17-19 May 2013: Global Weekend of Action on the Guantánamo Hunger Strike

Almost all of the remaining 166 prisoners at Guantánamo Bay have been on hunger strike since around 6 February. Held for over 11 years, more than half of the prisoners have been cleared for release and only 6 face charges. Of those 6, in the case of at least two prisoners, the evidence has clearly been obtained through torture, including waterboarding. They face no prospect of a fair trial. Ignored by the mainstream media, failed by the Red Cross who left Guantánamo Bay one day before the military used plastic bullets and force against starving, weakened men, and the governments of the states they are from, we call on all citizens of the world to take a stand for justice and join us, as the hunger strike enters its 100^th day on 17 May, in a global weekend of action.

 

In the words of the last prisoner to die at Guantánamo Bay, Adnan Latif:

They are artists of torture,

They are artists of pain and fatigue,

They are artists of insults and humiliation.

Where is the world to save us from torture?

Where is the world to save us from the fire and sadness?

Where is the world to save the hunger strikers?

We invite you wherever you are to join in a global day of fasting and protest action wherever you are. What does this involve?

Fasting action:

For this action, we suggest that people fast a minimum of from dawn to dusk, with or without liquids, or some may prefer longer fasts of 24 hours, at the discretion of the person fasting. If you choose a 24 hour fast, you may consider a sponsored action to raise more awareness.You can fast one, two or all three days.

- You can also donate your ''lunch money'' to charity, such as Reprieve, the Helen Bamber Foundation, or a homeless charity such as Shelter or St Mungo’s.

- Please let us know if you are pledging to fast as an individual or group and you can sign on the international pledge site here:  
http://codepink.salsalabs.com/o/424/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=7140  

Let the world know about your action:

Protest: As well as fasting, set up a protest in your town. Organise a demonstration with your friends and friends. Find a popular space in the centre of town – perhaps do this on Saturday 18 or Sunday 19 May – and hold up some placards to let people know about the hunger strike. The media is ignoring the issue but you can share your pictures/videos on http://www.facebook.com/events/148018998711758/ and Twitter with us @shutguantanamo Be the media, as we did to highlight awareness in London when the hunger strike entered its 3^rd month. Get in touch for more ideas/guidelines.
Share a link to your protest/action here: http://org.salsalabs.com/o/1170/p/salsa/event/common/public/create.sjs?distributed_event_KEY=718
Search for actions in your area here: http://org.salsalabs.com/o/1170/p/salsa/event/common/public/index.sjs?distributed_event_KEY=718

Spread the word: If you are a member of a faith community, ask your religious leader to mention it during a sermon on that weekend: Friday sermon for Muslims on 17 May, and ask Jewish and Christian faith leaders to the same on the Saturday and Sunday as well as other faith or secular groups.

If you are a teacher or a student, you could organise an assembly about the hunger strike at your school on 17 May.

If you are on Twitter, you can join in or follow the lead up to the action on the day by using the hashtags #GitmoHungerStrike and #May17 #May18 #May19.

Most importantly, please let us know what you are doing and/or planning! Be a part of this global citizen action.

 If you are in the UK and are planning an action, represent an organisation that would like to support this action or get involved (individual/organisation), please get in touch with us: london.gtmo@gmail.com

As part of this action, a demonstration will be held in London on Saturday 18 May at 3-6pm outside the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square. All are welcome to join us: www.facebook.com/events/113404248830109/ 

Please sign the petition put together by former chief prosecutor at Guantánamo Bay Colonel Morris Davis calling for the closure of Guantánamo Bay: https://www.change.org/petitions/president-obama-close-detention-facility-at-guantanamo-bay 

This action is supported by: London Guantánamo Campaign (UK), Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases (UK), Cageprisoners (UK), Code Pink (USA), Witness Against Torture (USA), World Can’t Wait (USA), Facilitate Global (UK), Kingston Peace Council (UK), London Catholic Worker (UK), Veterans for Peace UK (UK), Save Shaker Aamer Campaign (UK), Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (UK)

LGC Newsletter – April 2013

NEWS:

British Residents:

The e-petition calling for the return of Shaker Aamer to the UK closed on 20 April with over 117,000 signatures http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/33133 Many thanks to everyone who signed the petition and worked hard to get others to sign.

The result of the hard work by campaigners across the UK and Shaker Aamer’s MP Jane Ellison (Conservative: Battersea) was that his case was discussed by the Backbench Committee which Ms Ellison is a member of leading to a public debate on 24 April. At the debate, Ms Ellison and other backbench MPs were able to put questions to Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt. In the debate, the transcript of which can be read here: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm130424/halltext/130424h0001.htm#13042445000001 Ms Ellison coherently put forward the case for Mr Aamer’s release to the UK, given the fact that the US does not consider him a threat and cleared him for release over 6 years ago. She was supported by other backbench MPs including Caroline Lucas (Green), Yasmin Qureshi, Kerry McCarthy, Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell (Labour). Mr McDonnell asked for the Foreign Secretary to raise concerns with the US ambassador “to say that this Government have had enough” and asked that the Prime Minister call Barack Obama to insist on the release of Shaker Aamer. However, in spite of a well-attended debate in which relevant questions raised by MPs concerning why Mr Aamer continues to remain at Guantanamo Bay more than 11 years after he was kidnapped, Mr Burt’s responses were largely those given by the government over the past 6 years or so and he provided no firm assurances on any of the questions posed. He also stated that the Foreign Office accepted assurances from the US that Shaker Aamer’s health was being taken care of and that he had only been cleared for transfer to Saudi Arabia. In response to a question from Caroline Lucas MP, who described the debate as “increasingly Kafkaesque”, as to why the US will not release Shaker Aamer, Mr Burt replied “I have a supposition about why the United States might want to retain Mr Aamer” but did not comment further on this.

Jane Ellison will return to the Backbench Committee and will seek to set up a formal debate with a motion on Shaker Aamer’s return being voted on in parliament. This may take place at the end of next month or June. There was good cross-party representation at the debate, showing the importance of Mr Aamer’s case and the closure of Guantánamo Bay to all parties, yet the Liberal Democrats were noticeably absent and not represented at the debate.

On the Sunday prior to the debate, the following article by Shaker Aamer was published in the Observer newspaper: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/21/shaker-aamer-guantanamo-bay in which he described the horror of the hunger strike he has been on for over two months and the violence faced by prisoners; he concluded by stating “I hope I do not die in this awful place. I want to hug my children and watch them as they grow. But if it is God's will that I should die here, I want to die with dignity. I hope, if the worst comes to the worst, that my children will understand that I cared for the rights of those suffering around me almost as much as I care for them.” 

Also: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/23/shaker-aamer-dirty-secrets-war-on-terror

While the US Department of Defence refuses to name those currently on hunger strike, it has named those being force fed. Both British residents Shaker Aamer and Ahmed Belbacha are reported as being force fed against their will by Reprieve: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/26/3366805/some-force-fed-captives-are-cleared.html 

Guantánamo Bay:

The current hunger strike at Guantánamo Bay has gone beyond 80 days with no sign of an end in sight. Although the prison officials currently put the number of prisoners on hunger strike at over 100 with almost 20 being force fed to keep them alive and almost a dozen having passed out due to weakness, their lawyers maintain that nearly all of the prisoners, more than 130 have been on hunger strike since early February. The situation that many of them face is critical. Doctors state that after 50 days on hunger strike, organ failure and permanent internal damage can ensue; thus, even if this hunger strike does not prove to be fatal in the short term, it may be so in the longer term. Of the seven out of nine deaths at Guantánamo Bay that the authorities claim were “suicides”, all of the deceased men had engaged previously in lengthy hunger strikes at the prison. Lawyers for the prisoners have, however, reported that there have been some suicide attempts over the past few months.

The hunger strike failed to grab the attention of the mainstream media until violence entered the equation on 13 April. On the morning after the Red Cross conveniently left Guantánamo Bay on a visit to monitor the health of the prisoners, a key part of its purpose, the military command at Guantánamo Bay, which had previously denied there was a real hunger strike at the prison, stated that it had tried to forcefully remove prisoners from their cells and separate hunger strikers, resulting in “violent” clashes – between debilitated men who had not eaten food for over two months and were “armed” with empty plastic bottles and broom heads and US military officers who fired plastic bullets at them – in order to remove the men by force: http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/MEDIA-RELEASE-Commander-Orders-Single-Cell-Detention-at-Guantanamo-Bay-for-Continued-Detainee-Health-and-Security.aspx Lawyers for the prisoners had already reported that the hunger strikers were being intimidated in various ways to deter them, including by removing personal items from their cells, separating non-hunger striking prisoners from the general population, depriving them of clean and regular water, etc. The above press release shows that the military command has lost considerable control over the prisoners who are united in their action. This action further exacerbated the “official hunger strike” as within one week, the US military admitted that many more prisoners “had joined the hunger strike”. Furthermore, prisoners have reported that more prisoners are not being force fed due to a lack of equipment and medical personnel at Guantánamo Bay to deal with the situation. While the hunger strike has now come to the public attention, this has not led to serious attempts to remedy either the hunger strike or the situation there: more than eleven years of imprisonment with charge or trial with no end in sight. It also emerged shortly afterwards that the White House had been briefed about the cell raid before it took place: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/15/3345952/white-house-was-alerted-ahead.html

As a result the prison has been on almost-complete lockdown since as well.

In a court case brought by one of the prisoners for relief, Musaab al-Madhwani, whose lawyer stated he was dying as a result of the hunger strike, the judge said he could not intervene as he had no jurisdiction over the hunger strike and Mr al-Madhwani had voluntarily participated in the hunger strike and endangered his own health. http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2013/04/judge-wont-weigh-in-on-guantanamo-hunger-strike-161681.html

Protests have been held all over the world, including Kuwait, Yemen and a day of protest action took place in over 20 cities in the US on 11 April, as well as a letter to President Obama signed by 25 US human rights NGOs

http://ccrjustice.org/files/2013.4.11_GTMO%20Coalition%20Letter%20to%20President%20Obama_0.pdf. Please see below in “LGC activities” for details of various actions held in London over the past month.

Human Rights Watch has produced this recent statement on the hunger strike: http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/04/25/guantanamo-bay-and-indefinite-detention-hunger-strike-continues

The hunger strike at Guantánamo Bay has produced one of the most moving and perhaps best articles of this year: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/opinion/hunger-striking-at-guantanamo-bay.html?_r=1&

Former Chief Prosecutor at Guantánamo Bay Colonel Morris Davis has also been outspoken in condemning the hunger strike and ongoing imprisonment there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rChqhWVJd5Y&feature=youtu.be

Six of the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay face charges and trial by military commission. Pre-trial hearings in the case of Abd Al-Nashiri, accused of involvement in attacks on US navy ships in the Gulf area around 2000 were due to resume in mid-April but have been set back to 11 June after it was reported that defence legal documents had disappeared from a Pentagon computer just days before. Al-Nashiri’s lawyers had already asked for the hearing to be postponed so they could investigate the extent of interference with their legal documents and e-mails which are confidential, including possible spying. A pre-trial hearing for five other prisoners accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks, due to take place on 22 April, was also set back. http://rt.com/usa/guantanamo-hearing-delayed-documents-710/ Issues over the procedures at “trials” over the past few months only further demonstrate how absurd the military tribunal process is.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/04/2013418114133206564.html

Omar Khadr’s Canadian lawyer has reported that an appeal will be filed shortly in the US against his 2010 conviction before a military tribunal, for which he is currently serving the rest of his sentence at the Milhaven Institution in Canada, where the parole board has recently denied him day release on the basis that he is a “convicted terrorist”, failing to acknowledge the circumstances in which the conviction was made. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadian-omar-khadr-to-appeal-terrorism-convictions/article11587422/ If his appeal is successful, which it is likely to be in light of the recent overturning of military tribunal convictions in the US federal courts, Omar Khadr should be released immediately. However, the Canadian Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, who also sits on the parole board, has stated that regardless of the outcome of his appeal, the final decision rests with the parole board. Not only does Canada not recognise the rule of law or right to a fair trial for its citizens, or acknowledge international law, but in stating thus, it is hinting that it is prepared to imprison an innocent man knowingly. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/omar-khadrs-freedom-in-ottawas-hands-despite-us-appeal-safety-minister-insists/article11596038/

The DC Circuit court has allowed the US government to rehear its case against Yemeni Ali Hamza Al-Bahlul, the only Guantánamo prisoner serving a life sentence, and who won his appeal earlier this year overturning his conviction. The US government had three months to appeal and is being allowed to have the case reheard before an appeal court, and taking in the Hamdan ruling which led to the first Guantánamo conviction being overturned last year: http://www.lawfareblog.com/2013/04/breaking-news-d-c-circuit-grants-en-banc-rehearing-granted-in-al-bahlul/

Extraordinary rendition:

On 16 April a new report was published by the Constitution Taskforce, “an independent, bipartisan, blue-ribbon panel charged with examining the federal government’s policies and actions related to the capture, detention and treatment of suspected terrorists during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations” http://detaineetaskforce.org/report/

The report looks into detention and prisoner treatment in Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantánamo Bay and elsewhere. The report spoke to various people across the board, including former prisoners, military and political personnel, lawyers and analysts, and is critical of detention at Guantánamo Bay and the use of torture by the US in the “war on terror”.

LGC Activities:

The April LGC “Shut Down Guantánamo!” demonstration was attended by 6 people. The next demonstration will be on Thursday 2 May at 12-1pm outside the US Embassy, Grosvenor Square, W1A and then 1.15-2.15pm outside Speaker’s Corner, Marble Arch (Hyde Park): http://www.facebook.com/events/595222883835154/ This demonstration will be in solidarity with the Guantánamo hunger strikers.

On 6 April, to mark the start of the third month of the hunger strike and to highlight the mainstream media’s failure to acknowledge it, the LGC held a “hunger games” action involving four groups of volunteers going around well-known tourist spots in London dressed in orange jumpsuits and black hoods with a relevant newspaper headline about the hunger strike to raise awareness. Pictures of the action can be seen at: https://picasaweb.google.com/108979487129034696683/LondonSolidarityAsGuantanamoHungerStrikeEnters3rdMonth6April Many thanks to all our wonderful volunteers for a very creative and successful awareness-raising action.

In respect to the escalating violence at Guantánamo Bay on 13 April, the LGC held an emergency demonstration outside the US Embassy in solidarity with the hunger strikers on 18 April. Around 20 people attended and we were joined by veteran US peace activist Medea Benjamin from anti-war group Code Pink. https://picasaweb.google.com/108979487129034696683/DemonstrationInSupportOfTheGuantanamoHungerStrikersUSEmbassyLondon18April

Ms Benjamin led a discussion on what we can do as a global community about the hunger strike which has led to the launch of a global day of action about the hunger strike to coincide with its 100^th day on 17 May. Please contact us for more UK details about that.

Videos of the discussion and the demonstration can be viewed at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XEh6KLMz9g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKv1R195SFo

and links to the full discussion at: http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/time-to-take-action-about-guantanamo.html

Aisha Maniar from the LGC spoke to the Islam Channel about the hunger strike and the plight of Shaker Aamer on 18 April. She also spoke to 786 Radio in South Africa about the hunger strike and contributed to a BBC World Service programme World Have Your Say broadcast on 21 April http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0175w4c on the closure of Guantánamo.

Please sign the following petition and statement about the hunger strike:

http://www.change.org/petitions/president-barack-obama-release-innocent-hunger-striking-prisoners-at-guantanamo-bay

http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php/calls-to-action/8207-statement-on-the-raid-on-guantanamo

Time to Take Action about the Guantánamo Hunger Strike

The LGC held the first demonstration anywhere about the current hunger strike at Guantánamo Bay on 17 March outside the US Embassy in London. While the US Department of Defense currently puts the number of hunger strikers at half of the 166 prisoners still held there and the mainstream media decided that it would only acknowledge the hunger strike more than 2 months after it started when military violence entered the picture on 13 April, the LGC has supported the position of the prisoners' lawyers throughout this non-violent protest, that since 6 February, almost all the prisoners have been on hunger strike: http://ccrjustice.org/files/2013_03_04_Ltr_JTF_Smith_Welsh.pdf 

The LGC has held further actions, including a "hunger games" action to raise awareness of the issue and highlight the mainstream media's failure to do so across London on 6 April.

The LGC also held a solidarity demonstration on 18 April in response to the reports of violence that emerged on 13 April. At this demonstration, we were joined by Medea Benjamin from US organisation Code Pink and the 20 or so people attending held a discussion on what WE can do about the hunger strike. Many people have already raised this question to us.

The ideas in the videos - poor sound as it was windy - were that we should have an INTERNATIONAL day of fasting/protest action. We'd like to continue this discussion and have set it up on our Facebook page for discussion but we would also welcome discussion here. If you'd like to be a part of the international day of fasting (action) either as individual or a group anywhere, please e-mail us: london.gtmo@gmail.com
The mainstream media won't let us have this discussion but let's have it anyway. Please watch and share the videos and then share your thoughts on what WE should do!
1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is8bE-mBJMQ
2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmLYyDa-hgI
3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlCuNVf8vKw
4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlCuNVf8vKw

Is there any point in taking action on the hunger strike? According to the US organisation World Can't Wait on 18 April: http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php/torture/8215-guantanamo-silence-deatth
"At this writing the Guantanamo hunger strike has surpassed 70 days. The situation there is ever more urgent after the Saturday April 13th assault on the hunger strikers. The London Guantanamo Campaign put it like this, “Either by U.S. military force or organ failure through lack of food, this hunger strike is likely to become fatal.”....

The prisoners' strike has put the illegitimacy of indefinite detention at GTMO in front of the world. The actions of World Can't Wait and a few other groups in this country are amplifying their voices. We must pump up the volume."

Watch this space for more details on the international day of fasting, organise your own and get involved!

Emergency demonstration in Solidarity with Guantánamo Hunger Strikers, 18 April

The London Guantánamo Campaign invites you to an emergency demonstration 

outside the US Embassy, Grosvenor Square, London, W1A 1AE 

(nearest underground: Bond Street/Marble Arch)

on Thursday 18 April

at 6-8pm 

open mic and banners - feel free to bring your own

in support of the Guantánamo Hunger Strikers

now in their third month of protest at

11 years of torture, abuse and arbitrary detention

The current hunger strike at Guantánamo Bay, now in its 11th week, turned nasty at the weekend, when new orders were issued to separate prisoners, resulting in an invasion of their cells and plastic bullets being fired at prisoners allegedly putting up resistance, in spite of being weakened after 11 weeks without food. Their lawyers report that some have lost over 30lb in weight in that time and the US Defense Department states that at least 13 are being force fed. Nearly all the prisoners are on hunger strike. Most have been held without charge or trial for over 11 years with little prospect of release.

The prisoners at Guantánamo Bay are protesting with the only means available to them - their bodies. Please join us. Either by US military force or organ failure through lack of food, this hunger strike is likely to become fatal soon. Take action. The US must respond to the hunger strikers' demands for better treatment and a resolution to their situation with positive action, not violence, and the Obama administration must take action to close Guantánamo Bay.

For more details, please email london.gtmo@gmail.com

Media on the latest escalation:

http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/MEDIA-RELEASE-Commander-Orders-Single-Cell-Detention-at-Guantanamo-Bay-for-Continued-Detainee-Health-and-Security.aspx

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/opinion/hunger-striking-at-guantanamo-bay.html 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/14/guantanamo-bay-last-uk-detainee?CMP=twt_gu

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/guantanamo-bay--president-obamas-shame-the-forgotten-prisoners-of-americas-own-gulag-8572215.html

Guantánamo Hunger Strike Twitter Storm Package: 4pm BST today!

ATTENTION!!!!!

********* DO NOT BEGIN TWEETING UNTIL 11:00 EST/ 12:00 CST/ 16:00 BST/ 17:00 CET *********

#GitmoFreedomStrike Twitterstorm Package!
Objective:
Raise awareness through social media that Guantanamo Bay is still open and at least 130 of the remaining 166 prisoners have been on hunger strike since 6 February
Date & Time: Saturday, 6 April:  11:00 EST/ 12:00 CST/ 16:00 BST/ 17:00 CET
Length: 1 hour
Instructions:
Copy + Paste these tweets. Do not retweet, the hashtag will not trend.
If you are writing your own tweets, make sure to include the #GitmoFreedomStrike hashtag!
 Suggested Tweets:
#GitmoFreedomStrike is the only way out of Guantanamo in a coffin? http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2013/03/06/a-growing-feeling-here-that-death-is-the-road-out-of-guantanamo/
#GitmoFreedomStrike @BarackObama close Guantanamo or give back your Nobel peace prize 
#GitmoFreedomStrike @barackobama @whitehouse How many years must Guantanamo exist before the prisoners can be set free?

Whose hunger strike gets more attention?

#GitmoFreedomStrike @barackobama @DeptofDefense 130 prisoners at Guantanamo close to death: how long can you ignore them? And why? 
#GitmoFreedomStrike @barackobama show us a change we can believe in - shut down Guantanamo, make good on your promise
#GitmoFreedomStrike @guardian @BBCNews @CNN thanks for keeping us in the dark/ ignorance is strength pic.twitter.com/ykO5XrOqrY 
#GitmoFreedomStrike @DeptofDefense @icrc_dc this is a hunger strike, not Weightwatchers; arbitrary detention, not a prison sentence
#GitmoFreedomStrike hungry for freedom, starving for their rights: 130 Guantanamo prisoners on hunger strike since 6 February 
#GitmoHungerStrike @foreignoffice @Number10gov Shaker Aamer lost 30lb, on hunger strike for 3 months, what are you doing about it?
#GitmoFreedomStrike 11 years without charge or trial, with injustice and torture, 3 months on hunger strike - close Guantanamo now 
-------------------

Why this Twitter storm?
Saturday 6^th April marks the third month of the current hunger strike at Guantánamo Bay, in response to worsening treatment of prisoners and desperation after over 11 years of detention without charge or trial for most of the prisoners. While the US military has retracted its original position denying any hunger strike, it now admits that around 40 men have been refusing food, with 11 being force fed to keep them alive. Lawyers for the prisons have consistently put that number at around 130, out of the 166 prisoners still held there; only the weak and elderly are not taking part. 

Lawyers having visited their clients recently have reported that the situation is “increasingly desperate”: the temperature has been turned down, water is being rationed to the hunger strikers and non-hunger strikers have been isolated to put pressure on those protesting. Blankets and additional clothing they may have has also been confiscated from them.

Most of the world is oblivious to what is going on due to poor reporting in the media. To raise awareness and show solidarity with the hunger strikers, the London Guantánamo Campaign will be leading an international Twitter storm at 11:00 EST/ 16:00 BST/ 17:00 CET for one hour. Further details, including the relevant hashtag and suggested tweets, will be provided here closer to the time. Please check here on Saturday for further information and details. You can follow the London Guantánamo Campaign on Twitter @shutguantanamo