Illegal detentions, unanswered inquires now a way of life in post-Emergency USA

Protesters Shame Congress On Guantanamo
by Peregrin Wood on June 24th, 2011 at 7:45 am
Posted In: Activism, Democrats, Legislation, Liberty

The record of the prisons of Guantanamo Bay is clear and shameful. The prisoners there have been deprived of habeas corpus rights, have been subjected to torture and coercive interrogations, and have been deprived of the right to a fair trial for the crimes they have been accused of committing. Actually, many of the Guantanamo prisoners haven’t been accused of any crimes at all. Large numbers of them were found to have no connection to terrorists at all.

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to preserve this arrangement, approving H. Res. 320, a military appropriations bill that forbids the spending of any money to transfer prisoners from Guantanamo to the United States to be put on trial.

The consideration of this legislation was interrupted by a group of 15 protesters from the group Witness Against Torture, who, from the chamber gallery of the House of Representatives, issued the following demands:
# Close the prison at Guantanamo Bay
# Free all prisoners who have been cleared for release, ensuring their safe resettlement and providing asylum in the U.S. for those unable to go elsewhere
# Produce charges against all other prisoners and prosecute them in U.S. courts
# Open all detention centers to outside scrutiny
# Conduct a comprehensive criminal inquiry against all those who designed and carried out torture policies under the Bush administration

The 15 protesters were arrested. The House went on to pass H.R. 320. …more