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Peace Activists Advocate Closing Detention Center
Peace activists advocate closing detention center
By Jennifer MacGregor, News Writer
Brown and White, Lehigh University Student Newspaper
3/1/2007
After years of the believed abuse and torture of prisoners at the Guantánamo Bay detention center in Cuba, members of the nonviolent activist group, Witness Against Torture, demanded the release of the prisoners Monday in Maginnes Hall.
Members from Witness Against Torture visited Cuba and aim to spread awareness of the abuse and torture of prisoners.
Those detained at Guantánamo have never been charged of any crimes, said Frida Berrigan, a member of the group and a researcher at the World Policy Institute in New York.
Witness Against Torture started with 25 friends, all concerned about prisoner abuse, said Amanda Daloisio, who visited Cuba with Berrigan in December 2005.
This past January marked the five-year anniversary of the arrival of the first men arrested after the war on terror began, Berrigan said. Prisoners have been denied visits from family members and left in horrible conditions, Berrigan said. She said these men deserve a day in court for a trial if there is any evidence against them. If no evidence exists, she said, they should be released.
The 25 group members marched 70 miles from Santiago to Guantánamo while carrying their belongings and camping on the land of poor Cuban farmers, Daloisio said. The group also held a four-day vigil at the fence that delineates the separation between the military and civilian area.
If given the opportunity to speak to the prisoners, Daloisio said she would apologize to them and say she was ashamed of the United States’ policies.
Two months after the vigil, in February 2006, the United Nations released a report urging closure of the Guantánamo facility and the release of the prisoners.
The group has also staged a protest at the Federal Court in Washington, D.C., where they were arrested.
Daloisio said although 140 of the 700 prisoners have been released, a new prison has just been built at Guantánamo.