Witness Against Torture - clipping

Lessons from Protesting Guantánamo

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:56:03 -0500

by Bryan Farrell

It was nearly three in the morning, on a recent Saturday, when the door of a Washington DC jail cell slammed closed with me inside. After an already grueling day in police custody that began at 1:30pm and included being handcuffed for eight hours straight at one point, the ability to move freely (albeit in a 5x7 cell) was a welcomed relief.

Tom Ridge: Waterboarding Is Torture

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 12:33:44 -0500

By EILEEN SULLIVAN – January 18, 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) — The first secretary of the Homeland Security Department says waterboarding is torture.

"There's just no doubt in my mind — under any set of rules — waterboarding is torture," Tom Ridge said Friday in an interview with the Associated Press. Ridge had offered the same opinion earlier in the day to members of the American Bar Association at a homeland security conference.

A Report & Reflection from U.S. Embassy, London

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:45:07 -0500

J11 Vigil in Solidarity with NVDA to Shutdown Guantanamo"
by Ciaron O'Reilly

The London Catholic Worker marked the 6th. anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo with a vigil at the U.S. embassy, located near Grosvenor Square in central London.

Democracy Now!: Exclusive: Brother of Jailed Cameraman Sami Al-Haj

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:12:39 -0500

EXCLUSIVE...Brother of Jailed Cameraman Sami Al-Haj Says Continued Gitmo Imprisonment Part of U.S. "Political Operation Against Al Jazeera"

In an exclusive interview, we speak with Asim Al-Haj, the brother of jailed Al Jazeera cameraman, Sami Al-Haj. Sami has been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay without charge for nearly six years. Speaking from Khartoum, Sudan, Asim says, ³Sami Al-Haj is a victim of a political operation against Al Jazeera, which Washington does not approve of.

Protests mark Guantanamo prison's sixth anniversary

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:30:57 -0500

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Protesters in prisoner-style orange boiler suits staged demonstrations around the world Friday to mark six years since the US prison camp opened at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

From London to Sydney, activists mobilized by human rights organization Amnesty International and others called for the camp to be shut, six years to the day since it received its first prisoners seized in the "war on terror."

81 arrests at Supreme Court In Guantanamo Protest, Global day of protest calls for camp closure

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:14:33 -0500

81 protesters arrested at Supreme Court
- The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Eighty-one people were arrested at the Supreme Court Friday in a protest calling for the shutdown of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Defying U.S. Plan, Prison Expands in Afghanistan

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 08:27:34 -0500

By TIM GOLDEN, New York Times, January 7, 2008

WASHINGTON — As the Bush administration struggles for a way to close the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, a similar effort to scale down a larger and more secretive American detention center in Afghanistan has been troubled by political, legal and security problems, officials say.

Navy JAG Resigns Over Torture Issue

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 19:20:57 -0500

"It was with sadness that I signed my name this grey morning to a letter resigning my commission in the U.S. Navy," wrote Gig Harbor, Wash., resident and attorney-at-law Andrew Williams in a letter to The Peninsula Gateway last week. "There was a time when I served with pride ... Sadly, no more."

Guantánamo: No Closure Yet

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 10:28:52 -0500

Friday, December 21, 2007 by The Guardian/UK

Guantánamo: No Closure Yet

As long as the US continues to deny legal redress to Guantánamo inmates, we cannot celebrate the release of a few prisoners

Justices Hear Arguments in Guantánamo Cases

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 15:49:15 -0500

Members of Witness Against Torture hold vigil outside the Supreme Court while Justices hear arguments for the cases for six detainees held at Guantanamo.

ASSOCIATED PRESS: Torture Issue Remains After Schumer Vote

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:47:14 -0500

AP article on Schumer vote quotes Matt Daloisio, comments on 11/5 demonstration in front of Schumer's office.

November 5, 2007
Torture Issue Remains After Schumer Vote
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Video from Witness Against Torture Whitehouse Action

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 17:43:20 -0400

April 19th march through Washington to the White House chained to the the fence. Video by Danny Burns.

Peace Activists Advocate Closing Detention Center

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 12:42:47 -0500

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.

Protests Worldwide Mark the 5-year Anniversary of Guantanamo

Sat, 13 Jan 2007 09:03:58 -0500

by Carol Rosenberg and Lesley Clark

From anti-Iraq war mom Cindy Sheehan in Cuba to protesters in a Washington, D.C., courthouse, demonstrators fanned out across the globe Thursday to protest America's five-year-old experiment in offshore incarceration at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Murtha will press for closure of Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 17:43:10 -0500

By Renee Schoof and Margaret Talev
McClatchy Newspapers
(MCT)

WASHINGTON - The House of Representatives' top lawmaker in charge of defense spending said Friday that he intends to force the closure of the scandal-plagued Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay military prisons and curb U.S. engagement in Iraq, and that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "absolutely" supports his efforts.