U.S. Christians March on Guantanamo to visit Prisoners on Hunger Strike

earlier announcement

http://www.witnesstorture.org

In this email:
1. Announcement of “Witness Against Torture” and call to action
2. Press Release
3. Letter to Friends and Activists

1. Announcement of “Witness Against Torture” and call to action:


U.S. Christians March on Guantanamo to visit Prisoners on Hunger Strike


Take Action to Stop the Torture, Abuse & Illegal Detentions


Please forward this information to your friends, families, organizations and other
contacts.

Twenty-five U.S. Christians in the nonviolent tradition of Dorothy Day and the
Catholic Worker are setting out from Santiago, Cuba today (Dec. 6) on a solemn
50-mile march to Guantanamo Bay. They seek to “defend human dignity” by visiting
with the hundreds of detainees who have been held for more than three years under
horrific conditions by the U.S. government. The group plans to arrive outside the
gates of the U.S. naval base and prison complex on Guantanamo Bay on December 10,
International Human Rights Day.

Participants in the group include a Jesuit Priest, Steve Kelly, a Catholic Nun, Sr.
Anne Montgomery, Frida Berrigan, daughter of the late antiwar activist Phil
Berrigan, and representatives of a number of Catholic Worker Communities. They are
requesting entry into the compound to visit and interview the detainees as a “work
of mercy” in keeping with their faith. If refused, as United Nations inspectors
were just two weeks ago, they will hold a fast in solidarity and a vigil to pray for
the immediate abolition of torture by all nations.


Take Action!



Sign-on to a letter to President George W. Bush, Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld, and Guantanamo Naval Base Commanding Officer Mark M. Leary, requesting
that the marchers be allowed to visit those incarcerated in the Guantanamo Bay
prison: http://www.witnesstorture.org/signletter




Organize a solidarity vigil to End Torture and Illegal Detentions on
International Human Rights Day, this Saturday, December 10. Register your vigil
online at http://www.witnesstorture.org/events. Call your local media outlets to
let them know.



Donate to this effort at http://www.witnesstorture.org/donate


To stay informed, download factsheets and flyers, and read the marchers’ online
blogs, visit http://www.witnesstorture.org




2. Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 6, 2005
CONTACT: Witness Against Torture
Mike McGuire 347-683-4928
press [at] witnesstorture.org

U.S. Christians March on Guantanamo to visit Prisoners on Hunger Strike

“Witness Against Torture” Implores U.S. Military to Allow Access So They Can
Perform Work of Mercy: Bringing Comfort to Prisoners

Santiago, Cuba – Twenty-five Christians in the nonviolent tradition of Dorothy Day
and the Catholic Worker arrived in Cuba last evening and plan to set out from
Santiago today on a solemn fifty-mile march to the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba. They seek to “defend human dignity” by visiting with the hundreds of detainees
who have been held for more than three years under horrific conditions by the U.S.
government.

“As a Christian, I feel compelled to reach out across national boundaries to perform
one of the most basic acts of faith— as described in the gospel of Matthew 25, I was
in prison and you visited me,” explained Catholic Worker Matthew Daloisio. “We want
our fellow Americans to see the shameful acts of torture and abuse taking place in
this and other illegal prisons hidden across the globe. We pray that others will
join us in urging our government to allow us to perform this act of Christian
faith.”

Participants in the group include a Jesuit Priest, Steve Kelly, a Catholic Nun, Sr.
Anne Montgomery, Frida Berrigan, daughter of the late antiwar activist Phil
Berrigan, and representatives of a number of Catholic Worker Communities. The
marchers plan to arrive outside the gates of the U.S. naval base and prison complex
on Guantanamo Bay on December 10, International Human Rights Day.

They are requesting entry into the compound to visit and interview the detainees as
a “work of mercy” in keeping with their faith. If refused, as United Nations
inspectors were just two weeks ago, they will hold a fast in solidarity and a vigil
to pray for the immediate abolition of torture by all nations.

A press conference at the St. Marks Church-on-the-Bowery will be held on December 7
to call on the U.S. Government to allow Witness Against Torture to visit the
Guantanamo prisoners. Speakers will include Michael Ratner, head of the Center for
Constitutional Rights (CCR), and CCR’s Gitanjali Gutierrez, the lead attorney for
Guantanamo Bay detainees. CCR brought the landmark detainee right-to-trial case in
which the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Government had to allow federal hearings
to determine the legal status of detainees. Ratner will explain how the Bush
Administration has refused to comply with this ruling. Speakers will also include
relatives of a Guantanamo Bay detainee now on hunger strike. Sister Diana Ortiz, a
U.S. nun who was a victim of rape and torture in Guatemala, will be joined by
anti-torture activist Jennifer Harberry, to speak of what it feels like to be a
victim of torture.

A sign-on letter at http://www.witnesstorture.org will allow Americans to join their
call.

# # #




3. Letter to Friends and Activists:

Dear Friends and Fellow Activists,

On December 5th, a group of us from the United States embarked on an 11-day journey
to the Guantánamo Bay detention facility. We arrived in Santiago, Cuba to begin a
five-day, 77+ mile walk to the Guantánamo base, where we hope to enter the detention
facility to monitor the conditions and meet with both guards and prisoners. We plan
to stay until at least December 15th to maintain a vigil outside the gates of the
base, having a presence over International Human Rights Day on December 10.

It is our hope to be able to interview detainees about torture claims and hunger
strikes at the base. We also seek to initiate a credible, objective and fair
assessment of the situation of the detainees at the detention facility. We have
lawyers and doctors on call to join us, should we be allowed in..

It was revealed in mid-November that the U.S. has detained more than 83,000 people
in its four-year "war on terror" of which 14,500 remain in jail. Some 108 are known
to have died in U.S. custody, prompting 26 homicide investigations.

Guantánamo is the closest-to-home location of some of these detentions and alleged
abuses. We believe that an ocean, or border, or travel restriction should not stop
us from standing us for what is right.

While we are in Cuba, we have a press team working here in the U.S. to encourage
media coverage of our walk and witness in order to keep the plight of the detainees
at the forefront of the public’s mind.

To track our journey, see photos, access press releases, statements, and trip
updates, please see http://www.witnesstorture.org This site will be updated
regularly to keep you abreast of our journey.

There will be a sign-on letter on the website calling on the US government to stop
violating the prisoners rights and to let us into the base. In June, President Bush
countered questions about torture at Guantánamo and the United States' commitment to
human rights by inviting members of the European Union to inspect the U.S. base at
Guantánamo. He said, "you're welcome to go down there yourselves... and take a look
at the conditions." We are hoping you will join in pressuring the Bush
administration to let us answer its invitation by signing the letter and publicly
supporting our request to be let into the base.

Feel free to forward this on to others as well.

In Peace,

Jackie Allen Matthew W. Daloisio Sr. Anne
Montgomery, RSCJ
Hartford Catholic Worker New York Catholic Worker Kairos Community, NY

Gary Ashbeck Amanda W. Daloisio Grace Ritter

Jonah House, MD New York Catholic Worker Ithaca, NY

Frida Berrigan Thomas J. Feagley Patricia
Santoro
War Resisters League, NY Malden, MA Jersey City, NJ

Anna Brown Clare Grady William
Streit
Kairos Community, NJ Ithaca Catholic Worker Little Flower
Catholic Worker, VA

Dana M. Brown Teresa Grady Sheila Stumph
Ithaca, NY Ithaca Catholic Worker Raleigh
Catholic Worker, NC

Daniel Burns Rev. Steve Kelly, SJ Carmen
Trotta
Ithaca Catholic Worker Oakland, CA New York
Catholic Worker

Mark Colville Dina Khorasanee Tanya
Theriault
New Haven Catholic Worker Canada New York
Catholic Worker

Susan Crane Art Laffin
Matthew Vogel
Jonah House, MD Dorothy Day Catholic New York
Catholic Worker
Worker, Washington, DC
Scott Langley
Raleigh Catholic Worker, NC