Join a vigil to protest President Trump’s planned order keeping Guantanamo open. Indefinite detention without trial is an outrage; it is torture.
WHEN: Tuesday, Jan. 30, 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm
LOCATION: Terry Sanford Federal Building, 310 New Bern (corner of Person St. and New Bern), Raleigh, North Carolina
BACKGROUND:
An executive order is reportedly being prepared for President Trump to sign that would reverse President Obama’s order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center. The order may be signed in the days surrounding his Jan. 30, 2018 State of the Union speech.
As the Center for Constitutional Rights says, “As some men enter their 17th year of detention without charge, and five continue to languish while being cleared for release, …It is fitting of Trump as an outlier that as he prepares to issue an order keeping open one of the most glaring symbols of U.S. torture, others in Europe are beginning to move forward with appropriate accountability.”
During the presidential campaign, President Trump promised to keep the Guantanamo Bay detention center open. In February 2016, he said he wanted to “load it up with bad dudes.” Last year, he considered sending a man to Guantanamo who rammed a truck into people in New York City.
According to a leaked State Department cable, the new order “affirms Guantanamo Bay will continue to remain open and serve as one of several options the United States maintains for the detention of terrorists.”
Trump plans to sign order keeping Gitmo open, leaked doc reveals (Politico)
Trump Administration Readies Draft Executive Order on Guantanamo Bay (Washington Post)
Guantanamo Attorneys Condemn Trump’s Planned Statement (Center for Constitutional Rights)
Organized by North Carolina Stop Torture Now