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KoKo

(84,711 posts) Mon Mar 25, 2013, 06:38 PM Mar 2013

Prisoner protest at Guantánamo Bay stains Obama's human rights record

Prisoner protest at Guantánamo Bay stains Obama's human rights record

More than half of the remaining detainees have been cleared for release. No wonder they're on hunger strike for their freedom

Reports are emerging from the US military prison at Guantánamo Bay that a majority of the prisoners are on a hunger strike. Of the detainees, 166 remain locked up, although more than half have been cleared by the Obama administration for release. Yet, there they languish – in some cases, now in their second decade – in a hellish legal limbo, uncharged yet imprisoned.

President Barack Obama's failure to close Guantánamo, as he boldly promised to do with an executive order signed on 22 January 2009, and the deterioration of conditions at the prison under his watch will remain a lasting stain on his legacy. From Guantánamo, Yemeni prisoner Bashir al-Marwalah wrote to his lawyer:

"We are in danger. One of the soldiers fired on one of the brothers a month ago. Before that, they send the emergency forces with M-16 weapons into one of the brothers' cell blocks … Now they want to return us to the darkest days under Bush. They said this to us. Please do something."

Al-Marwalah was referring to the first recorded use of rubber bullets being fired at a Guantanamo prisoner by the US military guards there.

According to Pardiss Kebriaei, a senior staff attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, her client Ghaleb al-Bihani is one of the Guantánamo prisoners currently on a hunger strike. She told me what al-Bihani related to her:

"There is a large-scale hunger strike in Camp 6, which is the largest of the facilities at Guantánamo. That prison holds about 130 men. He said that almost everyone, except for a few who are sick and elderly, is on strike. He had lost over 20 pounds. He is a diabetic. His blood-glucose levels are fluctuating wildly. He told me that medical staff at Guantánamo has told him his life is in danger. And he and others want us to get the word out about this."

MUCH MORE AT:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/14/prisoner-protest-guantanamo-stains-obama

8 replies

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Highlight:

Prisoner protest at Guantánamo Bay stains Obama's human rights record (Original Post) KoKo Mar 2013 OP

Whole article is worth a read. Amy Goodman is a treasure. Obama admin? Not so much. Poll_Blind Mar 2013 #1

And Just Tonight she announced (verified by other sites) that Obama KoKo Mar 2013 #4

Don't the Obama haters get sick of these lies? Generation_Why Mar 2013 #2

I don't know how they deal with the Guilt.... KoKo Mar 2013 #3

They feel no guilt, they have no decency. Autumn Mar 2013 #6

Obama tried, failed and then forgot. Gravitycollapse Mar 2013 #7

He got re-elected based on his Second Administration would be more KoKo Mar 2013 #8

..1 KoKo Mar 2013 #5

Poll_Blind

(23,864 posts)

1. Whole article is worth a read. Amy Goodman is a treasure. Obama admin? Not so much.

Reply to KoKo (Original post)

Mon Mar 25, 2013, 06:46 PM

Mar 2013

Within the last week they've even shut down the flights so lawyers can easily get to their clients in Gitmo.

PB

KoKo

(84,711 posts)

4. And Just Tonight she announced (verified by other sites) that Obama

Reply to Poll_Blind (Reply #1)

Mon Mar 25, 2013, 07:56 PM

Mar 2013

is going to spend Millions Rehabing Gitmo! What is THIS FOR?

"Stick It In Yer Eye...you FUCKING HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS?"

What ELSE could this mean if he isn't CLOSING GITMO but REHABING IT!

Does it mean "McDonalds,Wendy's, Chick-fil-A...or Starbucks "Franchises for the Prisoners?

How can ANYONE DEFEND Obama keeping GITMO OPEN...when these Prisoners were Declared "innocent" of being involved with Terrorists?

How can they DEFEND THIS?

Generation_Why

(97 posts)

2. Don't the Obama haters get sick of these lies?

Reply to KoKo (Original post)

Mon Mar 25, 2013, 06:53 PM

Mar 2013

They know very well that the President tried to deliver on his promise.

And Amy Goodman a national treasure? LOL. National treasures actually have name recognition outside a small circle of woo-woos.

KoKo

(84,711 posts)

3. I don't know how they deal with the Guilt....

Reply to Generation_Why (Reply #2)

Mon Mar 25, 2013, 07:52 PM

Mar 2013

I really don't....

Autumn

(45,105 posts)

6. They feel no guilt, they have no decency.

Reply to KoKo (Reply #3)

Mon Mar 25, 2013, 08:44 PM

Mar 2013

The people who keep this going are inhumane.

Gravitycollapse

(8,155 posts)

7. Obama tried, failed and then forgot.

Reply to Generation_Why (Reply #2)

Mon Mar 25, 2013, 08:48 PM

Mar 2013

Is was an exceptional promise on his part. He tried to get it closed. When he failed, he set it aside. And now what's he doing about it?

KoKo

(84,711 posts)

8. He got re-elected based on his Second Administration would be more

Reply to Gravitycollapse (Reply #7)

Mon Mar 25, 2013, 08:53 PM

Mar 2013

"Progressive"...that he had to trash us because of the Repugs...but, if we just got out in numbers and voted for him AGAIN....that it would be different...and that he'd fight harder because it was the REPUGS who stopped and stalled EVERYTHING he tried to do in his First Administration...but, that the Second (if we got him elected) would be different.

That's what we Progressives were told...by folks we respected...and that's exactly what we did. We didn't go "Third Party" we lined up and VOTED OBAMA!

Okay...here we are.....

KoKo

(84,711 posts)

5. ..1

Reply to KoKo (Original post)

Mon Mar 25, 2013, 08:41 PM

Mar 2013

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