13.1.25
Saturday January 11 marked another gruesome and unforgivable milestone in the US’s ongoing long war on law and fundamental human decency — the 23rd anniversary of the opening of the “war on terror” prison at Guantánamo Bay, where, despite recent positive developments (the release of 15 men), another 15 are still held in varying states of lawlessness.
To mark the occasion, groups across the US and around the world, who have been admirably and diligently taking part in monthly coordinated “First Wednesday” vigils for the last two years calling for the prison’s closure, shifted the dates of their vigils to the anniversary — although normal service will be resumed next month, on Wednesday February 5.
Below are photos of the vigils in Washington, D.C., London, New York, San Francisco, Cobleskill, NY and Detroit. A planned vigil in Los Angeles had to be called off because of the wildfires, and other groups held vigils on other days — Portland, OR on January 1, and Mexico City on January 8 — with the vigil outside the European Parliament in Brussels taking place this coming Thursday, January 16. Groups involved include various Amnesty International groups, Witness Against Torture, the World Can’t Wait, Close Guantánamo, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, the UK Guantánamo Network, and many other groups, with other organizations also supporting the vigils on an ongoing basis.
On January 11, some other groups who don’t take part in the monthly vigils also joined us — in Greenfield, MA and Augusta, ME, and today vigils also took place in Cleveland and Toledo, OH, although to date we’ve only received photos from Greenfield. Many of those involved in the vigils also took photos with the Close Guantánamo campaign’s poster marking 8,400 days of the prison’s existence on January 9, for which 147 photos to date have been received, which can be found on the website here: Gitmo Clock 2025 photos. They are a wonderful testimony to the breadth and depth of ordinary people’s commitment to the closure of this wretched prison, both across the US and also around the world.
Although just 15 men are still held, it’s starting to look unlikely that any will be freed before President Biden leaves office, and, it is reasonable to assume, Donald Trump will then seal the prison shut as he did in his first term in office. I’ll be writing a detailed article soon about these 15 men — three long approved for release, three still held as “forever prisoners”, never charged but not approved for release either, and the nine others caught up in the broken military commission trial system,
Maintaining hope in the face of a Trump administration can be difficult, as we learned between 2017 and 2020, but it remains essential to keep trying to remind the world about the continued existence of Guantánamo because, even at the best of times, it is almost entirely ignored, as amnesia, indifference or outright hostility engulf politicians and the mainstream media.
As the most enduring US crime scene of the 21st century, however, Guantánamo, the men still held there, and the men who have been released but, in too many cases, have found themselves still marginalized and dehumanized, deserves the attention of everyone who claims to respect the rules of law, and who has not lost touch with fundamental human decency.
I hope to see some of you on Wednesday February 5, 2025, for the resumption of the “First Wednesday” vigils. In the meantime, check out the rest of the photos below.
POSTSCRIPT: On January 16, campaigners in Brussels held a delayed vigil, coinciding with a screening of “The Mauritanian”, the excellent feature film about Mohamedou Ould Slahi, directed by Kevin Macdonald, and the photos below are from their vigil and cinema trip!
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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 new Substack account, set up in November 2024, where he’ll be sending out a weekly newsletter, or his 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).
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16 Responses
Andy Worthington says...
When I posted this on Facebook, I wrote:
Photos from, and my report about the vigils for the closure of Guantanamo that took place across the US and in London on January 11, 2025, the truly shameful 23rd anniversary of the opening of the prison. Most of those involved are part of the coordinated monthly global vigils that have been taking place on the first Wednesday of every month for the last two years, and which will continue under Donald Trump.
With 15 men recently released, the vigils involved a huge sense of relief that Biden had finally taken action after 20 months in which no prisoners were freed, but 15 men still remain, all held in what I describe as “varying states of lawlessness.”
...on January 13th, 2025 at 11:06 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Natalia Rivera Scott wrote:
I love all the photos, family!!! Specially the ones in the snow. Thank you for being part of this 🧡
...on January 14th, 2025 at 12:26 pm
Andy Worthington says...
We are indeed a global family, Natalia, providing support and encouragement to each other in the face of widespread indifference, from politicians and the mainstream media, that this monstrous facility is still open, and that 15 men are still held – all, quite fundamentally, deprived of the kind of due process that anyone should expect if they’re detained and deprived for their liberty, and especially over more than two decades. As so often in these degraded times, it is the people – and in this case perhaps no more than a few hundred people worldwide – rather than lawmakers or journalists, who are standing up for what is right.
...on January 14th, 2025 at 12:26 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Russell B Fuller wrote:
Thanks, Andy, for the magnificent effort you have put into this.
...on January 14th, 2025 at 12:27 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Thanks so much for the supportive words, Russell. It is an indictment of the failures of politicians and the mainstream media to recognize the significance of the corrosive lawlessness of Guantanamo that has drive me for all this time – as well as a concern for rehumanizing men deliberately stripped of their identities by their captors. Everyone should be concerned when any group of people are stripped of due process, and, as the last 15 months have shown us, so horrendously, when an entire people are dehumanized, it is all too easy for all notions of restraint and proportionality to be abandoned, and for barbarism and depravity to take over instead.
...on January 14th, 2025 at 12:27 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Valerie Jeans wrote:
Thank you so much!
...on January 14th, 2025 at 12:28 pm
Andy Worthington says...
You’re most welcome, Valerie. Thanks for your many years of support and interest.
...on January 14th, 2025 at 12:28 pm
Guantánamo vigils and a one-hour podcast - IndieNewsNow says...
[…] in London held vigils for the prison’s closure, as I reported in my latest article on my website, Photos and Report: Close Guantánamo Vigils Marking the 23rd Anniversary of the Prison’s Opening, …, which features numerous inspiring photos of our global community — most of whom have been […]
...on January 14th, 2025 at 11:13 pm
Andy Worthington says...
For a Spanish version, on the World Can’t Wait’s Spanish website, see ‘Fotos y reportaje: Vigilias de Cerrar Guantánamo con motivo por el 23º aniversario de la apertura de la prisión, 11 de enero de 2025’: http://worldcantwait-la.com/worthington-fotos-y-reportaje-vigilias-de-cerrar-gtmo-con-motivo-23-aniversario-apertura-prision-11-1-25.htm
...on January 15th, 2025 at 9:47 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Natalia Rivera Scott wrote, in response to 3, above:
Andy, we may not be a lot but I know each member of this special family has had these men in their hearts for years and are people with huge hearts and courage, standing up for what is right. I’m proud to be part of this. Thank you for creating this family 🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡
...on January 15th, 2025 at 9:48 pm
Andy Worthington says...
🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡 Natalia! (the question is: how many orange hearts can you post, for me to cut and paste in my reply?)
...on January 15th, 2025 at 9:49 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Russell B Fuller wrote, in response to 5, above:
Andy, appreciate your leadership in these regards.
...on January 15th, 2025 at 9:50 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Thank you so much, Russell! 🙂
...on January 15th, 2025 at 9:50 pm
Trump’s vile plan to hold 30,000 migrants at Guantánamo Bay - IndieNewsNow says...
[…] coming Wednesday, the monthly coordinated global vigils for the closure of the prison at Guantánamo Bay — the “First Wednesday” vigils, which have […]
...on January 31st, 2025 at 10:02 pm
How Does Trump Propose To Redefine Immigrants So They’re Beyond The Reach Of The Law? - IndieNewsNow says...
[…] for the second time, it seemed that the “war on terror” prison at Guantánamo Bay, which had recently marked the 23rd anniversary of its opening, might become as marginalized and generally forgotten as it was […]
...on February 7th, 2025 at 12:55 am
Avec Trump, le camp de torture de Guantanamo deviendra une prison pour 30 000 migrants. (LukVervaet - 04/02/25) - L'Hermine Rouge says...
[…] [1]https://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2025/01/13/photos-and-report-close-guantanamo-vigils-marking-the-2… […]
...on February 8th, 2025 at 1:30 pm