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US press ignores Gitmo protesters

WASHINGTON: The attempt of a peace group to highlight the plight of Guantanamo prisoners by protesting outside the notorious US detention facility has been ignored by the mainstream American press.

The 12-person delegation, organised by a group called Code Pink, includes US “peace mom” Cindy Sheehan whose son was killed in the war in Iraq, Adele Welty whose firefighter son was killed on 9/11, former diplomat Ann Wright who resigned over the invasion of Iraq, and Bill Goodman of the US Centre for Constitutional Rights who has taken the cases of Guantanamo detainees to the US Supreme Court. On Thursday, according to the online site Common Dreams, the group will walk to the gates of the Guantanamo prison from the Cuban side. A petition for access to the prison itself has been denied. Protests are also planned outside the US military’s Southern Command in Miami, outside the Capitol in Washington and at international capitol buildings worldwide. Amnesty International will also be rallying activists around the world on Thursday, while Human Rights Watch is asking supporters to contact their congressional representatives and local newspapers. January 11 is the fifth anniversary of the first prisoners being sent to the Guantanamo.

According to Medea Benjamin of Code Pink, “From the beginning this was a prison that was set up without any kind of due process. People in prison have no access to see their family members. It took a long time for them to even have lawyers and those lawyers don’t even have access to their clients. Most of them have no charges against them, and none of them have had a fair trial.” khalid hasan

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