Guantanamo campaigns

My photos of, and a report about the protest for the closure of Guantánamo that took place in central London on Jan. 8, 2022, with a march of 39 campaigners in orange jumpsuits and hoods, representing the 39 men still held, and speakers in Trafalgar Square.

Events taking place to mark the 20th anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantánamo Bay on Jan. 11, 2022, featuring myself and Tom Wilner, with whom I co-founded the Close Guantánamo campaign in 2012. Some of these events are in the US, some are in the UK, and they are mostly online but with a few carefully managed Iive events.

The video of “Life After Guantánamo,” an online discussion between myself and former prisoner Mansoor Adayfi, hosted by the Justice for Muslims Collective, which took place last week, and was intended primarily as a fundraiser for Mansoor. We discussed resistance at Guantánamo, the deaths of prisoners, art classes, and how the “taint” of Guantánamo haunts former prisoners, and is an ongoing part of the dehumanization process established at the prison nearly 20 years ago. It is also an injustice that I hope to address through establishing a new organization aimed at removing the “enemy combatant” stigma, and, ultimately, holding the US to account for the fundamental lawlessness of Guantánamo.

Publicizing a petition calling on President Biden to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, which, impressively, secured over 330,000 signatures. Initiated by groups including Daily Kos, MPower Change and Amnesty International USA, it was delivered to the White House on September 20, the 20th anniversary of George W. Bush telling Congress that the US had launched a “war on terror” in response to the 9/11 attacks.

A cross-post of a detailed article about Guantánamo activism over the last 12 years, from President Obama’s eight years in office, through the four lamentable years of Donald Trump, to the current hopes pinned on President Biden. Written by Jeremy Varon of Witness Against Torture, it was originally published on the Waging Nonviolence website.

A letter to President Biden, urging him to close Guantánamo, and to end indefinite detention without charge or trial, signed by 111 organizations, including Close Guantanamo, which I co-founded nine years ago with the US attorney Tom Wilner.

Reprieve has just launched a website counting, in real time, how long their client Ahmed Rabbani has been on a hunger strike — 2,846 days, as of Nov. 17, 2020. This is a shocking amount of time, as is Ahmed’s skeletal state — he weighs just 39 kilos, or 6 stone 2 pounds. I argue that it is time for Ahmed, like other “forever prisoners,” who genuinely don’t pose a threat to the US, to be released.

A cross-post, with my own introduction, of a detailed proposal for how the prison at Guantánamo Bay can be closed, if Donald Trump is removed from the White House in November, as written by representatives of six NGOs for the Just Security website.

Every three months I ask you, if you can, to make a donation to support my ongoing work as a reader-funded journalist, campaigner and photo-journalist, working to get Guantánamo closed, and also recording London on a daily basis via photos and accompanying essays in my project ‘The State of London.’

An interview about my activism — involving Stonehenge and the Battle of the Beanfield, Guantánamo, the housing ‘regeneration’ industry in the UK, and the currently unfolding environmental crisis — as published in Gonzo Weekly and International Times, based on questions from the publisher and activist Alan Dearling.