Witness Against Torture Releases Events Schedule To Insist on Justice, Human Rights & the Rule of Law

Eight Years Too Many - Join Us to Insist on Justice, Human Rights and the Rule of Law - Say NO to Guantánamo, Bagram, and a “Gitmo North” in Illinois

Witness Against Torture, in coalition with other groups, launches The Fast and Vigil for Justice on Monday, January 11, 2010 — the eight-year mark of the opening of the prison at Guantanamo. The Fast and Vigil for Justice will features actions at the White House, Congress, and additional sites in Washington, D.C. where decisions about the lives of men at Guantánamo and other detainees are made. It will be preceded by a Bagram vigil on January 7 and a film screening on January 10, and begin with a rally at the White House on the 11th.

For updated information on the daily schedule of the Fast and Vigil and to sign up, visit www.witnesstorture.org

Thursday, January 7, 2010 - BAGRAM PRISONERS CASE IN DC COURT

8:30 a.m. Vigil outside the Court (Located at: 333 Constitution Avenue, NW@ 3rd St. NW)
9:30/10 a.m. Oral Arguments Begin (in Ceremonial Courtroom 20)
RALLY and Vigil to follow!

Please contact Mike Leonard at bagramjustice@gmail.com for more information.
Wear your suit to show solidarity with the Pakistani Lawyer’s Movement!

Sunday, January 10, 2010 - Screening of Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo and Discussion
7pm, St Stephens and the Incarnation Episcopal Church
1525 Newton Street Northwest (at 16th Street)
Washington, DC 20010

Monday, January 11, 2010 – Eight Years since the opening of the Guantánamo Prison

11:30 am: Gather at the White House (plaza between the White House and Lafayette Park) for “No More Guantánamos” Theater and Rally
Following a theater performance comparing the Bush and Obama records on human rights, indefinite detention and Guantánamo, speakers will address the White House, demanding that Guantánamo be closed, the rule of law restored, and those who designed and executed torture policies held to account. We will launch the Fast and Vigil for Justice, which will end on January 22, the administration’s self-imposed deadline for closing the Guantánamo prison. Nearly 100 people from around the country (and 40 or so in Washington, D.C.) will participate in the 12-day fast. We will have orange jumpsuits, hoods and signs at the White House. Please join us, and bring colleagues and friends. For more information, email frida.berrigan@gmail.com

12:30pm: Guantánamo Prisoner Procession
From the White House to the National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, Washington, DC.

1pm: Public Briefing with the Center for Constitutional Rights
Human rights activists and lawyers from CCR, Witness Against Torture, and other groups will hold a public briefing. The briefing will include an update on conditions at Guantánamo and the struggle of detainees for justice, as well as the reading of letters from released and exonerated detainees addressing the Obama administration’s failure to fulfill the terms of his Executive Order closing Guantánamo.

National Press Club - 529 14th Street NW, Washington

7pm: Eight Years Too Long - Resisting Torture, Indefinite Detention and Abuse at Guantánamo and Beyond: A Grassroots Conversation
Georgetown University Law School
McDonough - Room 207 - 600 New Jersey Ave., NW, Washington

You care about justice, human rights and the rule of law. You had hoped that the election of Barack Obama and his order to shut down Guantánamo and end torture would mean a decisive break the Bush administration. Almost a year later, you are disheartened that more than 200 men remain at Guantánamo, frustrated that the administration promising hope and change is delivering too little of either, and worried about plans for a new system of indefinite detention at an Illinois prison. And you are fearful, as the right again stirs up fear and hatred, that even the modest shifts away from Bush-era policies, such as plans to hold civilian trials for some detainees, will be undone. You are not alone.

Join the growing grassroots movement organizing on these issues. Help us strategize new approaches to a quickly-changing knot of problems. Hear the latest from lawyers working to secure basic legal and human rights for detainees at Guantánamo and elsewhere. Learn what communities are doing to invite innocent men at Guantánamo into their communities. Accept the invitation to fast, lobby, and demonstrate for justice. Share your own experience, perspective, ideas, and humanity.

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Witness Against Torture is a grassroots organization that formed in December 2005 when 24 activists walked to Guantánamo to visit the prisoners and condemn torture policies. Since then, it has engaged in public education, community outreach, and non-violent civil disobedience. For the first 100 days of the Obama administration, the group held a daily vigil at the White House, encouraging the new President to uphold his commitments to shut down Guantánamo.

To learn more visit www.witnesstorture.org