Protesters in US demand release of remaining Guantanamo prisoners

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - A group of human rights organizations organized joint protest vigils Wednesday in several states across the US calling for the release of detainees at the American military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba who are eligible for transfer.

The protests were held in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Cobleskill, New York and New York City, urging the US government to release 17 men (out of 31) still being held at the prison who were cleared for release and never charged with a crime.

It was jointly organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Amnesty International, the UK Guantanamo Network, Close Guantánamo, Witness Against Torture and the World Can’t Wait in addition to Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace, I’m Guantánamo, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, NYC Veterans For Peace and Schoharie Peacemakers.

The campaign, named “Close Guantanamo,” plans to host coordinated vigils on the first Wednesday of every month moving forward, as they “hope to raise awareness of these 17 men being held in Guantanamo,” CAIR said in a statement.

“Although these men have been unanimously approved for release by high-level government review processes, they continue to be held because these processes were purely administrative and have no legal weight,” CAIR added.

Attending the protest in Washington, D.C., Helen Schietinger from the Witness Against Torture said they want Guantanamo to be closed.

“We want justice for the men who are still there. We want them released. We want reparations for the decades of life that the men have lost because they've been locked up,” she said.

“And we will continue to speak out because we feel that our government has been very unjust and we do not want our government to ever torture any human being again in our name.”

Asked if she believes Guantanamo will be closed, she said: “I don't know that this government will ever close Guantanamo, because it was opened on the basis of unfairness.”

“I hope, but I don't think that the government will close it. This Congress, the Congress here has made it impossible,” she added.

The Guantanamo Bay prison was established 21 years ago in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in a place which the US leased from Cuba for the navy in 1903.

Since then, the detention camp, also known as “Gitmo,” has held roughly 780 detainees, most of them without charge or trial, with many said to have gone through unspeakable horrors.

In all, 31 prisoners remain at Guantanamo Bay, including 17 who are eligible for transfer, according to the Defense Department.

An additional three are eligible for a hearing before a governmental board, while nine are in military court proceedings. The remaining two had previously been convicted in a military court.