September 12, 2013
Solidarity actions for the prisoners have taken place around the
world citing indefinite detention without trial, no release for years
after prisoners are cleared for release and painful forced
nasal-gastric feeding tubes shoved up the nose of prisoners on
long-term hunger strikers and dangerously pushed down into their
stomachs.
While Syria dominates the news now, let's not forget about the
prisoners in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Prison. Two
prisoners were released from the military prison in Guantanamo,
Cuba, without fanfare on August 28, the first releases since the Obama
administration freed two Muslims of Uighur ethnicity and sent them to
live in El Salvador on April 2012. On Sept 29, 2012, Canadian Omar
Khadr was sent to his home nation of Canada to complete a seven-year
prison sentence after his conviction by the military commission of
while as a 15 year old, shooting at American soldiers as they attacked
the compound of family members in Afghanistan.
On August 28, Nabil Hadjarab and Mutia Sadiq Ahmad Sayyab, both
Algerian citizens, were released from Guantanamo and transported to
Algeria. Hadjarab, now 34, was captured in Afghanistan on suspicion of
being a low-level al-Qaida fighter. He was sent to Guantanamo in
February 2002. He had been eligible for release since 2006 and took
part in hunger strikes at Guantanamo because of his continued
imprisonment.
Sayyab, now 37, who had worked as a chef in France and Syria, was
arrested in Pakistan as a part of the U.S. bounty program in which
hundreds of foreigners were sold to the U.S. after the U.S. invasion of
Afghanistan. Sayyab also was cleared for release years earlier but, due
to congressional restrictions on transfers, had to remain at
Guantanamo. Sayyab also had joined in hunger strikes at the prison to
call attention to the prisoners' indefinite detention.
There are 164
prisoners who still remain at Guantanamo; 84 have been cleared for
release but still remain locked up.
September 5, 2013, marked day 209 of the hunger strike by
prisoners at Guantanamo. 34 prisoners continue on the hunger strike and
31 are being force-fed through tubes in the nose to the stomach. Two
months ago, 106 prisoners were on a hunger strike, 46 were being force
fed and 3 prisoners were hospitalized.
Solidarity Actions
Solidarity actions for the prisoners have taken place around the
world citing indefinite detention without trial, no release for years
after prisoners are cleared for release and painful forced
nasal-gastric feeding tubes shoved up the nose of prisoners on
long-term hunger strikers and dangerously pushed down into their
stomachs.
Weekly vigils take place around the United States. In Washington,
DC, each Friday Witness Against Torture holds a vigil in front
of the White House.
On June 26, a large national mobilization at the White House ended
with 21 people arrested for refusing to move from in front of the
President's residence. One protester, Diane Wilson, climbed the White
House fence and attempted to sit on the fence, but fell into the White
House grounds.
Wilson had been on a water-only hunger strike for 58 days. She was
arrested and tried on September 6 for unlawful entry. She was found
guilty of unlawful entry on September 6 and sentenced to 90 days in
jail, but the sentence was suspended.
Several other international activists have been on long term
solidarity hunger strikes. Cynthia Papermeister of Berkeley,
California ended her 82-day, 300-calorie-per-day liquid hunger strike,
on September 6 with the release of the Algerian prisoners. Elliot
Adams of Sharon, New York, was on a 300-calorie hunger fast for 80 days
from May 18 to August 4, 2013.
Tarak Kauff of Woodstock, New York, was on a 300-calorie hunger
fast for 58 days from June 7 through August 4, 2013. Brian Willson of
Portland, Oregon, suspended his hunger strike on June 10 after 31 days
on a 300-calorie-per-day strike due to being accidentally hit by a car.
Activist undergoes Nasal-Gastric tube Feeding in Solidarity
with Guantanamo Hunger Strikers
On September 6, Andres Conteris, who has been on a water-only
hunger strike for 60 days, was voluntarily force fed with a
nasal-gastric tube in
front of the White House to demonstrate the painfulness of what 32
prisoners at Guantanamo are subjected to on a daily basis by US
military medical personnel. Conteris said the forced feeding was
"excruciatingly painful." He said that he could not imagine how the
Guantanamo prisoners who have been force fed for months can possibly
stand the procedures as their nostrils and throats are swollen from
constant pushing of the tubes down through the nose, throat and
stomach.
Hundreds of others throughout the world are on shorter solidarity
hunger strikes.
Ann Wright is a 29 year US Army/Army Reserves veteran who retired as a Colonel and a former US diplomat who resigned in March, 2003 in opposition to the war on Iraq. She served in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia and Mongolia. In December, 2001 she was on the small team that reopened the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is the co-author of the book "Dissent: Voices of Conscience." (www.voicesofconscience.com). She has written frequently on rape in the military.
--
Freedom Archives
Freedom Archives
--
SIGN THE JERICHO COINTELPRO PETITION!
Free All Political Prisoners!
www.jerichony.org
No comments:
Post a Comment