years of torture and indefinite detention.  We will be gathering from January 5th – 13th, 2015 to fast for justice and engage in a week of actions together. Join us as we stand in solidarity with those who remain unjustly detained. Save the date and stay tuned for more information. If you have any questions please email WitnessTorture@gmail.com

Witness Against Torture’s Friday Fast for Justice: 

Join in solidarity with the men on hunger strike in Guantanamo by fasting on Fridays. We invite you to consider joining the Friday Fast for Justice. Go without food in solidarity with the hunger strikers in Guantánamo.  If you are already participating in or are interested in participating please sign up here. You can commit to fasting on a specific Friday; weekly for a particular time period; until Guantánamo is closed; or whatever you are willing and able to do.

If you join the fast, we would ask you to:

1. Fast on Friday, in any form you like;

2. Make three phone calls (click here to see who we are currently focusing our calls on)

3. Write to a prisoner at Guantánamo. (click here for instructions on how)

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Witness Against Torture on Social Media:

Please “like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/witnesstorture & Follow Us on Twitter & Instagram: https://twitter.com/witnesstorture –http://instagram.com/witnesstorture#

Post any pictures of your local activities to  http://www.flickr.com/groups/witnesstorture/, and we will help spread the word on http://witnesstorture.tumblr.com/

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DONATE TO SUPPORT OUR WORK

Witness Against Torture is completely volunteer driven and run.  We have no paid staff, but do have expenses associated with our organizing work.  If you are able, please donate here. www.witnesstorture.org

*To unsubscribe, email witnesstorture@gmail.com with ‘remove’ in the subject line. 

Dear Friends, Last week, members of Witness Against Torture gathered in Washington, D.C. for the International Day in Support of Survivors of Torture. Our group of about fifteen attended a panel organized by National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) on Thursday on U.S. sanctioned torture, engaged in nonviolent direct action at Senator Ayotte and McCain’s offices, and participated in an all-day vigil with Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition(TASSC). On Sunday, we retreated to the Peace Oasis to put in motion a framework for January 11, 2015.

During our opening session on Thursday, we found our energy drawn to the Cotton amendment that passed in the House of Representatives and similar efforts to keep Guantanamo open by Kelly Ayotte in the Senate. These bills would make transfers from Guantanamo virtually impossible and continue to senselessly criminalize the men detained without charge at the prison. Furthermore, we decried McCain’s tweet about shipping the newest Benghazi Attack suspect to Guantanamo. Jeremy V. wrote a letter to each senator expressing our concerns.

On Friday morning, we took these letters to the Senate Russell Building, wearing our orange jumpsuits and joined by some new friends from Australia and Philadelphia, to visit the offices of Senators Ayotte and McCain. Our striking procession made its way to the second floor offices. Those of us in jumpsuits flanked each side of Senator Ayotte’s office doorway with our black hoods on while Jeremy and Chris K. entered the room to speak with an aide there. The interaction was courteous and we then processed to McCain’s office, where we repeated our tableau and added two banners: “Not One Step Back, Close Guantanamo” and “Release Those Unjustly Bound”. They received us dismissively and we proceeded to read our statement aloud in front of his office.

Jeremy spoke eloquently as to our presence in the hallway and Jerica A. led us in an invigorating version of the Civil Rights Movement Song “Keep your Eyes on the Prize.” Jeremy created a new verse for the occasion: “No Senate bill can break our will. We won’t be turned around!” When we started processing towards our exit, a police officer told us our singing was disrupting “important work” so we decided to hum the rest of the way out.

We then headed to the White House for the Friday vigil that the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker holds weekly. Despite the heat, we spoke to the passersby of the injustices of forced-feeding and indefinite detention and shared the stories of Adnan Latif and Yemeni Guantanamo hunger striker Emad Hassan.

Many listened, took flyers and asked us questions. In the end, we decided that we were not naïve to think our letters would turn the tide, but we felt it was important to put forward an appeal to these Senators. The men in Guantanamo do not have the opportunity to walk these hallways and plead their case in person. We will continue to amplify their voices on the hill and in public spaces until they are released and Guantanamo is shut down.

We invite you to view and share the pictures and video we took of our action together, as well as the letters we wrote to Senators McCain and Ayotte. Please call and write Senator Ayotte and Senator McCain and to your representatives about these issues. We must continue to voice our dissent and ask for the men’s release. They have suffered and must be released now.

Extended video:

SAVE THE DATE– January 5– 13, 2015

Witness Against Torture Fast for Justice and Week of Actions in Washington, DC. Details to be announced this Fall. FRIDAY FAST FOR JUSTICE: We invite you to join us in taking action and fasting on Fridays. For more information, visit witnesstorture.org or email witnesstorture@gmail.com

Washington, D.C. – Weeks past President Obama’s speech announcing his renewed intention to close Guantanamo, human rights activists — including three US military veterans on open-ended fasts in solidarity with hunger striking Guantanamo detainees — will stage dramatic protests on Wednesday, June 26th at the White House calling on the President to turn his promise into action.

140 days into the hunger strike at Guantánamo, members of Witness Against Torture and other groups will lay 86 black cloths, each with the name of a Guantánamo prisoner cleared for transfer, on the sidewalk of the White House to dramatize the demand that the President begin transferring men from the prison facility.

In response to the hunger strike of Guantánamo detainees, several US citizens have for weeks been on open-ended fasts, suffering the health effects of sustained hunger. They hope with their immense sacrifice to draw attention to the plight of the Guantánamo detainees and force the President to act.

“What is happening in Guantánamo is despicable,” says Elliott Adams, a former paratrooper in Vietnam on hunger strike since May 17. “The continued detention of innocent men is a violation of our moral and religious principles, domestic and international law. It goes against the values I thought the American flag stood for when I was a young man in the Army. I just can’t sit and enjoy my life when my country is doing such terrible things.”

Diane Wilson, a former Army medic and fourth-generation shrimp boat captain from Texas who has lost 50 pounds in over 56 days, says, “I know who this American fisherwoman is and where I stand. I stand in solidarity with the Guantánamo prisoners and I will fast indefinitely until justice for them comes.”

Veterans For Peace national board member Tarak Kauff, on hunger strike since June 8, says, “It is up to human beings of conscience to take the risks, step out of our comfort zones and do our utmost to end the nightmare of Guantánamo. If we do not act now, our children and their children will reap the bitter results of our cowardice: an America without basic rights and a world without justice.”

The US hunger strikers amplify the “rolling fast,” organized by Witness Against Torture, in which hundreds of United States citizens have fasted in support of the hunger strikers at Guantánamo.

“It should not take people denying themselves food, whether in Guantánamo or in the US, to have President Obama stand up for the Constitution and human rights,” says Matt Daloisio, organizer with Witness Against Torture. “The renewed promise to close Guantánamo is important, but without immediate steps to release people, it is only another promise.”

What: Protest to Close Guantánamo on the UN International Day for Survivors of Torture
Who: US hunger strikers, Witness Against Torture, and other activists.
Where: The White House
When: Wednesday, June 26; Rally and speeches at the White House at noon.

Information on the protest and profiles of the hunger strikers are available at www.closegitmo.net

Wednesday, March 20th, 6:30 pm – Vigil for the Guantanamo Detainees – on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq war this week, we will gather at The White House to pray, remember and speak for our Muslim brothers in Guantanamo, many of whom have been cleared for release but have still not been released due to restrictions our government has subsequently placed on where they can be released and under what conditions. A number of them, having little hope left, are currently undertaking a hunger strike at Guantanamo. (see news articles below)

We will meet in front of the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Please join us if you can.
Sponsored by Witness Against Torture.

Contact: Malachy Kilbride via email or phone: 571-501-3729

Statement from the Center for Constitutional Rights

Guantanamo Hunger Strike “Potentially Life-Threatening,” Attorneys Allege in Letter to Prison Officials

Gitmo Hunger Strike: ‘Prisoners put their lives on the line in a medieval torture chamber’

Starting in 2011, Iowan members of Witness Against Torture began organizing benefit concerts for TASSC. You can enjoy highlights from the concerts below, and help us spread the concerts’ reach by sharing the links with your friends. The most recent footage is from January, 2013.
Continue reading Video: WAT Benefit Concerts Now Online