FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 09, 2008

January 11, 2008, marks the4 six-year anniversary of the first arrival of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay.

The American Civil Liberties Union, along with other leading human rights organizations, is announcing a January 11 day of protest to denounce torture, abuse, and indefinite detention. The ACLU is one of only four organizations that have been granted status as human rights observers at the military commission proceedings at the Guantánamo Bay Detention Center.

On Friday, January 11, the ACLU of Utah is hosting a special “Close Guantánamo” Candlelight Vigil at the Federal Building (125 S. State St. in downtown Salt Lake City) from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

The ACLU of Utah is asking Utahns of conscience to display their outrage and sorrow over the torture and indefinite detention being carried out in our names by attending this vigil. We will be giving out "Close Guantánamo" T-shirts and armbands, providing candles, and distributing printed fact sheets you can share with your family, friends and colleagues.

Those who are note able to attend are encouraged to participate in this critical action by wearing orange on January 11 to show their solidarity with the cause. The color orange is a symbolic reference to the jumpsuits worn by prisoners at Guantánamo as depicted in the first photographs released by the Department of Defense in 2002.

The ACLU of Utah, in recognition of this unfortunate anniversary, also will be hosting a screening of the ACLU-produced Freedom Files' "Freedom from Abuse of Power: Torture and Unlawful Imprisonment" on Wednesday, January 30, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. University of Utah professor of Political Science Dr. Tim Chambless will introduce and lead a discussion about the 30-minute film.

Last September, the ACLU of Utah hosted a presentation by Jameel Jaffer, who along with fellow ACLU attorney Amrit Singh successfully forced the Department of Defense to release documents that exposed widespread use of torture and other concerns regarding the treatment and detention of prisoners held by the U.S. in Afghanistan, Iraq and at Guantánamo Bay. More than 100 people attended Mr. Jaffer’s talk – the ACLU of Utah has found that many Utahns share our view that such practices by our government, which fly in the face of the Geneva Convention and our own Bill of Rights, are unacceptable.

The Guantánamo fiasco stems from President Bush’s decision to set aside America’s centuries-old legal system and its obligations under international law for a Byzantine new detention and prosecution regime.

Congress, through the 2006 Military Commissions Act, stripped U.S.-held overseas prisoners of the right to habeas corpus, denying them the fundamental right to challenge their detention through our court system – an issue now before the Supreme Court. It doesn’t get much more un-American than that.

What has America “gained” from the past six years of chaos and stalemates? Overwhelming international disgrace and disdain; even our staunchest allies have become highly distrustful of our justice system. Not a single military commission trial has been completed and the procedures at Guantánamo are so universally reviled that any brand of “justice” that might emerge will inevitably be considered illegitimate.

One detainee has now spent a fourth of his life in captivity. Canadian Omar Khadr was only 15 when he was first locked up over five years ago. Four men have died in captivity; all believed to have committed suicide amid the despair of Guantánamo.

That’s the mire of Guantánamo, where our nation’s leaders take the position that they can indefinitely deny basic legal rights to those we hold captive. It’s long past time to reclaim our respect for the rule of law, for human rights, for the Constitution. It is time to shut down Guantánamo.

Learn more about the national Close Guantanamo Campaign >>