Our next monthly vigil in front of Parliament will take place on the 8th of March at 1pm. We need your support and the people inside those buildings need to hear your voice!
This vigil coincides with International Women’s Day, and Susan Edwards talks in this article for the Bar Council about the way the prison has affected the wives and children of hundreds of men.
Pictures from our last vigil, in February
Online Discussion: Guantanamo at 21 – Wed 11 Jan, 2023
Everything you want to know about the hopes for closure of the prison and what has become of the men who were imprisoned, including many who have been cleared for release years ago but are still trapped there. Andy Worthington, author of The Guantanamo Files will be speaking to Mansoor Adayfi, who spent 14 years in Guantanamo and is the author of Don’t Forget Us Here: Lost and Found at Guantánamo.
On Saturday the 14th of January, 2023, campaigners of all ages and from various organisations marked the 21st anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo with a procession and vigil in London. 35 men remain in the lawless facility – either cleared for release or detained due to unfair trials/without charge. How can this gross travesty of basic justice under the rule of law be allowed to continue. Blair called it ‘an anomaly that at some point has to be closed’.
The current Foreign Secretary last week on 12th January, in response to a parliamentary written question confirmed that the UK’s position is that Guantánamo should be closed. After our the protest yesterday a delegation on Guantánamo Network members handed in a petition to the the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak insisting that as a member of the international community and a signatory of International Conventions upholding human rights the UK has a responsibility to take concrete steps to call for the closure of Guantánamo. Unlike other countries in Europe, the UK has never resettled former prisoners who cannot be safely repatriated.
The Guantánamo Network has also urged the UK government to enter into discussion with the U.S. State Department regarding the resettlement of one or more of the 20 men who have been cleared for release and yet continue to languish in Guantánamo. Please join the call for justice for those still detained and for those who have previously been detained for years on end without charge or trial. Visit: www.ukguantanamo.org
Andy Worthington, author of The Guantanamo Files, was also able to add to his hundreds of photos of people marking the 7671 days the prison has been open. See some of them here:
https://www.closeguantanamo.org/Gitmo-Clock-2023-Photos
https://www.closeguantanamo.org/Gitmo-Clock-2023-Photos-2
We hold vigils in London every month and always need volunteers. Contact us at info@ukguantanamonetwork.org.
The UK Guantanamo Network are an alliance of UK activists and organisations dedicated to closing the prison and securing fair trials or safe release for the men held there. Our network includes the Guantanamo Justice Campaign, London Guantanamo Campaign, the Close Guantanamo Campaign, Freedom from Torture, and Amnesty International.
President Joe Biden has said he wants Guantanamo closed, as have a number of former and serving generals. No law is keeping it open, just a lack of political nerve. What’s needed is pressure from citizens who know that the rights of any prisoner will eventually affect their own.
Our activities have included:
We need your help! A huge push is needed now to ensure that Guantanamo is CLOSED and those detained there (or previously detained there) receive justice. Please be part of this push if you can.
