We invite you to join the Chicago Coalition to Close Guantanamo for our weekly vigil on Friday at 4:30-5:30 pm at Dearborn and Jackson!

[Bob Palmer]

We invite you to join the Chicago Coalition to Close Guantánamo for our weekly vigil on Friday at 4:30-5:30 pm at Dearborn and Jackson!

We are looking for folks to 
- Wear an orange jumpsuit and black hood which represent the men detained indefinitely in Guantánamo Bay Prison

- Hand out fliers to people walking by
- Engage people in conversation about the prison, policies and solutions to close Guantánamo!

- Hold a sign with the people in orange jumpsuits
- Come down to say hi, take a picture, make a post on Facebook/Twitter, etc.

Information we'll be handing out this week:

160 Days Since President Obama’s Promise to Close Guantánamo: Only 2 Men Released: November 1, 2013
 

• 164 men remain imprisoned.  155 of them haven’t been charged.

• 84 men have been cleared for release, most of whom have been imprisoned without charge for more than 11 years.

• 14 men have been on hunger strike for 268 days.

• 14 men are being force-fed in violation of Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by the U.S., which prohibits torture or cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment.

 
Will Appeals Court Judges Rule that Force-Feeding at Guantánamo Must Stop?: Excerpts from Andy Worthington Column
 
On October 18, a panel of three appeals court judges in Washington D.C. (in the D.C. Circuit Court) heard an appeal from three Guantánamo prisoners — including the last British resident, Shaker Aamer — asking them to order the government to end the force-feeding of prisoners, and two of the three judges “asked skeptical questions of a government lawyer who argued that the courts have no jurisdiction” over conditions at Guantánamo, as Reuters described it…
 
At the height of the prison-wide hunger strike at Guantánamo this year, at least 106 of the remaining 164 prisoners were on a hunger strike, and 46 of those men were being force-fed. That total has now fallen to 15, but twice a day those 15 men are tied into restraint chairs, while liquid nutrient is pumped into their stomachs via a tube inserted through their nose, a painful and abusive process denounced by the World Medical Association and the United Nations….
 
In court, Jon Eisenberg, representing the prisoners, told the court, “Forced feeding is unethical, it’s inhumane, it’s a violation of international law and it’s a violation of medical ethics.” For Politico, Josh Gerstein added that he had added that the international community views force-feeding as “equivalent to torture.”…
 
Despite Congressional obstructions, the lawyers for the prisoners are challenging the force-feeding regime through a writ of habeas corpus, the ancient legislation preventing arbitrary detention, which the Supreme Court granted the prisoners in 2004 and again in 2008, reversing Congress’s attempt to prevent them from seeking to challenge their detention through habeas corpus….
 
Read more at http://bit.ly/1aLdFNv

Find out more about efforts to end indefinite detention and torture by the U.S. Government at Guantánamo Bay.  

Please sign petitions addressed to President Obama at the websites marked with a **.
 
**CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO: A group of lawyers, journalists, retired military personnel and concerned individuals who believe that Guantánamo undermines America's values and harms its national security. http://www.closeguantanamo.org
 
WITNESS AGAINST TORTURE: Formed in 2005, when 25 Americans went to Guantánamo and attempted to visit the detention facility. Once we returned from that journey, we began to organize more broadly to shut down Guantánamo. http://witnesstorture.org
 
**WORLD CAN'T WAIT: A national movement formed to halt and reverse the terrible program of war, repression and theocracy that was initiated by the Bush regime and continued and even intensified under President Obama. http://www.worldcantwait.net
 
ANDY WORTHINGTON: Investigative journalist, author, filmmaker, photographer and Guantánamo expert. http://www.andyworthington.co.uk
 
MIAMI HERALD: http://www.miamiherald.com/guantanamo/
 
IL COALITION AGAINST TORTURE: https://twitter.com/Illinois_CAT
 
Track the days since Obama’s promise at http://gtmoclock.com.
 
Chicago Coalition to Shut Down Guantánamo: World Can’t Wait, Witness Against Torture, White Rose Catholic Worker, Illinois Coalition Against Torture, Chicago Committee to Free the Cuban Five: www.facebook.com/ChicagoCoalitionToShutDownGuantanamo

Thank you for your support!