Sunday 2pm-4m Vigil "Shut Down Guantanamo" U.S. Embassy

by Force Feeding at Gitmo Fri Jan 09, 2009 17:46

Military force-feeding 10 percent of Guantanamo detainees
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Military_forcefeeding_10_....html

Ten percent of captives at the US Guantanamo Bay prison -- many of whom have never been charged of a crime -- are having their heads velcroed to chairs and forced to take in nutritional supplements by a tube forcibly inserted through their noses by US guards.

Twenty-five captives who've starved themselves for weeks are being fed through tubes in their noses, the US military admitted Thursday. Thirty detainees are currently on a hunger strike.

A lawyer for 17 Yemeni men told a Miami Herald reporter Thursday that the hunger strike was partly in response to the US decision to release Osama Bin Laden's driver Salim Hamdan in November. Hamdan was charged with supporting terrorism and was held just shy of his 66-month sentence; many of those on the hunger strike have never been charged with a crime.

''They've actually gone ballistic at the fact that Hamdan, who was convicted of supporting terrorism, was released and they, who have been charged with nothing, continue to languish there,'' Washington lawyer David Remes told Herald reporter Carol Rosenberg.

The Pentagon considers hunger strikers as detainees who've refused nine meals in a row. Detainees are force fed after fasting for 21 days or weight less than 85 percent of their weight upon arrival at the camp.

"The forced-feeding regime has guards and medical staff strap a captive into a chair, Velcro his head to a metal restraint, then tether a tube into the man's stomach through his nose to pump in liquid nourishment twice a day," Rosenberg writes.

"A military commission this summer convicted Hamdan, 40, of supporting terror for working as bin Laden's $200-a-month driver in Afghanistan until his capture in November 2001," she added.

by update Fri Jan 09, 2009 06:12

1) Marking the seventh anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo, volunteers will wear orange jumpsuits and pose in some of the ‘stress positions’ used to torture detainees, and members of the public will have the opportunity to sign petitions calling on Taoiseach Brian Cowen to help end renditions and close Guantánamo Bay. Organised by Amnesty International, this event will take place at the Daniel O’Connell statue, O’Connell Street, Dublin at 12:00pm on Sunday 11th January 2009, For facts and figures, analysis and stories related to the US prison in Guantánamo Bay, check out the online media resource centre at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/resources/counter-t...stice For further information please contact: Justin Moran, Communications Co-ordinator, Amnesty International, ph 01 863 8300, 085 814 8986, www.amnesty.ie

2) Sunday January 11th 2pm - 4pm, for the 7th Anniversary of Guantanamo Torture Chamber,
a vigil will take place outside U.S. Embassy, Dublin (42 Elgin Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4) to "Shut Down Guantanamo, End Torture, Renditions/Kidnapping". More info on Dublin vigil Ph. Ciaron 087 918 4552. Check this link out for background, resources and ideas to Shut Down Guantanamo;
http://www.100dayscampaign.org/

by Frida Berrigan Thu Jan 08, 2009 18:30 Washington D.C. U.S.A.

ANTI-TORTURE ACTIVISTS TO FAST AND RALLY SUNDAY
TO CALL ON OBAMA TO CLOSE GUANTANAMO
AND BAN TORTURE IMMEDIATELY

WASHINGTON — On Sunday, January 11 — the seven-year anniversary of the
opening of the prison at Guantanamo — more than 200 human rights
advocates will join 60 people who are beginning a nine-day fast to
encourage President-Elect Barack Obama to keep his promise to shut
down Guantanamo and end torture in his first days of office.

At DuPont Circle Park at 12:45 pm, human rights organizations,
including Amnesty International, The Center for Constitutional Rights,
and September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, will call for
an end to the Bush policies, justice for the detainees, and
accountability for possible U.S. crimes. 150 demonstrators wearing
orange jumpsuits and hoods will have a prisoner procession to
dramatize the plight of the detainees still at Guantanamo.

"I am fasting," says Malachy Kilbride of the Washington Peace Center,
"to symbolically join the prisoners, who are starved for justice."
"Obama's statements," explains Matthew Daloisio of Witness Against
Torture, "bring hope that Guantanamo will close. But parts of the
military and the Congress are already working to prevent Obama's
plans."
"We need justice, not more politics of fear," adds Valerie
Lucznikowska of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.
"This is the promise Obama represents, and we will hold his
administration to it."

The fast will be broken on January 20, when anti-torture activists
will join the inauguration-day crowd. The event is part of Witness
Against Torture's 100 Days Campaign to Close Guantanamo and End
Torture. Participants include The National Religious Campaign Against
Torture, the Torture Abolition Survivors Support Coalition, and the
American Friends Service Committee.

Event: Fast and Rally Calling on Obama to Close Guantanamo and End Torture
Date and Time: Sunday, January 11; 12:45 pm
Location: DuPont Circle Park, Washington, D.C., NW

by CNR Wed Jan 07, 2009 02:59

100-day campaign will remind Obama of pledge to close Guantanamo

By Dennis Sadowski
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON – Closure of the military prison at the U.S. Army base at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will be getting renewed attention during a
100-day campaign designed to hold President-elect Barack Obama to his
campaign pledge to close the compound.

On Jan. 11, the seventh anniversary of its opening, organizers of the
100 Days Campaign will begin a series of events including public
witness, street theater, processions, lectures, prayer and fasting to
call attention to Obama's promise that he would close the
controversial prison. A Department of Defense spokesman said 250
detainees remain behind bars there.

"We want to support Obama in following through on his commitment,"
campaign organizer Frida Berrigan told Catholic News Service. "We
think he wants to do the right thing. He's going to need our support
and we want to keep it visible so it's not forgotten."
Story continued......

http://www.catholicreview.org/subpages/storyworldnew-ne...=5338

by Jan 11 '08 Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:48

U.S. Embassy Dublin
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/85765

Amnesty Around Ireland
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/85777

U.S. Embassy London
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/85774

90 arrested Federal Court, Washington D.C.
http://www.witnesstorture.org/node/571