Breaking News-Activists to protest torture, Guantanamo outside White House

By John Byrne

Human rights activists will parade 60 mock detainees from the Capitol to a park near the White House Thursday to protest the 60 Guantanamo detainees who have been cleared for release but haven’t been let go.

Saying that they’ll “risk arrest,” a coalition of human rights and civil liberties groups will gather in a rally at the Capitol reflecting pool Thursday morning. They’ll also call on the Obama Administration to prosecute those responsible for the harsh interrogation of detainees.

President Obama signed an order enjoining the closure of the US prison at Guantanamo Bay on his first full day in office. The plan called for Guantanamo to be closed within a year, but the US has struggled with the issue of how to repatriate existing detainees. Obama recently released a set of Bush administration memos outlining the techniques the CIA could use on prisoners in interrogations, but has not endorsed prosecution of those responsible.

Among those participating include Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union and Witness Against Torture, a group created in 2005 with the goal of closing the Guantanamo prison.

“Despite early, encouraging signs, the Obama administration has been a disappointment with respect to detainee issues and torture,” Matthew Daloisio of Witness Against Torture said in a release. “President Obama has been reluctant to investigate possible, past crimes, and many of the immoral and illegal policies of the Bush administration — from the denial of habeas rights at Bagram Air Base, to the continued detention of innocent men in Guantanamo — remain in place.

“We need accountability, not immunity, and an end to the abuse of detainees,” Daloisio continued, referring to a plan by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who plans a Truth Commission that would offer immunity to Bush officials in exchange for the “truth.”

“This president and many members of Congress are in office partly because of their promise to repudiate Bush’s detention regime,” he added. “It’s time they live up to that promise.”

According to a release outlining the event, Witness Against Torture was born of a project that sent 25 activists to Guantanamo in 2005 to protest outside the detention camp. The demonstration Thursday caps a 100-day campaign to close the facility, that included daily vigils outside the White House.