[Ppnews] Legal Processes Against Christian Group that Marched to Guantánamo

Political Prisoner News PPnews at freedomarchives.org
Wed Feb 8 08:51:48 EST 2006


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

U.S. Initiates Legal Processes Against Christian 
Group that Marched to Guant·namo

Witness Against Torture
www.witnesstorture.org

February 7, 2006 Contact: 347-683-4928
press at witnesstorture.org

Seven individuals from Witness Against Torture, a group
protesting the denial of rights to prisoners at the
U.S. Naval Base at Guant·namo Bay, Cuba, were served
papers by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign
Assets Control (OFAC) last week. The group of twenty-
four U.S. Christians marched over 60 miles to the Naval
Base in an attempt to practice the Christian act of
prisoner visitation. The group camped and fasted for
four days at the gate of the militarized zone while
awaiting access to the base.

Five hundred prisoners are currently detained by the
U.S. government in Guant·namo Bay, Cuba.  Human rights
organizations and released detainees have documented
torture and extreme prisoner abuse at the base, but the
Bush administration asserts that Guant·namo is beyond
the jurisdiction of U.S. and international courts of
law.

In a response sent through the Center for
Constitutional Rights, Witness Against Torture refused
to answer OFAC's questions, maintaining that the true
crime is the torture and abuse of civilian prisoners by
U.S. soldiers at Guant·namo, not the violation of the
travel ban on Cuba. As the U.S. prohibits travel to
Cuba, Witness Against Torture members risk a maxiumum
of 10 years in prison or a $250,00 fine for their
actions to bring attention to U.S. practices in
Guant·namo.

"I find it extremely hypocritical that Washington is
investigating this group for the 'crime' of traveling
to Cuba. The U.S. government is flagrantly violating
even the most basic norms of human rights - such as
indefinite detention without charges, denial of fair
trials and, most importantly, torture." says Michael
Ratner, the President of the Center for Constitutional
Rights, which coordinates legal representation for many
of the men held at the U.S. Base. "There are far
greater crimes at play here than Witness Against
Torture's travel logistics."

Marchers included Fr. Steven Kelly, S.J. and 79-year-
old Sister Anne Montgomery. Upon return to the U.S. all
members of the group openly shared that they had been
to Cuba and gave their names and addresses to Customs
officials. Despite this high level of openness, the
U.S. Treasury Department sent letters of inquiry to
individuals that were not even on the the trip.

Witness Against Torture member Gary Ashbeck, of
Baltimore's Jonah House community, reflects, "We gave
U.S. customs all the current information on our group
and they were still not able to accurately account for
who travelled. It seems that despite all their new
methods of spying on U.S. citizens, our government has
a very flawed intelligence program. It makes us wonder
how good the intelligence is on the cases of those who
are imprisoned at Guant·namo. Do they even know who is
imprisoned there?"

CONTACT: 347-683-4928 press at witnesstorture.org

www.witnesstorture.org

The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/ppnews_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20060208/d8028f50/attachment.htm>


More information about the PPnews mailing list