Fact sheet (info from Voices for Creative Nonviolence)
Peace and Justice Works
PO Box 42456
Portland, OR 97242
(503) 236-3065
pjw@pjw.info
http://www.pjw.info

For Immediate Release         January 3, 2012


Event: Rally and march to Shut Down Guantanamo Bay Prison
Date: Friday, January 6, 2012
Time: 5:00 PM
Place: Pioneer Courthouse Square, SW Broadway & SW Yamhill, downtown Portland

Contacts:
PPRC      (503) 344-5078      pprc@riseup.net      www.pprc-news.org

Peace and Justice Works      (503) 236-3065      pjw@pjw.info

Portlanders to Rally and March to Shut Down
Guantanamo Bay Prison after 10 Years
Friday, January 6, 2012, 5 PM, Pioneer Courthouse Square

Local peace and justice groups are joining an international call to action to shut down the U.S. prison complex at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, this Friday, January 6, 2012. The local action will take place beginning at the SW corner of Pioneer Courthouse Square, SW Broadway and Yamhill, in downtown Portland, before a march begins at approximately 5:15 PM.

Says Amnesty International:
"Despite President Obama's pledge to close the Guantanamo detention facility by 22 January 2010, 171 men were being held there in mid-December 2011. At least 12 of those transferred to Guantanamo on 11 January 2002 were still held there. One of them is serving a life sentence after being convicted by a military commission in 2008. None of the other 11 has been charged." (link)

Most held at the facility have been denied access to legal help; many have been exposed to harsh conditions that have been described as torture.

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (www.nrcat.org) and others are joining Amnesty on January 11, the exact 10 year anniversary of the detention camp, in Washington DC for a protest.

Local groups organizing the Friday rally include Peace and Justice Works (PJW) and Portland Peaceful Response Coalition (PPRC). PJW and PPRC echo the national call for participants to wear orange t- shirts, armbands or other orange clothing on January 6th to symbolize the prisoners' jumpsuits.

PPRC has held weekly rallies since November of 2001 at Pioneer Courthouse Square.

For local information call Peace and Justice Works at 503-236-3065 or Portland Peaceful Response Coalition at 503-344-5078.


 
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Page posted January 3, 2012; updated January 6, 2012