Gitmo prisoners in their cells

by Elizabeth Field

Thursday, January 11 marks the five year anniversary of the first twenty prisoners in the War on Terror to be brought to the U.S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Since that day, over 1,000 people have been imprisoned without being charged for a crime, let alone tried or convicted. Many have been released due to lack of evidence against them, but 430 prisoners remain.

Human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch have condemned the treatment of the prisoners. In addition to unjust detention, there have been reports of abuse, torture, and beatings. Many prisoners have resorted to starving themselves in protest of their mistreatment. Three men committed suicide on June 10, 2006. Some of those incarcerated have been as young as fourteen years of age.

To protest the unjust detainment, several hundred people will converge at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington DC on the morning of January 11. After a press conference in which human rights lawyers will speak to the press, the protestors will march from the Supreme Court to the Federal Courthouse. Several people from Ithaca Catholic Worker will join the protest, including Danny Burns, Dan and Linda Finlay, Grace Ritter, and Clare Grady. 

"We're going to bring fifty orange jumpsuits and black hoods," explains Burns. They'll dress as Guantánamo prisoners, take on the names of actual prisoners, march into the federal courthouse and demand to have their day in court.

"The purpose of the march is to bring the names of all prisoners into a courthouse for the first time," Burns says.

Burns does not plan on going into the courthouse, but taking a "low level action" on the front steps. He adds that protestors will not disrupt any court proceedings because that would be very unfair to the people in court. Protestors will enter the Federal Courthouse to read the names of the prisoners and ask for justice.

President Bush and the last Congress managed to sidestep the Geneva Conventions and International Law by creating a new category of "enemy combatant" in the war on terror. Last October, President Bush suspended habeas corpus for those accused of enemy combatant status in signing the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

The march this Thursday is endorsed by the Center for Constitional Rights, CodePink, Network of Spiritual Progressives, Pax Christi USA, School of Americas Watch, United for Peace and Justice and other groups. They will be calling upon the United States to:

• Repeal the Military Commissions Act and restore Habeas Corpus.
• Charge and try or release all detainees.
• Withhold funds for the proposed $125 million construction of new military courts at Guantánamo.
• Clearly and unequivocally forbid torture and all other forms of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, by the military, the CIA, prison guards, civilian contractors, or anyone else.
• Pay reparations to current and former detainees and their families for violations of their human rights.
• Shut down Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib, Bagram and all other U.S. prisons overseas, including secret CIA detention facilities.

More information can be found at: http://www.witnesstorture.org.