8.6.23
Yesterday, June 7, campaigners in eleven locations around the world held coordinated vigils calling for the closure of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, as the prison marked 7,818 days of its existence.
I came up with the idea of coordinated global vigils after campaigners in the UK, with the UK Guantánamo Network (which I’m part of, and which includes members of various Amnesty International groups, Close Guantánamo and other groups) began holding monthly vigils on the first Wednesday of every month outside Parliament last September, and after there had been a flurry of global activity marking the 21st anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo (on January 11), I decided to reach out to activist friends in the US, in Europe, and in Mexico City, to see if they’d be interested in joining in and making the global protests a monthly affair.
I’m glad to note that there was an enthusiastic response. Witness Against Torture and Close Guantánamo campaigners in Washington, D.C. joined us in February, the World Can’t Wait and other New York groups joined us in March, along with campaigners in Mexico City, and Brussels, Los Angeles, Raleigh, NC and Cobleskill, NY joined us in April. Last month we also welcomed Amnesty International campaigners in Copenhagen and Detroit, as well as former prisoner Mansoor Adayfi in Belgrade.
This month, Amnesty campaigners joined us in Minneapolis for the first time, and former prisoners Ahmed Errachidi and Mohamedou Ould Slahi joined us in Morocco and the Netherlands, with Ahmed, Mohamedou, Mansoor and Natalia Rivera Scott in Mexico City all agreeing to hold up posters in Spanish, to add to the vigils also taking place in London, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Brussels, Copenhagen, and Cobleskill, NY.
Unfortunately, the vigil in New York has been postponed until next week, as the city, like much of the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, is currently engulfed in toxic air pollution from the wildfires burning out of control in Canada — a reminder, if any were needed, that campaigners for human rights also need to devote at least some of their time to the climate crisis, which is an ever-growing threat to us all. As Debra Sweet, the national director of the World Can’t Wait, wrote on Twitter, “Today’s NYC monthly vigil to close Guantánamo is postponed to Wed. June 14 due to the dangerous air quality caused by the global system of capitalism-imperialism destroying the planet, as it destroys human rights.”
The aim of the vigils has always been two-fold — to remind the Biden administration that people across the US and around the world still insist that Guantánamo must be closed, but also, specifically, to highlight that fact that, of the 30 men still held, 16 have been unanimously approved for release by high-level government review processes, and yet, shamefully, they are still held, as of June 7, between 257 and 4,884 days since the US authorities first decided that they no longer wanted to hold them.
For 13 of these men, the situation is complicated by the fact that third countries must be found that are prepared to offer them new homes. This is because, every year since the early days of the Obama presidency, Republicans have inserted prohibitions in the annual National Defense Authorization Act, preventing the return of men to certain proscribed countries (Yemen, in the cases of eleven of these men, and Libya and Somalia in the other two cases), along with a prohibition on bringing any prisoners to the US mainland for any reason.
Additionally, however, the situation is also complicated by the fact that the processes whereby these men were approved for release were purely administrative, meaning that the men cannot appeal to a court to ask a judge to prioritize freeing them if, as is apparent, the government is finding it hard to locate third countries, or is simply not trying hard enough.
The monthly coordinated global vigils continue on the first Wednesday every month, with the next vigils taking place on July 5, August 2 and September 6. Do join us if you can, and if there isn’t a vigil near you, feel free to set up your own, but if you do, please let me know, and please also take photos. As I hope this photo set demonstrates, the cumulative effect of vigils around the world is really quite powerful.
Thanks to Daphne Eviatar of Amnesty International USA for promoting the vigils to members across the US, and also to the Center for Constitutional Rights for promoting this month’s vigils. Thanks also to all the other supporting organisations: the Center for Victims of Torture, CAIR (the Council on American-Islamic Relations), Freedom From Torture, ICUJP (Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace), Muslim Counterpublics Lab, NRCAT (the National Religious Campaign Against Torture), No More Guantánamos, NYC Veterans For Peace, Schoharie Peacemakers and September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.
POSTSCRIPT: Below are photos of the delayed vigil for the closure of Guantánamo in New York City on Wednesday (June 14), a week after coordinated monthly vigils had taken place in other US cities and around the world. The delay, as noted above, was because, on June 7, apocalyptic orange skies engulfed New York City, as the wind blew debris south from Canada’s out of control wildfires, and New Yorkers were requested to stay indoors if possible. 18 people turned up for the rescheduled vigil, including Debra Sweet, the national director of the World Can’t Wait and other members of the group, Witness Against Torture’s Jeremy Varon, blogger The Talking Dog, the Raging Grannies, and members of NYC Veterans for Peace.
* * * * *
Andy Worthington is a freelance investigative journalist, activist, author, photographer (of an ongoing photo-journalism project, ‘The State of London’), film-maker and singer-songwriter (the lead singer and main songwriter for the London-based band The Four Fathers, whose music is available via Bandcamp). He is the co-founder of the Close Guantánamo campaign (see the ongoing photo campaign here) and the successful We Stand With Shaker campaign of 2014-15, and the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. He is also the co-director (with Polly Nash) of the documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (available on DVD here, or you can watch it online here, via the production company Spectacle, for £2.50).
In 2017, Andy became very involved in housing issues. He is the narrator of the documentary film, ‘Concrete Soldiers UK’, about the destruction of council estates, and the inspiring resistance of residents, he wrote a song ‘Grenfell’, in the aftermath of the entirely preventable fire in June 2017 that killed over 70 people, and, in 2018, he was part of the occupation of the Old Tidemill Wildlife Garden in Deptford, to try to prevent its destruction — and that of 16 structurally sound council flats next door — by Lewisham Council and Peabody.
Since 2019, Andy has become increasingly involved in environmental activism, recognizing that climate change poses an unprecedented threat to life on earth, and that the window for change — requiring a severe reduction in the emission of all greenhouse gases, and the dismantling of our suicidal global capitalist system — is rapidly shrinking, as tipping points are reached that are occurring much quicker than even pessimistic climate scientists expected. You can read his articles about the climate crisis here.
To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to Andy’s RSS feed — and he can also be found on Facebook (and here), Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. Also see the six-part definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, The Complete Guantánamo Files, the definitive Guantánamo habeas list, the full military commissions list, and the chronological list of all Andy’s articles.
Please also consider joining the Close Guantánamo campaign, and, if you appreciate Andy’s work, feel free to make a donation.
Investigative journalist, author, campaigner, commentator and public speaker. Recognized as an authority on Guantánamo and the “war on terror.” Co-founder, Close Guantánamo and We Stand With Shaker, singer/songwriter (The Four Fathers).
Email Andy Worthington
Please support Andy Worthington, independent journalist:
8 Responses
Andy Worthington says...
When I posted this on Facebook, I wrote:
Here’s my latest article, featuring photos from, and my report about the eleven coordinated global vigils for the closure of Guantanamo that took place on June 7, 2023 in locations including London, Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Detroit, Brussels, Copenhagen, Mexico City, Morocco, Serbia and the Netherlands.
The ongoing vigils take place on the first Wednesday of every month, and, as well as calling for the closure of the prison, also highlight the plight of the 16 men (out of the 30 still imprisoned) who have been approved for release but are still held — as of June 7, between 257 and 4,884 days since the US authorities first decided that they no longer wanted to hold them.
Unfortunately, New York’s vigil had to be postponed, because, like much of the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, it is currently engulfed in toxic air pollution from the wildfires burning out of control in Canada — a reminder, if any were needed, that campaigners for human rights also need to devote at least some of their time to the climate crisis, which is an ever-growing threat to us all.
...on June 8th, 2023 at 7:04 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Kevin Hester wrote:
Thank you so much for the leadership, integrity and courage you have invested in the plight of these abused people.
As we witness the rerise of fascism it’s dangerous for journalists in the UK.
Julian Assange’s public torturing is an indication how bad things have already become.
Thank you sir.
...on June 8th, 2023 at 11:59 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Thanks, as ever, for the supportive words, Kevin! 🙂
...on June 8th, 2023 at 11:59 pm
Andy Worthington says...
David Barrows wrote:
As we were protesting in our black hoods and orange jumpsuits at the U.S. Capitol, the limo entourage of Great Britain’s Prime Minister passed by us. We turned around to face the cars.
...on June 9th, 2023 at 12:00 am
Andy Worthington says...
Thanks for that, David!
...on June 9th, 2023 at 12:00 am
Noel Hamel says...
Fabulous! Since Amnesty International has taken over the campaign has gone from strength to strength. I am sorry not to be more active myself. The last time I joined a demonstration at Westminster on March 11 I was sick for two months after wards with a series of chain-reaction minor ailments. Now my wife needs to avoid anything that might compromise her immune system so I need to be cautious myself.
The Guantanamo authorities have shot themselves in the foot by making such hyper unreasonable accusations about its prisoners being “the worst of the worst”. No wonder most countries don’t want to host released prisoners. The whole Guantanamo charade makes the United States look like complete idiots. It is unjust that the prisoners have to suffer. It should be the jailers, if there were any justice whatever.
You all seem to be doing fine without me so perhaps I shouldn’t feel so guilty!
Good luck to you all.
Noel
...on June 11th, 2023 at 11:28 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Good to hear from you, Noel, and sorry to hear about your woes. Do look after yourself, and rest assured that we’re doing our best to maintain a significant presence outside Parliament every month.
You’re absolutely right about the US having created its own problems. Although the men awaiting their freedom have been unanimously approved for release by high-level US government review processes, it seems likely that potential host countries are also – without adequate explanation – also given access to the US government’s files on the prisoners, which, of course, are full of lies and distortions about their purported activities prior to capture, and their supposed “threat levels.”
...on June 12th, 2023 at 12:27 am
Andy Worthington says...
For a Spanish version, on the World Can’t Wait’s Spanish website, see ‘Fotos e informe: Vigilias mundiales coordinadas por el cierre de Guantánamo en once lugares de todo el mundo, incluidos Londres y Washington, D.C., el 7 de junio de 2023’: http://www.worldcantwait-la.com/worthington-fotos-e-informe-vigilias-mundiales-cierren-gtmo-y-6-23.htm
...on June 15th, 2023 at 10:02 pm