Twenty-five arrested at US mission to UN

Undeterred by inclement weather in New York City, more than 60 people marched in a solemn procession from the United Nations building to the US mission to the United Nations on June 26. Carrying signs reading, "Shut Down Guantánamo," the group marked the UN Day for the Victims of Torture. The procession, which included rabbis, priests, nuns, college students and human rights activists, was led by a cage on wheels representing the Guantánamo prison cells in which over 400 men remain, some for over four years. Upon arrival, Witness Against Torture–A Campaign to Shut Down Guantánamo moderated a press conference in which religious leaders, legal experts and the nephew of a Guantánamo prisoner called upon US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, to heed international demands to shut down Guantánamo. The press conference was co-sponsored by Riverside Church, Rabbis for Human Rights, and the Center for Constitutional Rights. Immediately following, 25 of those gathered sent a strong message–to end torture, stop indefinite detention, and shut down Guantánamo–to Bolton by blocking the doors of the building, saying they would stay until the international consensus against these illegal acts is respected, heard and acted upon. The activists were removed after 20 minutes, but a new page in the movement against Guantánamo was turned: three of those arrested took the names of men who died at Guantánamo–reportedly by suicide–on June 10. "With humility and sadness, I commit this act of nonviolent civil disobedience as Ali Abdullah Ahmed," said one of the three. "Ali was 29 and originally from Yemen. Despite being held for four long years, no US judge ever heard his case. It is our intention to bring his name, and the names of Manei Shaman Turki al-Habadi and Yasser Talal al-Zahrani, into the US criminal justice system in the hopes that no more men die or are killed before justice and mercy are shown." Witness Against Torture began as a walk to visit the prisoners in Guantánamo in December. Twenty-four US Catholics walked more than 60 miles to resist the "war on terror" and respond to its victims. Upon return, along with countless others, they initiated the National Campaign to Shut Down Guantánamo.