Today Human Rights Activists Confront John Yoo--Torture-Memo Author-- at Book Signing

Press Advisory: For Immediate Release

January 15, 2010

Contact: Joshua Brollier, cell: 931-436-3616, joshua@vcnv.org
Helen Schietinger, cell: 202-344-5762, h.schietinger@verizon.net

Human Rights Activists to Confront Torture-Memo Author John Yoo at Book Signing
Washington, DC — Thirty-five to forty human rights activists from Witness Against Torture will protest the appearance of Bush administration Department of Justice attorney John Yoo at the Federalist Society at 11:30 on Friday, January 15.

11:30pm-1:30pm
Demonstration outside Federalist Society Luncheon and Book Signing with John Yoo
Tony Cheng's Restaurant, 619 H Street, N.W. Washington, DC

Author of the notorious “torture memo,” Mr. Yoo helped authorize the use of torture against men detained by the US in Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and other “war on terror” prisons. Outside the Federalist Society demonstrators dressed in “detainee outfits” (orange jumpsuits and black hoods) will hold placards calling attention to Yoo’s complicity in criminal policies and acts.

“It is both tragic and infuriating that one of the chief architects of U.S. torture is given a forum to peddle his corrupt ideas, whose effect was the gross violations of U.S. law and basic human rights,” says Matt Daloisio of Witness Against Torture. “To our dismay, President Obama has chosen not to hold Mr. Yoo and the other architects of Bush’s torture policies accountable in courts of law. So we must condemn Mr. Yoo in the court of public opinion, remind him and others of his crimes, and work to discredit his bankrupt legal philosophy.”

Witness Against Torture is a grassroots movement that came into being in December 2005 when 24 activists walked to Guantanamo to visit the prisoners and condemn torture policies. Since then, it has engaged in public education, community outreach, and non-violent direct action. It is currently leading more than 150 people around the country in a 12-day “Vigil and Fast for Justice,” and holding daily actions in Washington, DC opposing torture and calling for Guantanamo’s closure.

To learn more visit www.witnesstorture.org

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