Guantánamo Art Exhibition Opens at Rich Mix in London on December 5, with Mansoor Adayfi and Andy Worthington

The poster for “Don’t Forget Us Here”, the exhibition of Guantánamo prisoners’ artwork at Rich Mix, in London, opening on December 5, 2024, and running until January 5, 2025.

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I’m delighted to announce that, on Thursday December 5, an exhibition of Guantánamo prisoners’ artwork, “Don’t Forget Us Here”, named after the 2021 memoir of former prisoner Mansoor Adayfi, will be launching at Rich Mix, a cultural and community space in Shoreditch, at 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London E1 6LA.

The exhibition will be running until January 5, with an opening event, starting at 6pm on December 5, featuring Mansoor and myself as speakers. It was organized by the UK Guantánamo Network (an umbrella group of organizations calling for Guantánamo’s closure), in collaboration with Amnesty International UK, and was put together by Lise Rossi and Dominique O’Neil, core team members of the UK Guantánamo Network, and Amnesty International members.

The exhibition — the first in the UK — is a version of an exhibition of artwork by current and former prisoners that first opened at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City in October 2017, and that has since toured across the US, as well as in Berlin and the European Parliament.

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Photos and Report: Dismay and Determination at the Global Vigils for Guantánamo’s Closure on November 6, 2024

Photos from the coordinated monthly global vigils for the closure of Guantánamo on November 6, 2024. Clockwise from top left: Washington, D.C., London, New York City and Cobleskilll, NY.

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Weariness mingled with determination marked the mood at the nine monthly coordinated vigils for the closure of the prison at Guantánamo Bay that took place across the US, and in London and Brussels, on November 6, 2024, the day after the US Presidential Election, when it had already become clear that Donald Trump would be the next president of the United States. Those involved represent organizations including Amnesty InternationalClose GuantánamoWitness Against Torture, the World Can’t Wait, NRCAT (the National Religious Campaign Against Torture), Veterans for Peace and the UK Guantánamo Network.

Photos of these vigils are posted below, along with comments from those involved in organizing them, reflecting on their feelings as the news began to sink in that, in just ten weeks’ time, Guantánamo’s biggest supporter will be back in the White House. Please enjoy the photos and the commentary, and continue reading for my reflections on what this particular result means for the 30 men still held at Guantánamo. The next vigils are on Wednesday December 4, and in January we’ll break from our normal vigils on the first Wednesday of every month to join with other groups on Saturday January 11, the 23rd anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo, when we’ll also be marking 8,400 days of Guantánamo’s existence.

Campaigners with Witness Against Torture and Close Guantánamo outside the White House in Washington, D.C. on November 6, 2024. Helen Schietinger of Witness Against Torture wrote, “The mood in front of the White House was weird at noon on the day after the election. No Secret Service or Park Police asked what our intentions were; six Metropolitan police walked past us in a group. Lots of media milled around waiting for something to happen, along with a few random individuals. We stood outside the huge fence walling off two-thirds of Lafayette Park, and the grandstands being erected inside on Pennsylvania Ave for the inauguration blocked the view of the White House. Also, there was high fencing along the outer perimeter of the park, with two doors permitting park entry but obviously on the ready to be closed if police decided to kick everyone out and close it. It felt good to be witnessing for the men in the park, but it will take much more to demand that Biden release all 16 men who have been cleared before he leaves office.”
Campaigners with the UK Guantánamo Network, from across London and the south east, and mostly involved in local Amnesty International groups, outside the main entrance to the US Embassy in Nine Elms, London on November 6, 2024. Andy Worthington says, “After holding the vigil across the road from the embassy, we negotiated with the police to be allowed to walk around it for photo opportunities. Permission was eventually granted after much consultation, but we were kept as far from the embassy as possible, almost as though the US government’s representatives feared being contaminated by our evidently deeply subversive message: that no one, under any circumstances, should ever be held indefinitely without charge or trial.” (Photo: Andy Worthington).
Campaigners from groups including the World Can’t Wait on the steps of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue on November 6, 2024. Debra Sweet, the national director of the World Can’t Wait (on the right of the photo), wrote, “Sleepless night here. There is NO way to put a positive spin on what is happening. Nevertheless, we carry on.” (Photo: Felton Davis).
Campaigners with Amnesty International and the World Can’t Wait in the Castro district of San Francisco on November 6, 2024. Gavrilah Wells wrote, “It was an impossibly hard day here. We set up in the Castro again and were joined by some friends from AIUSA Group 30. I was so incredibly grateful to spend time with community members as we grieved and braced ourselves for what’s to come while also getting the word out to folks urging Biden to close Gitmo before he leaves office and to free the 16 men cleared for release. We got some postcards signed and made a few new friends as we often do.”
Campaigners outside the European Parliament in Brussels on November 6, 2024.
Campaigners with the Peacemakers of Schoharie County in Cobleskill, NY on October 2, 2024. Sue Spivack wrote, “It felt good to stand on our vigil this afternoon after the debacle of our election.  Seven Peacemakers turned out to witness for the need to close GITMO prison immediately before the fascist Trump and his minions take power, which means first of all freeing the 16 men cleared for release, and resolving every other prisoner’s case through plea deals. We’ll be calling on President Biden and Vice-President Harris to take these important actions immediately, before they leave office in January.”
Campaigners with Amnesty International outside the Federal Building in Detroit on November 6, 2024. Geraldine Grunow wrote, “Yesterday the mood was pretty gloomy; we are all trying to work out what can be done to help keep ourselves hopeful, and counter all the possible attacks that the new administration will make on human rights. We do feel pretty OK about demanding that Biden keep at least this promise since he has nothing to lose now. Even though there were only a few of us at the federal building yesterday, it felt good to be public and in solidarity with each other about something that seems to transcend partisan politics. We got several encouraging waves, and were particularly pleased that an employee in the federal building stopped and asked to see our signs and then said how happy she was to see us there.”
Dan Shea of Veterans for Peace Chapter 72 at Terry Schrunk Plaza in downtown Portland, Oregon on November 6, 2024. 

While we all fear the worst for Trump’s second term as president — in connection with the already apocalyptic reality of climate collapse, women’s reproductive rights, the safety of immigrants and refugees, and, quite probably, unfettered support for Israel’s ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, and its predatory actions in the West Bank and Lebanon — what all of us gathered on Wednesday also knew immediately was that, specifically on Guantánamo, Trump will be an unmitigated disaster, sealing the prison shut as he did in his first term in office, so that no one will leave the prison unless, by some miracle, they secure a victory in a habeas corpus petition in a US court.

For nearly two years, since I initiated the monthly global vigils on the first Wednesday of every month in February 2023, campaigners have been working tirelessly to try to get the Biden administration to address the plight of the men still held at Guantánamo, in particular by releasing the men still held who have long been approved for release.

At the time of Trump’s victory, of the 30 men still held at Guantánamo, 16 of them, to Biden’s shame, have been approved for release for between two and four years, and in three outlying cases for nearly 15 years. All are still held because the decisions to release them were taken by high-level US government review boards, whose decisions were purely administrative, meaning that no legal mechanism exists to compel the government to actually free them, if, as has become increasingly apparent, the Biden administration has had no interest in doing so.

An additional complication is that, for the most part, these men cannot be sent back to their home countries, because of provisions created by Republicans, proscribing the return of prisoners to certain countries, which are included every year in the annual National Defense Authorization Act. As a result, third countries must be found that are prepared to offer them new homes.

A year ago, eleven of these men were meant to have been resettled in Oman, but their planned release coincided with the October 7 attacks in Israel, and was called off after the Biden administration decided that the “political optics” were not appropriate for their release.

No new date has been set for these men’s release, but what is desperately needed right now is for President Biden to recognize that, having failed to free anyone from Guantánamo since April 2023, and with the imminent horrors of Trump’s animosity towards everyone held there creeping closer with ever passing day, he needs to act with great urgency to locate a suitable destination for resettlement, and to finalize negotiations with the host country, or host countries, before December 19, so that they can freed on January 19, the day before Trump’s inauguration. The month’s delay relates to another act of Republican obstruction, requiring that Congress be notified 30 days before the release of anyone from Guantánamo.

In the coming weeks, I anticipate that lawyers and human rights organizations will be pooling resources to try to exert pressure on Biden in his last two months in office, and I intend to work with them as much as possible, and to do what I can to facilitate the involvement of activists and campaigners, who have been so important in trying to keep the injustice of Guantánamo in the public eye, to hold back the amnesia that otherwise threatens to engulf it entirely.

Please feel free to watch the video below, via YouTube, in which, at the London vigil, I explained the situation at Guantánamo right now, and why it is so imperative for President Biden to take swift action to free the men still held who have long been approved for release.

Further photos from the vigils are below.

Another photo from the London vigil on November 6, 2024, with, in the background, a peace camp, the Community Camp for Palestine, which was set up by 30 activists in September, and maintains a permanent presence, calling for an end to Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. (Photo: Andy Worthington).
A campaigner in London holds up the poster showing the 16 men approved for release from Guantánamo but still held. (Photo: Andy Worthington).
A campaigner in London holds up the updated poster showing how long the 16 men approved for release from Guantánamo have been held since those decisions were taken. (Photo: Andy Worthington).
Debra Sweet speaking at the New York vigil on November 6, 2024. (Photo: Felton Davis).
Another photo from the New York vigil on November 6, 2024. (Photo: Felton Davis).
Campaigners with Rise and Resist, a non-violent direct action movement established when Donald Trump was first elected president in 2016, who held a protest next to the Guantánamo campaigners on November 6, 2024. They describe themselves as being “committed to opposing, disrupting, and defeating any government act that threatens democracy, equality, and our civil liberties.”
Curt at the San Francisco vigil on November 6, 2024.
Gavrilah and Curt at the San Francisco vigil on November 6, 2024. The poster in the center is of Tawfiq (Toffiq) Al-Bihani, one of three men still held who were approved for release nearly 15 years ago, and for whom Amnesty International has been campaigning for many years.
Alan, Dawn and Sasha at the San Francisco vigil.
Another photo from the Brussels vigil on November 6, 2024.
Another photo from the Brussels vigil, reflecting the Belgian protest group’s previous and long-running campaign for the release of Julian Assange.
Another photo from the Brussels vigil, with campaigner Luk Vervaet holding up a poster drawing connections between Guantánamo and Gaza.
Another photo from the Cobleskill vigil, showing Sue Spivack, the main organizer of the vigils.
Another photo from the Detroit vigil.
Another photo from the vigil in Portland, Oregon.
Another photo from the vigil in Portland, Oregon of a Veterans for Peace banner poignantly drawing connections between Guantánamo and the prisoners held in Pelican Bay supermax prison in California, where solitary confinement is rife, and hunger strikes have been widespread.

The ninth vigil that took place on November 6 was in Los Angeles, via solitary campaigner Jon Krampner, who sent the following message: “I stood in front of the Downtown Los Angeles Federal Building for an hour today in my orange jumpsuit and black hood with my AI ‘Close Guantánamo’ sign. It seemed like there were a few more people than usual today. Apparently there were a lot of people there for their citizenship reviews, as I could occasionally hear building security officers tell prospective interviewees not to bring in any weapons, guns, knives, illegal drugs or alcohol. It seems counterintuitive to me that someone would show up to a citizenship interview with a bazooka, Bowie knife, line of coke and a pint of Jim Beam, but the federal government wants to have all bases covered. I did get one person to take a picture of me. I gave him a slip of paper with my e-mail address printed in 18-point boldface type and he appeared to send it to me while I was standing there. But, as is so often the case, when I got home, there was no e-mail from him.”

In Minneapolis, Amnesty campaigners canceled their proposed vigil, because, as they explained, “We have just left daylight savings time, so our event would have been in darkness.” Instead, however, they held a Virtual Guantánamo event instead, with members of the group urged to contact President Biden.

In Mexico City, meanwhile, campaigners were unable to hold their monthly vigil, but Natalia Rivera Scott wrote, “I took some photos with my altar for the Día de Muertos. Every year I put the names of the men of Guantánamo that have died so I hope it’s meaningful.” One of those photos is posted below.

Natalia Rivera Scott’s photo from Mexico City.
In Belgrade, former Guantánamo prisoner Mansoor Adayfi posted this photo.
From Irvine, CA, long-standing Close Guantánamo supporter Dorrine Marshall sent this photo and the one below.
Albert Valencia in Irvine, CA.

* * * * *

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.

Photos and Report: Nine Global Vigils for the Closure of Guantánamo on October 2, 2024, The Last Before the Presidential Election

Some of the global vigils for the closure of Guantánamo on October 2, 2024. Clockwise from top left: Washington, D.C., London, San Francisco and Brussels.

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For 20 months now, campaigners around the world — from organizations including Amnesty International, Close Guantánamo, Witness Against Torture, the World Can’t Wait, NRCAT (the National Religious Campaign Against Torture), Veterans for Peace and the UK Guantánamo Network — have held coordinated vigils across the US and around the world, on the first Wednesday of every month, calling for the closure of the prison at Guantánamo Bay.

On October 2, campaigners held vigils outside the White House in Washington, D.C., in London, New York City, San Francisco, Brussels, Cobleskill, NY, Detroit, Minneapolis and Portland, Oregon. Campaigners in Mexico City weren’t able to take part this month, but secured photos of a former prisoner and of supporters holding up “Cierren Guantánamo” signs, and in Strasbourg, at the Council of Europe, a Belgian campaigner successfully persuaded delegates at a meeting to have a photo taken in solidarity with those holding vigils worldwide. Many of the campaigners also held up posters marking 8,300 days of Guantánamo’s existence the day before. The posters, an initiative of the Close Guantánamo campaign, mark every 100 days of the prison’s existence, and all of the 8,300 days photos — 70 in total — can be found here.

Campaigners with Witness Against Torture and Close Guantánamo outside the White House in Washington, D.C. on October 2, 2024 — Steve Lane, Judith Kelly, Susan Kerin, Frank Panopoulos and Helen Schietinger, who wrote, “Here’s a photo of the Close Guantánamo vigil, which was as close to the White House as we can get now. They’ve barricaded half the park and all of Pennsylvania Avenue to build the viewing stands and security apparatus for the January inauguration.” Judith is also holding up a poster marking 8,300 days of Guantánamo’s existence the day before. The posters, an initiative of the Close Guantánamo campaign, mark every 100 days of the prison’s existence, and all of the 8,300 days photos — 70 in total — can be found here.

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Photos and Report: Eleven Coordinated Global Monthly Vigils for Guantánamo’s Closure on September 4, 2024

Four of the coordinated global vigils for the closure of Guantánamo that took place on September 4, 2024. Clockwise from top left: Mexico City, Washington, D.C. and London.

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Huge thanks to everyone who took part in the latest coordinated global monthly vigils for the closure of the prison at Guantánamo Bay on September 4, 2024. My apologies for taking so long to collate the photos and to post this report, but on the day of the vigils I flew out to Sicily on a family holiday, where I was offline as part of a ten-day digital detox — a pause in the relentlessness of the bad news that plagues us on so many fronts, which I can heartily recommend to all activists and campaigners at risk of burnout from atrocity overload.

Campaigners with Witness Against Torture, Close Guantánamo and NRCAT (the National Religious Campaign Against Torture) outside the White House in Washington, D.C. on September 4, 2024. Helen Schietinger of Witness Against Torture wrote, “Here’s a photo of the five Close Guantánamo vigilers at the White House asking President Biden why, in the name of human decency, it’s still open.”
Campaigners with the UK Guantánamo Network in Parliament Square in London, opposite the Houses of Parliament, on September 4, 2024. The Network includes various Amnesty International members from across London and the south east, along with other groups including the Guantánamo Justice Campaign. Hugh Sandeman, the Network’s co-convenor, wrote, “We were back on the usual pitch today, except a few yards further along due to road works and other demos. There were 10 of us, with some good conversations and a calm feeling all around.”

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Photos and Report: The Ten Coordinated Global Monthly Vigils for the Closure of Guantánamo on August 7, 2024

Four of the coordinated global vigils for the closure of Guantánamo that took place on August 7, 2024. Clockwise from top left: Washington, D.C., London, Brussels and New York City.

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On Wednesday (August 7) campaigners for the closure of the prison at Guantánamo Bay marked 18 months of monthly coordinated global vigils for the prison’s closure at seven locations across the US — Washington, D.C., New York, San Francisco, Detroit, Minneapolis, Cobleskill, NY and Los Angeles — and in London and Brussels, with a delayed vigil taking place the day after in Mexico City. The campaigners represent numerous organizations committed to the closure of Guantánamo, including Amnesty International, Witness Against Torture, the World Can’t Wait, NRCAT (the National Religious Campaign Against Torture) and the UK Guantánamo Network, with numerous other supporting organizations.

Campaigners outside the White House in Washington, D.C. on August 7, 2024. On the right of the photo, the Rev. T.C. Morrow, a staff person with the National Religious Campaign Against Torture and a United Methodist clergy person, issued the following statement: “Teenagers in two different groups visiting our nation’s Capital today looked at our banner as we stood in front of the White House and stumbled over the pronunciation of ‘Guantánamo’ as they asked what we were protesting. They are part of a whole generation born since the opening of the detention center at Guantánamo Bay in 2002. Steve Lane [on the left of the photo] explained how 16 men are cleared for transfer from the prison but languish in limbo, and that campaigns to close the prison stretching back over a decade and a half are still necessary. Against the backdrop of last week’s reversal of a plea deal with three of the 9/11 defendants that would have brought some measure of closure to family members of 9/11 victims, and could have been an important step towards closing the prison, I reflected on what lessons these young people on group trips to Washington, D.C. are learning. Trips to D.C. are often steeped in US history and ideals. A few young people today also learned about this remote prison on the island of Cuba and the history of torture and abuse of hundreds of men at the hands of the US that occurred there — all of which is contrary to those ideals. The United States can and should do better. We continue to call on President Biden and the Administration to at least take needed action for the transfer of the 16 men cleared for transfer, and to use its power to fulfill the pledges of both the Obama and Biden Administrations to close Guantánamo once and for all.”
Campaigners with the UK Guantánamo Network in Parliament Square in London on August 7, 2024. Andy Worthington, a Network member and the co-founder of the Close Guantánamo campaign, stated, “Around a dozen campaigners from across London and the south east came together on Wednesday to continue to highlight the need for the lawless prison at Guantánamo Bay to be closed, and for the 16 men long approved for release to be freed as swiftly as possible.” Thanks to the photographer Richard Keith Wolff for taking photos, and also for sharing his new photo book about Parliament Square’s greatest campaigner, Brian Haw, who held a permanent anti-war vigil here for ten years, from June 2001 until his death in 2011.

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Photos and Report: The Ten Coordinated Global Vigils for the Closure of Guantánamo on July 3, 2024

Photos from the ten coordinated monthly global vigils for the closure of Guantánamo on July 3, 2024. Clockwise, from top L: Washington, D.C., London, New York City and Mexico City.

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My thanks, as always, to the campaigners in ten different locations across the US and around the world who came together on Wednesday (July 3), to call for the closure of the prison at Guantánamo Bay — in Washington, D.C., London, New York City, Mexico City, Brussels, San Francisco, Detroit, Cobleskill, NY, Minneapolis and Los Angeles, from organizations including Amnesty International, Witness Against Torture, the World Can’t Wait and the UK Guantánamo Network, and with supporting organizations including the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, the Center for Constitutional Rights and September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.

Campaigners with Witness Against Torture outside the White House on July 3, 2024. Responding to a question about the recent Supreme Court decision — that any “official acts” a president takes, even beyond the office’s “core constitutional functions”, enjoy “presumptive immunity” from prosecution — Helen Schietinger wrote, “Well, they still let us stand here: so far, so good, but who knows how much longer we’ll be allowed to stand in front of this gigantic fence?”
Eight campaigners with the UK Guantánamo Network gathered in Parliament Square on July 3, 2024, Including campaigners from across London and the south east, and Anna Fauzy-Ackroyd from the Isle of Wight (3rd from left), who joined the vigil before moving on to Australia House (with another three of us) for a celebration of Julian Assange’s freedom on his 53rd birthday. For the five years that Julian Assange was held in Belmarsh, campaigners held a vigil there every Wednesday, as well as holding vigils in Piccadilly Circus and outside Belmarsh itself. (Photo: Andy Worthington).

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Photos and Report: Ten Close Guantánamo Monthly Global Vigils on June 5, 2024 Condemn Lawless and Unending Imprisonment

Photos from the ten global vigils for the closure of Guantánamo on June 5, 2024. Clockwise, from top L: Washington, D.C., Mexico City, New York City and London.

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On Wednesday, campaigners in ten locations across the US and around the world held the latest monthly coordinated global vigils calling for the closure of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, which, on June 23, will have been open for 8,200 days.

The monthly vigils, which I initiated last February, took place in Washington, D.C., New York, London, Mexico City, Brussels, San Francisco, Cobleskill, NY, Detroit, Minneapolis and Los Angeles, and focused, as usual, not just on calls for the prison’s eventual closure, but also for the immediate release of 16 men (out of the 30 still held) who have long been approved for release, but are still held because the decisions to release them — taken unanimously by high-level US government review processes — were, nevertheless, purely administrative. This means that no legal mechanism exists to compel the Biden administration to free them, if, as is increasingly apparent, President Biden and Antony Blinken have no interest in prioritizing their release.

As the poster that I update every month shows, as of June 5, these men had been held for between 621 and 1,315 days since the decisions were taken to release them, and, in three outlying cases, for 5,248 days. Any country that tolerates this cannot be said to have the slightest respect for the law, or, indeed, for any fundamental human notions of decency.

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Photos and Report: Eight Global Vigils For the Closure of Guantánamo on May 1, 2024

Photos from the the monthly coordinated vigils for the closure of Guantánamo on May 1, 2024. Clockwise from top L: Outside the White House in Washington, D.C., in New York City, in London, and in Cobleskill, NY.

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With Gaza, understandably, dominating the news, as Israel’s genocide continues, and peaceful pro-Palestinian protestors at campuses across the US are being violently assaulted by police on behalf of their universities’ administrators, it’s a tribute to the tenacity of human rights campaigners at five locations across the US — and in London and Brussels — that, on Wednesday, they came out onto the streets to also try to remind people of the ongoing existence of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, and, in particular, the plight of the 16 men (out of 30 still held in total), who have long been approved for release but are still held.

Coordinated monthly vigils for the closure of Guantánamo have been taking place across the US and around the world on the first Wednesday of every month since I began organizing them last February, and on Wednesday, May 1, vigils took place in Washington, D.C., New York, London, Brussels, Cobleskill, NY, Detroit and Los Angeles.

San Francisco didn’t hold a vigil this month, but coordinator Gavrilah Wells took photos at two events at the weekend, and campaigners in Mexico City were also unable to take part, although Natalia Rivera Scott arranged instead for two former prisoners to take photos with posters calling for the prison’s closure.

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Free the Guantánamo 16: Photos Of Nine Global Vigils For the Closure of Guantánamo on April 3, 2024

Photos from the monthly coordinated vigils for the closure of Guantánamo on April 3, 2024. Clockwise from top L: At the European Parliament in Brussels, outside the White House in Washington, D.C., in London, and in San Francisco.

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On Wednesday (April 3), the latest monthly coordinated vigils for the closure of the prison at Guantánamo Bay took place at five locations across the US, in London, in Mexico City, and, as a special one-off event, in the European Parliament in Brussels.

Former Guantánamo prisoner Mansoor Adayfi (second from left) joins members of the Comité Free.Assange.Belgium at an exhibition of Guantánamo prisoners’ art in the European Parliament in Brussels on April 3, 2024.
Campaigners in Washington, D.C. outside the White House on April 3, 2024.

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Photos and Report: Global Vigils for Guantánamo’s Closure on March 6 Demand Freedom for 16 Men Long Approved for Release

Photos from the coordinated global vigils for the closure of Guantánamo on March 6, 2024. Clockwise, from top L, Washington, D.C., London, San Francisco and New York City.

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Campaigners outside the White House in Washington, D.C. on March 6, 2024. As Helen Schietinger of Witness Against Torture explained, “In the photo are Malachy Kilbride, Bob Cooke, Steve Lane, myself, Frank Panopoulos, and a friend.” As she also explained, “We’re not little leprechauns: the fence keeping us out is really that tall now!”
Campaigners with the UK Guantánamo Network in Parliament Square in London on March 6, 2024 (Photo: Andy Worthington).
Campaigners on the steps of the Public Library on Fifth Avenue in New York City on March 6, 2024. As Debra Sweet of the World Can’t Wait explained, “Amazingly, 14 people came out today in heavy rain.” (Photo: John Breitbart, Movement Sound Plus).

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Andy Worthington

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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