Apologies for the last minute posting. I misplaced the original notice and just got this reminder. -Ed http://icujp.org/content/icujp-joins-international-day-protest-mark-10th-ann iversary-guant%C3%A1namo-prison-us-site-tortur January 5, 2012 For interviews or information, contact: For immediate release Andy Griggs, 310-704-3217 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 310-704-3217 end_of_the_skype_highlighting a...@icujp.org
Who: Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace (ICUJP) and several other groups (listed below) What: Protest Actions Against Guantánamo - CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO NOW! 10 YEARS TOO MANY! When & Where: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 9 AM Vigil and Tableau, 10 AM Press Conference; Downtown LA Federal Building (Temple and Los Angeles streets); 4 - 5:30 PM Rally and Vigil; Westwood Federal Building (Wilshire and Veteran) Why: Demand Closure of Guantánamo Prison, End Torture and Abuses at Bagram and in CA Prisons Visuals: Participants in Orange Jumpsuits and Hoods Create Silent Tableau of Images of Torture Mohammed Ghanem of Yemen was taken into custody by Pakistan while crossing the border from Afghanistan in the wake of the U.S. attack there following September 11. He was turned over to U.S. authorities, although no terrorist activity on his part has ever been established. One of the first prisoners sent to Guantánamo in January of 2002, he was moved between cells and blocks every two hours over a six-month period, losing a lot of weight and almost losing his sanity. Refused treatment for his hemorrhoids unless he agreed to cooperate with his interrogators, he yielded to his captors pressure, only to have prison doctors botch the operation. He has never been formally charged, given a trial or even a habeas corpus hearing and remains in Guantánamo to this day. He is one of 171 prisoners still illegally held by the U.S government in Guantánamo. To protest the torture, denial of habeas corpus and other lawless conditions that prevail at Guantanamo, members of Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace (http://icujp.org <http://icujp.org/> ) and other human rights organizations will don orange Guantánamo-style jumpsuits and black hoods and participate in a silent protest on January 11 from 9 to 10 AM in front of the downtown Federal Building at Temple and Los Angeles Streets. This will be followed by a press conference at 10 AM at the same location where three local lawyers representing Guantánamo prisoners and a number of other civil rights figures will speak: * Michael S. Rapkin of the Law Offices of Michael S. Rapkin in Santa Monica, representing Mohammed Ghanem; * Anne Richardson of Hadsell Stormer Keeny Richardson & Renick LLP of Pasadena, representing Afghan citizen Obaidullah (no last name), also tortured at Guantánamo; * Victoria Don of Schonbrun DeSimone Seplow Harris Hoffman & Harrison LLP of Venice and South Pasadena, which represents Syrian Kurd Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak Al Janko, tortured prior to his 2009 release from Guantánamo. * Stefan Ali, student at Southwestern Law School representing the National Lawyers Guild * Kendra Castaneda, California prison rights activist for human rights * Virginia Classick Coordinator of the Los Angeles Region Religious Campaign Against Torture * Julie Gutman Executive Director of Program for Torture Victims * Dr. Dennis D. Loo Author, award-winning scholar and Professor of Sociology, Cal Poly, Pomona * Ameena Mirza Qazi Staff Attorney and Deputy Executive Director, CAIR-Los Angeles * Stephen Rohde Chair of ICUJP * Hector Villagra, Executive Director of ACLU- So CA January 11 marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S. governments announcement it would use Guantanamo as a prison in the war on terror. For the first time in the history of this country, the United States has systematically and deliberately engaged in torture, kidnapping (known by its euphemism "extraordinary rendition"), and indefinite imprisonment without trial, conviction or rational explanation as a matter of government policy. Torture is illegal under the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, and the UN Convention Against Torture, to which the U.S. is a signatory. And Guantanamo is just the tip of a torture iceberg that has included U.S. government black sites in Bagram Air Field in Iraq, Poland, Romania, Thailand and other locations. We are deeply troubled that torture conditions that once thought to be confined to dark places like Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo and Bagram are experienced on a daily basis in US prisons like the SHU at Pelican Bay, as the Prisoner Hunger Strikers have brought to public attention recently. It is fundamentally wrong to subject people to sensory deprivation, no human contact and prolonged solitary confinement whether they are labeled the "worst of the worst" in US prisons, or "terrorist suspects" confined overseas. The inhumanity of pushing human suffering beyond endurable limits that underlies both domestic and overseas treatment of prisoners must be ended. ICUJP calls on President Obama and Attorney General Holder to investigate and, where warranted, prosecute high U.S. government officials who have designed and implemented policies of torture since the U.S. announced the opening of Guantanamo on January 11, 2002. - 30 - ENDORSERS (in alphabetical order): Addicted to War * American Civil Liberties UnionSo CA * American Friends Service CommitteeLA * Amnesty International USA * ANSWER-LA * Bill of Rights Defense Committee * Center for Constitutional Rights * CODEPINK LA * Coffee Party * Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) * Hadsell Stormer Keeny Richardson & Renick LLP * LA Laborfest * LA Region Religious Campaign Against Torture (LARRCAT) * Law Offices of Michael S. Rapkin * MLK Coalition for Jobs, Justice, & Peace * National Lawyers Guild LA * National Lawyers Guild Campus Chapters- Loyola, Southwestern, UC Irvine, UC LA * Occupy The Hood * Office of the Americas * Out Against War * Pax ChristiLA & So CA * Program for Torture VictimsLA * Revolution Books * Schonbrun DeSimone Seplow Harris Hoffman & Harrison LLP * Shura Council of So CA * School of the Americas WatchLA * St. Camillus Center for Spiritual Care * Unifying Peace With Actions Respect & Dignity (UPWARD) * WE Project * World Cant Wait For more information: http://ccrjustice.org/illegal-detentions-and-guantanamo (Center for Constitutional Rights) http://www.salon.com/topic/guantanamo/ (Salon) Guantanamo Bay detention camp entry on Wikipedia * This Week at ICUJP: Take a look at our upcoming events <http://icujp.org/node/2> ! Support <https://npo.networkforgood.org/Donate/Donate.aspx?npoSubscriptionId=3087> ICUJP! DONATE NOW! Secure Donations Through Network for Good <http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html> Just Foreign Policy Iraqi Death Estimator Cost of War in Iraq $800,122,914,440 See the cost to your community at www.costofwar.com <http://www.costofwar.com/> Cost of War in Afghanistan $490,778,599,986 See the cost to your community at www.costofwar.com <http://www.costofwar.com/> ACLU National * Check <http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/check-out-our-close-gitmo-activi st-toolkit> Out Our "Close Gitmo" Activist Toolkit! * Keeping <http://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty/keeping-your-world-private- turning-googles-new-private-search-results> "Your World" Private: Turning off Google's New Private Search Results * Bowing <http://www.aclu.org/blog/prisoners-rights/bowing-aclu-lawsuit-south-carolin a-jail-lifts-book-ban> to ACLU Lawsuit, South Carolina Jail Lifts Book Ban more <http://icujp.org/aggregator/sources/1> Amnesty International * Guantánamo: <http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/guantanamo-decade-damage-human-rights-2012-0 1-11> A decade of damage to human rights * Maldives: <http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/maldives-attackers-remain-large-blogger-rele ased-2012-01-10> Attackers remain at large as blogger is released * Iran <http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/iran-urged-halt-execution-us-national-spying -case-2012-01-09> must halt execution of US national in spying case more <http://icujp.org/aggregator/sources/2> SPLC Hatewatch * Trial <http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2012/01/10/trial-opens-for-mahon-twins-white- supremacists-accused-in-arizona-bombing/> Opens for Mahon Twins, White Supremacists Accused in Arizona Bombing * AFAs <http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2012/01/06/afa%e2%80%99s-bryan-fischer-hiv-do esn%e2%80%99t-cause-aids/> Bryan Fischer: HIV Doesnt Cause AIDS * Racist <http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2012/01/05/racist-redneck-shop-in-south-carol ina-now-owned-by-black-church/> Redneck Shop in South Carolina Now Owned by Black Church more <http://icujp.org/aggregator/sources/3> Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace 817 W. 34th Street | Los Angeles, CA 90089 | tel. 213-748-1643 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 213-748-1643 end_of_the_skype_highlighting email ic...@pacbell.net (ICUJP Admin) email w...@icujp.org (web Admin) Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace (ICUJP) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and any donation is tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. War Is Not The Answer ~ Religious Communities Must Stop Blessing Wars No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.1901 / Virus Database: 2109/4734 - Release Date: 01/10/12 No virus found in this message. 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