MEDIA
RELEASE: London Guantánamo Campaign to hold emergency protest in support of
Guantánamo Bay hunger strikers, Sunday 17 March, 2-4pm, US Embassy
15 March
2013 - For immediate release
Since early
February, the vast majority of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay have been on hunger
strike, in response to the arbitrary confiscation of personal items from their
cells and the desecration of copies of the Koran by prison interpreters [1]. Their
lawyers have received reports of “men coughing
up blood, being hospitalized, losing consciousness, becoming weak and fatigued,
and being moved to Camp V for observation. Detainees have also expressed
feeling increased stress, fear, and despair.” [2] Despite all the evidence to
the contrary, the US military continues to deny
the existence of the hunger strike [3].
The London
Guantánamo Campaign [4] will hold a demonstration in support of the Guantánamo
Bay hunger strikers on Sunday 17 March at 2-4pm outside the US Embassy in
London. British resident Shaker Aamer [5] is also on hunger strike. The hunger
strike has been largely overlooked by the mainstream media and human rights
community.
Aisha
Maniar, an organiser from the London Guantánamo Campaign, said:
“Prisoners
at Guantánamo Bay have gone on hunger strike a number of times in the past to
protest the conditions of their detention. It is perhaps one of the very few
means available to them. While it has resulted in force feeding, a further
violation of their rights, it has also often resulted in better prison
conditions. However, improvements have failed to address the underlying
desperation and frustration the prisoners feel after eleven years of
imprisonment without charge, trial or the prospect
of release. This is akin to a hostage crisis.
“Having
failed to keep his first-term promises on Guantánamo Bay, Barack Obama’s
administration is instead letting what he had once called a “misguided
experiment” spiral out of control. As well as respecting the prisoners’ lawful
demands to have their human rights recognised, the US administration must take
positive steps to prevent any such further escalations by releasing the
prisoners and closing the prison.”
Contact:
E-mail: london.gtmo@gmail.com
ENDS
NOTES TO
EDITOR
1. On 4
March, lawyers for the prisoners wrote to the prison commander Rear Admiral
John Smith raising these matters and the resulting hunger strike, calling on
the US military to “take immediate measures to bring an end this potentially
life - threatening situation in the camps by addressing the reasons that give
rise to it.
“Camp
authorities must cease the arbitrary and regressive practices being reported by
our clients, including all intrusive searches of the Qur’an.”
166 prisoners
remain at Guantánamo Bay, of whom more than half have been cleared for release
and less than a dozen face charges. With few exceptions, all have been held for
up to and over 11 years without charge or trial.
2. Ibid.
4. The
London Guantánamo Campaign campaigns for justice for all prisoners at
Guantánamo Bay, for the closure of this and other secret prisons, and an end to
the practice of extraordinary rendition. http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com
5. Shaker
Aamer was cleared for release by the US military in 2007. He claims to have been
tortured repeatedly during his time in US custody, on one occasion in the
presence of a British intelligence agent. He has a British wife and four
children living in Battersea, south London. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown
sought his release in August 2007, along with four other residents held at
Guantánamo Bay, the last of whom was released in February 2009. http://www.reprieve.org.uk/cases/shakeraamer/
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