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Jan 11: International Day to Shut Down Guantanamo


January 11 is the International Day to Shut Down Guantanamo. There will be protests all over the world, including England, Australia and Holland. In the US major protests will take place in Washington DC and New York City, plus dozens of cities throughout the country, including outside the US Southern Command in Miami.

The biggest may be this:

On January 9-13, a first-ever international delegation of former prisoners, families of current prisoners, US lawyers and human rights activists will travel to Guantanamo, Cuba to hold a conference on prison abuses and march to the Cuban-side security gate of the US Naval Base to call for the closure of the illegal prison. The protest in Cuba is part of the January 11 International Day to Shut Down Guantanamo, the day that marks the 5-year anniversary of the first prisoners being sent to Guantanamo.

“I am traveling all the way from Dubai because by heart is overflowing with grief over the abuse and ongoing detention of my son,” says Zohra Zewawi, whose son has been tortured and blinded in one eye during his detention, and has never been charged or tried. Her son was imprisoned in September 2002 and is still a prisoner in Guantanamo. Asif Iqbal, a former detainee who was freed on no charges after years of abuse, is coming to show his support for the basic rights of detainees.

“All prisoners deserve humane treatment and fair trials, which is not happening in Guatanamo,” says retired US Army Colonel and delegate Ann Wright. “US federal courts, not military commissions, should hear the cases against those charged with terrorist acts and the infamous prison in Guantanamo should be immediately shut down.”

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