Peace group to fast for Guantanamo detainees and deliver letter to US Consul General in Halifax

Coalition wants Guantanamo prison closed

by Tamara Lorincz

 

Peace group to fast for Guantanamo detainees and deliver letter to US Consul General in Halifax

 

(Halifax) – Today, members of the Halifax Peace Coalition will be fasting and holding a vigil in solidarity with the detainees who are on a hunger strike at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. The vigil will take place from 4:00-5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7 outside the U.S. Consulate General at Purdy’s Wharf in Halifax.

 

The peace group is concerned about the health of the detainees and wants the prison closed. There are at least 100 detainees who have been on a hunger strike since February 6. They are being force-fed, though the American Medical Association has deemed the practice unethical and inhumane.

 

Currently, 166 men remain in detention at Guantanamo without charge or trial. There are 86 men who have been cleared for release but continue to languish in the prison. These desperate men have been held for upwards of 10 years without due process. Fifty-seven of the cleared detainees are from Yemen and the present government wants these men returned home. One cleared detainee is a British citizen, Shaker Aamer. He has been cleared for release twice, but is still behind bars after 11 years. Kuwaiti prisoner Fouzi Al Awda, has been held for 11 years while the Kuwaiti government, another US ally, has repeatedly called for his repatriation.

 

The Halifax Peace Coalition has opposed the arbitrary detention and torture of people, including Canadian Omar Khadr, at the Guantanamo prison. Khadr is the Canadian who was detained by the U.S. when he was 15 years old, tortured and imprisoned at Guantanamo from 2002 to 2010. Last September, Khadr was transferred to a Canadian prison.

 

The Halifax Peace Coalition is delivering an open letter to President Obama to the U.S. Consulate in Halifax. The letter lets President Obama know that there are Canadians concerned about the detainees and calls on him to live up to his promise to close the prison. The coalition endorses the recommendations of the American Civil Liberties Union that the President use his power to immediately transfer the detainees and appoint a senior point person so that the administration's Guantanamo closure policy is directed by the White House and not by Pentagon bureaucrats. For more information, please visit the Halifax Peace Coalition’s web site: www.halifaxpeacecoalition.ca

 

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY:

What: Fast and vigil in support of the Guantanamo detainees & deliver letter to President Obama When: Tuesday, May 7 from 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

Where: U.S. Consulate General, Purdy’s Wharf II, 1969 Upper Water Street, Halifax

Why: Express concern for detainees at Guantanamo Prison and to call on President to close the prison

 

BACKGROUND:

• American Civil Liberties Union: http://www.aclu.org/close-guantanamo
• Close Guantanamo: http://www.closeguantanamo.org/
• Read about the prisoners' terrible plight here: http://rt.com/news/guantanamo-bay-hunger-strikers-502/
• Halifax Peace Coalition www.halifaxpeacecoalition.ca

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For additional information and interviews, please contact:Tamara Lorincz, Member of the Halifax Peace Coalition, Ph: (902) 443-2423 / Cell: (902) 478-1379 / Email: tlorincz@dal.ca