Protests Mark Guantanamo Sixth Anniversary

Source: Alalam.ir, 12-1-2008
WASHINGTON--Protesters in prisoner-style orange boiler suits have staged demonstrations around the world Friday to mark six years since the US prison camp opened at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
From London to Sydney, activists mobilized by human rights organization Amnesty International and others called for the camp to be shut, six years to the day since it received its first prisoners seized in the "war on terror."
Hundreds of people turned out in the drizzle in Washington for a march from the US Congress to the nearby Supreme Court, called by numerous rights groups, where 80 people were arrested.
"Shut down Guantanamo, counter terror with justice," they chanted.
The Supreme Court is to rule in the coming months on whether prisoners at Guantanamo Bay can challenge their detention in civilian courts. Currently they face special military tribunals at the base, outside US soil.
In London, protestors assembled near the US embassy, wearing the orange suits similar to those worn by detainees. Protestors took turns overnight in steel cages before the heavily-fortified embassy.
"Guards" in military uniform, some with dogs, barked orders at the "detainees".
"This is really to show our rage against the fact that this black hole facility continues to exist, that there are still 275 people outside any rule of law, and to demand its immediate closure," Amnesty's international campaigns director, Sarah Burton, told AFP.
Hundreds have been released from Guantanamo to various countries after being seized abroad in operations sparked by the attacks on the US on September 11, 2001.
Some 275 remain, according to the US Department of Defense.
In Sydney, hundreds of people in orange jumpsuits and white face masks carried placards through the central business hub of Martin Place.
Another protest in the Australian city of Adelaide included Terry Hicks, whose son David is one of only three Guantanamo detainees to have faced formal charges.
"His views are the same as mine," his father said. "The best thing is to shut the place. The bottom line is: the place needs shutting, put people through proper processes of law."
Protestors gathered in Rome waving placards saying "Close Guantanamo Now" and "End Illegal Detentions."
In Athens, about a dozen people -- blindfolded and chained -- protested outside the Greek parliament, with a banner saying: "Guantanamo: 50-star hotel."
A similar small protest took place in freezing central Stockholm.
In Madrid, Amnesty's Spanish branch presented the US embassy with a petition containing the signatures of 170 Spanish lawmakers demanding that the camp be closed.
In Africa, several human rights groups staged an hour-long sit-in outside the Mauritian justice ministry in Nouakchott to demand the government do more for the release of two nationals still held in Guantanamo Bay.
Nine rights groups were due to protest in the Moroccan capital Rabat Friday evening, calling for guarantees of the fair treatment and trial of two nationals sent back from Guantanamo.
In Washington a petition, signed by 1,100 parliamentarians from across the world, and 100,000 other signatures from US citizens, was to be handed in to the White House.
A US court also on Friday turned down a claim by four British former detainees claiming they were tortured at the prison, saying accused officials acted as part of their jobs.
"The alleged tortious (wrongful) conduct was incidental to the defendants' legitimate employment duties," Judge Karen Lecraft Henderson wrote in the ruling.
The four -- Ruhal Ahmed, Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal and Jamal Al-Harith -- were released in 2004 without charge.