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Video: Worldwide actions to close Guantánamo

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 16:28:43 +0000

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Thousands of people, including Amnesty International members and supporters from around the world, have taken action to mark the sixth anniversary of the first transfers of detainees to Guantánamo. Amnesty International staged protests in 30 countries on Friday, 11 January.

The world shouts 'Close Guantánamo'

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:55:25 +0000

Click on the pictures to the right to watch a slideshow with images of the day.

More than simply a call for closure, Amnesty International once again presented the US government with the organization’s framework for ending illegal detentions, whether at Guantánamo or elsewhere. This time, the framework was supported by over 1,200 parliamentarians from around the world.

In some countries, including Belgium and Ireland, some of the parliamentarians accompanied Amnesty International activists at their events and demonstrations.

The infamous orange jumpsuit – closely associated with the inhumanity and illegality of Guantánamo – became once more the icon of this anniversary. There was also street theatre, poetry readings, the recreation of Guantánamo cells in city centres, speeches, rallies and cyber activism.

US military chief wants to close Guantánamo

On Sunday, two days after the anniversary, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, US Navy Admiral Michael Mullen became the latest US official to say that Guantánamo should be shut down.

“More that anything else, I just think it has been the image – how Gitmo has become around the world, in terms of representing the United States. I believe from the standpoint of how it reflects on us that it’s been pretty damaging.”

What you can still do

Go to tearitdown.org and add your support to Amnesty International’s framework to end illegal US detentions.

Post a tearitdown banner in your website or blog.

NATO-led forces complicit in torture?

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:57:54 +0000

People detained in Afghanistan continue to face torture and other ill-treatment, in particular by the country's intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security (NDS). Yet, despite consistent reports of torture and other ill-treatment, including from the UN and Amnesty International,, members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) – particularly those from Belgium, the UK, Canada, the Netherlands and Norway – have continued to hand detainees over to the NDS.

The abuses are taking place in the context of the ongoing conflict involving the Afghan government, international military forces, the Taleban and other armed groups. Over the past two years, Amnesty International has received repeated reports of torture and other ill-treatment at the hands of the NDS, including detainees being whipped, exposed to extreme cold and deprived of food. Many of them have been arrested arbitrarily and detained incommunicado, without access to lawyers and families.

By transferring individuals to locations where they are at grave risk of torture and other ill-treatment, ISAF states may be complicit in this treatment, and are breaching their international legal obligations.

The report Detainees transferred to torture: ISAF complicity? highlights cases including allegations of torture by Afghan authorities of transferred detainees; incidents where ISAF states have lost track of transferred detainees; the difficulties in independently monitoring detainees in Afghan custody and the practice of on-the-spot transfers without documentation.

Amnesty International is urging all ISAF states to suspend all transfers of detainees and hold them in their custody until effective safeguards are in place. Meanwhile, ISAF countries should promote the reform of the Afghan detention system, including by facilitating training of detention officials. The Afghan government must ensure the end of all practices of torture, other ill-treatment and arbitrary detention in the country.