TA to join int'l protests against Guantanamo [p. 6]

Protest in Tel Aviv to include mockup of Bush and a display of orange clad "prisoners" locked in a cage.

By DAN IZENBERG
guantanamo 88 (photo credit: )
guantanamo 88
(photo credit: )
In the coming days Amnesty International is due to hold world-wide demonstrations, including one on Wednesday in front of the US embassy in Tel Aviv, against the US-run Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, which received its first detainees exactly five years ago. Udi Gilad, media coordinator for the Israeli branch of AI, told The Jerusalem Post he expected up to 30 protesters to show up. Over the next few days, demonstrations, vigils and other protests will be held in New York, London, Madrid, Rome and Tokyo. Gilad said the protest in Tel Aviv will include a mockup of US President George Bush and a display of orange clad "prisoners" locked in a cage and guarded by US soldiers. According to AI, a total of 775 detainees have been held at Guantanamo since the beginning of the so-call global war on terrorism launched by Bush after the September 11 attacks. There are currently 430 detainees being held at the facility. AI charged that the conditions at Guantanamo are "inhuman." Released detainees have testified that they were tortured and subjected to other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Some detainees are still being held in maximum security blocks, sometimes for up to 24 hours a day and with little out-of-cell exercise time. They have allegedly also been subjected to repeated interrogations, sometimes for hours at a time, without the presence of a lawyer, sparking fears that they were coerced into making false confessions. There have been 40 known suicide attempts at Guantanamo during the past five years. Three detainees managed to kill themselves. The International Committee of the Red Cross is the only non-government organization allowed to see the detainees, none of whom have been convicted of any criminal charge so far. Hundreds of detainees have eventually been released without being charged and without receiving compensation for the years they spent in jail.