Photos and Report: Eight Global Vigils for the Closure of Guantánamo on February 7, 2024
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As the prison at Guantánamo Bay continues its miserable existence, now in its 23rd year of denying justice to the men held, and betraying every legal principle that is supposed to distinguish the US from dictatorships, I’m grateful to the campaigners across the US, and around the world, who, following the annual protests for Guantánamo’s closure on January 11, the 22nd anniversary of its opening, have resumed the monthly vigils that I initiated a year ago to try to keep a light shining on Guantánamo once a month rather than just once a year.
Via organizations including numerous Amnesty International groups, the UK Guantánamo Network, Witness Against Torture and The World Can’t Wait, vigils took place on Wednesday (February 7) in Washington, D.C., Cobleskill, NY, Detroit and San Francisco, as well as in Mexico City and London, where I joined fellow campaigners outside the Houses of Parliament, and in Brussels and Copenhagen, where campaigners held their vigils on the preceding days.
Photos and Report: The Global Vigils for the Closure of Guantánamo on the 22nd Anniversary of the Prison’s Opening
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For those of us who care about quaint notions like the rule of law, due process, habeas corpus, the Geneva Conventions, the prohibition on the use of torture, the right to a fair trial, and the right not to be indefinitely imprisoned without charge or trial, the arrival, every year, of January 11 is always a difficult occasion.
January 11, 2002 was when the “war on terror” prison at Guantánamo Bay first opened, when all of the above were jettisoned by the Bush administration in a bonfire of all domestic and international laws and treaties regarding the imprisonment of individuals.
This year marked the 22nd anniversary of the opening of the prison, and yet, alarmingly, all of the violations outlined above are still largely in place, and, just as alarmingly, almost no one in the United States — in the government, the media and the population as a whole — even cares, even though, in the last seven years, just eleven men have been freed from the prison.
The violations of all domestic and international norms regarding the imprisonment of individuals at Guantánamo are so severe that last June, after Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism, became the first UN Rapporteur to be allowed to visit the prison, she wrote in a devastating report that the systemic legal and medical problems at Guantánamo, as well as the ongoing dehumanization of the men held, and the restrictions on contact with their families, were so severe that they amount to “ongoing cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment” that “may also meet the legal threshold for torture.”
30 men are still held at Guantánamo — out of the 779 men and boys held at the prison since it first opened — and yet all are still trapped in circumstances that would be intolerable if they were applied anywhere else in the US justice system, or, indeed, anywhere else in the world.
16 of these men have been unanimously approved for release by high-level US government review processes, and yet they have continued to be held for years since the US authorities first decided that they no longer wanted to hold them indefinitely without charge or trial. In the cases of 13 of these men, they had been held for between 475 and 1,169 days since these decisions were taken, as of January 11, and in the other three cases for an unforgivable 5,102 days.
There is is still no sign of when, if ever, they will be freed, because the decisions taken to release them were purely administrative, and therefore have no legal weight, meaning that there is no one they can appeal to if, as is clearly the case, the executive branch has demonstrably failed to regard the restoration of their freedom as any kind of priority.
Three others remain as “forever prisoners” — neither charged nor approved for release — and, although the remaining eleven have been charged with crimes, they are caught up in the broken military commission trial system, which has proven to be incapable of delivering justice — fundamentally because the men in question were brutally and extensively tortured in CIA “black sites,” and the use of torture is incompatible with any practical implementation of justice.
Last year, in other opinions by the UN Special Mandates, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued a devastating opinion in the case of one of the “forever prisoners,” Abu Zubaydah, for whom the CIA’s post-9/11 torture program was first implemented, in which they condemned his ongoing imprisonment as arbitrary detention, ordered his release and compensation, and also expressed “grave concern” that the very basis of the detention system at Guantánamo “may constitute crimes against humanity.”
The Working Group also issued another devastating opinion in the case of one of the men charged, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, also calling for his release and compensation, and quoting a medical expert, Dr. Sondra Crosby, who, after visiting him several years ago, described him as “one of the most severely traumatized individuals I have ever seen.” Al-Nashiri’s trial judge later condemned efforts by the government to erase the effects of his torture via testimony obtained “non-coercively” after his arrival at Guantánamo, and yet, although these stories (and Fionnuala’s report) caused brief ripples of interest in the media, the Biden administration’s response has been one of almost total indifference.
Although few people care about Guantánamo, those who do — and who recognize that last year’s reports have quite definitively portrayed the prison as an active crime scene — have persistently taken upon themselves the weight of everyone else’s abdication of responsibility, campaigning, petitioning and contacting their elected representatives, and persistently highlighting both the legal, moral and ethical abominations of Guantánamo, and its impact of the men held, who they have persistently sought to humanize.
Every year, on the anniversary, vigils take place across the US and around the world calling for the closure of Guantánamo. For ten years, from 2011 to 2020, I traveled to the US to take part in the annual vigil outside the White House, organized by numerous groups including Amnesty International USA, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, Witness Against Torture and the World Can’t Wait.
Covid brought those annual visits to an end, but by the time that crisis had passed the interest in Guantánamo had dwindled to such an extent that it didn’t seem worthwhile any longer for me to contribute to the pollution caused by air travel to visit the country that is responsible for Guantánamo, but where the opportunities to use my vast knowledge of the prison, and those held there, to express my indignation and to try and reach out to people has become almost non-existent.
A year ago, after the typical flurry of activity on and around the anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo, I decided to try to amplify the voices of activists on a more regular basis, following up on the monthly vigils that a group of activists, myself included, had recently started holding in London (largely involving activists with various local Amnesty International groups, coming together with other campaigners as the UK Guantánamo Network) by reaching out to friends and colleagues in the US and elsewhere around the world to encourage them to join us in holding monthly coordinated global vigils for Guantánamo’s closure.
With the support of Amnesty International USA and other groups (most noticeably Witness Against Torture and the World Can’t Wait), these have become a regular occurrence, typically involving coordinated protests in Washington, D.C., New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cobleskill, NY, Detroit and Minneapolis, as well as London, Mexico City, Copenhagen and Brussels, and on January 11 these protests were augmented by other protests in Raleigh, NC, in Greenfield and Northampton, MA, in Augusta, Maine, in Toledo, Ohio, in Cleveland, Ohio, in Boston and in Berkeley.
Please see below for more photos from these vigils, at which campaigners also took photos with the Close Guantánamo campaign’s poster marking 8,036 days of the prison’s existence on January 11, as part of an ongoing campaign that began six years ago, and that involves posters marking every 100 days of Guantánamo’s existence, as well as marking the anniversaries of its opening. We received over 100 photos for January 11, and in December, when we marked 8,000 days, we received 170 photos.
I hope that as many people as possible will join us in 2024, as we resume our monthly vigils in February, on Wednesday February 7, continuing on the first Wednesday of every month thereafter, and that you’ll also join us for the ongoing photo campaign, marking 8,100 days of Guantánamo’s existence on March 15, 8,200 days on June 23, 8,300 days on October 1, and, sadly, 8,400 days on January 9, 2025, just two days before the 23rd anniversary of the prison’s opening. Hopefully, by then, the population of Guantánamo will be significantly smaller than it is now.
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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 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.
8,000 Days of Guantánamo: Vigils Take Place Around the World and 170 Former Prisoners, Lawyers, Politicians and Campaigners Join Photo Campaign
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Wednesday December 6 was a big day for Guantánamo activism, as it marked 8,000 days since the prison opened, and also coincided with the date for the latest global vigils, calling for the closure of Guantánamo, which I initiated in February, and which have been taking place across the US, in London, Mexico City, and elsewhere, every month since.
To mark 8,000 wretched and unforgivably long days of the prison’s existence, I encouraged anti-Guantánamo campaigners around the world to take a photo with the 8,000 days poster, hosted on the Gitmo Clock website, an initiative of the Close Guantánamo campaign, which I established nearly 12 years ago, on the 10th anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo.
The Gitmo Clock has been counting, in real time, how long Guantánamo has been open for nearly six years, since the 16th anniversary of the prison’s opening, on January 11, 2018, when the lamentable Donald Trump was president, and when the prison had been open for 5,845 days.
Photos and Report: The Coordinated Global Vigils for the Closure of Guantánamo on November 1, 2023
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Photos and Report: The Coordinated Global Vigils for the Closure of Guantánamo on October 4, 2023
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UPDATE October 12: Added below are four photos from the UK Guantánamo Network‘s vigil in Parliament Square, in London, which took place a week late, on Wednesday October 11, because of a train strike on October 4.
On Wednesday October 4, the latest monthly coordinated vigils for the closure of Guantánamo took place in eleven locations worldwide — Washington, D.C., New York City, San Francisco, Raleigh, NC, Mexico City, Brussels, Copenhagen, Los Angeles, Detroit, Cobleskill, NY, and Minneapolis, although in the latter location no photographer was available. In London, we delayed our vigil for a week until October 11, because of a train strike, and I’ll be adding photos next week.
The vigils take place on the first Wednesday of every month, and began in February, when I asked friends and colleagues across the US, and in Mexico City, Brussels and Copenhagen, to join the monthly vigils for the prison’s closure that campaigners in London had been undertaking since September last year, drawing on a long tradition of Guantánamo vigils outside the Houses of Parliament.
For the previous vigils, please see my reports from March, April, May, June, July, August and September, all accompanied by numerous photos.
Photos and Report: Global Vigils for the Closure of Guantánamo on September 6, 2023
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On Wednesday September 6, the latest monthly coordinated vigils for the closure of Guantánamo took place in ten locations worldwide — London, Washington, D.C., Mexico City, Detroit, Cobleskill, NY, Brussels and Copenhagen, and with San Francisco and Saratoga Springs, NY joining us for the first time. Aaron Tovo held a solitary vigil in Minneapolis, after some last-minute cancellations, although no one was there to photograph him, and campaigners in New York City have delayed their vigil to September 13.
The vigils take place on the first Wednesday of every month, and began in February, when I asked friends and colleagues across the US, and in Mexico City, Brussels and Copenhagen, to join the monthly vigils for the prison’s closure that campaigners in London had been undertaking since September last year, drawing on a long tradition of Guantánamo vigils outside the Houses of Parliament.
For the development of the vigils, please see my reports from March, April, May, June, July and August, all accompanied by numerous photos.
Photos and Report: Global Vigils for the Closure of Guantánamo on August 2, 2023
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On Wednesday (August 2), the latest monthly coordinated vigils for the closure of Guantánamo took place in seven locations worldwide — London, Washington, D.C., New York City, Mexico City, Detroit, Cobleskill, NY and Los Angeles — with former prisoner Mansoor Adayfi joining us in a one-man vigil in his apartment in Belgrade.
Because it’s holiday season, campaigners in a few locations — Brussels, Copenhagen and Minneapolis — were unable to join us this month, but they’ll be back next month, on Wednesday September 6, when, we’re glad to hear, many of the campaigners involved around the world are working towards making their vigils as prominent as possible.
The vigils take place on the first Wednesday of every month, and began in February, when I asked friends and colleagues across the US, and in Mexico City, Brussels and Copenhagen, to join the monthly vigils for the prison’s closure that campaigners in London had been undertaking since September last year, drawing on a long tradition of Guantánamo vigils outside the Houses of Parliament.
Photos and Report: The Latest Coordinated Global Vigils for the Closure of Guantánamo on July 5, 2023
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Last Wednesday, July 5, coordinated vigils took place around the world calling for the closure of the prison at Guantánamo Bay. My apologies for posting the photos and this report so late, but I took a week’s holiday beginning the day of the vigils, which involved a healthy seven days of digital detox, and I’m only just now back online.
The vigils take place on the first Wednesday of every month, and began in February, when I put a call out to friends and colleagues across the US, and in Mexico City, Brussels and Copenhagen, to join the monthly vigils that campaigners in London had been undertaking since September last year, drawing on a long tradition of vigils for the closure of Guantánamo outside the Houses of Parliament.
For the development of the vigils, please see the photos and reports from March, April, May and June.
Photos and Report: Coordinated Global Vigils for Guantánamo’s Closure in Eleven Locations Worldwide, Including London and Washington, D.C., on June 7, 2023
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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.
Photos and Report: The Coordinated Global Vigils for the Closure of Guantánamo in London, Washington, D.C., New York, Mexico City, Copenhagen, Brussels and Detroit on May 3, 2023
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On Wednesday (May 3), the latest coordinated global vigils for the closure of the prison at Guantánamo Bay took place in eight cities across the world — London, Washington, D.C. New York, Mexico City, Copenhagen, Brussels, Detroit and Los Angeles — and with former prisoner Mansoor Adayfi joining us in Belgrade.
The idea for coordinated vigils arose from the monthly vigils that the UK Guantánamo Network (a coalition of various Amnesty groups, Close Guantánamo and other groups) started last September, and I was inspired to try coordinating vigils worldwide after reflecting on the various actions marking the 21st anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo in January.
Fortunately, friends in Washington, D.C. agreed to join in in February, with New York and Mexico City joining in March, and Brussels, Los Angeles, Raleigh, NC and Cobleskill, NY joining last month, and this month we were delighted to also welcome campaigners in Copenhagen and Detroit.
Who's still at Guantánamo?
