Despite ten years of occupation and untold millions of dollars spent on rebuilding Afghanistan’s broken judicial and criminal justice system, the Afghan courts are “still too weak,” the Washington Post reported on August 12, for the United States to relinquish its control over the Parwan Detention Center on Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. On September 21, the same paper reported that the U.S. military is seeking contractors to significantly increase the capacity of the prison there. more...
guantanamo
Guantánamo, Exception or Rule?
When I was down in Guantánamo a few months ago, a veteran German journalist let it slip that she didn’t much care for the place. “This,” she confided in me, and many of the other journalists there as well, “is the worst place I have ever visited in my entire career.” more...
Twenty-Four Anti-Torture Activists Acquitted in Trial for Protest at the US Capitol Calling for Guantanamo's Closure and the Investigation of Deaths at the Prison
WASHINGTON, D.C. - On Monday, June 14, twenty-four activists with Witness Against Torture were acquitted in Washington, D.C. Superior Court of charges of "unlawful entry with disorderly conduct." The charges stemmed from demonstrations at the US Capitol on January 21,2010 - the date by which President Obama had promised the closure of the Guantanamo detention camp. more...
Acquittal: no convictions in Jan 21 civil disobedience case
Saying that "In my opinion, the defendants were not properly charged in this case," D.C. Superior Court Judge Russell Canan today acquitted 24 activists of unlawful assembly in connection with civil disobedience this past January 21 at the U.S. Capitol. more...
Does Obama Really Know or Care About Who Is at Guantánamo? [Truthout]
The Guantánamo Review Task Force's Final Report is not a complete disaster, but its misinterpretations and omissions are deeply troubling and indicate that closing Guantánamo remains considerably more difficult that it needs to be - or than it should have been. more...
Broken Promises, Broken Laws, Broken Lives
Twenty-Seven to Go on Trial for Protesting the Obama Administration’s Failure to Close Guantanamo, Plan for Indefinite Detention, and Refusal to Prosecute Torture more...
Remembering Suicides in the Rotunda [by Jerica Arents]
In the absence of an intact corpse, families often gather for memorial services rather than funerals. The families of Salah Ahmed Al-Salami, Mani Shaman Al-Utaybi, and Yasser Talal Al-Zahrani – three Guantánamo prisoners whose earlier purported suicides were declared “asymmetrical warfare” by the military officials at Guantanamo – received Salah’s, Mani’s and Yasser’s broken and lifeless bodies. more...
Inside the Capitol Rotunda (Jan 21)
Fourteen Witness Against Torture activists entered the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol while dozens more were gathered outside. The Rotunda is site where U.S. presidents are waked, before burial. The U.S. government calls it the "Temple of Liberty" and the "Stage of the Nation." The activists formed a semicircle around the white circle in the Rotunda which designates the spot from which a new president departs for his inauguration and to which a president's body is returned after he dies. more...
Day 11: Fast and Vigil for Justice
Today was a busy one. As I sit to write this brief update, forty-two friends are in DC jail after simultaneous actions inside and outside the US Capitol. Rather than re-count the actions here, we encourage you too look through our site for photos, videos and other reports. Please forward links around, post them on facebook, e-mail them to friends and family, not to highlight what we have done, but to draw attention to the continuing crime of Guantanamo. more...
42 Arrested at U.S. Capitol in Day of Action to Denounce Obama’s Broken Promises on Guantanamo
Washington, DC - In a dramatic protest, 42 activists with Witness Against Torture were arrested this afternoon at the U.S. Capitol. Most of the arrestees had been fasting since January 11th.
The protest, which comes on the eve of the since-voided deadline President Obama had set for closing the prison camp at Guantanamo, was part of nationwide set of actions today that included dozens of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans lobbying Congress; a campaign by human rights organizations - with the support of the rock superband, Coldplay - to flood Twitter with the "CloseGitmo" message; and, a press conference held by retired Generals at the National Press Club. more...