5,000 sail to Cuba to Close Guantánamo
Just over a week on from the 5th anniversary of the first transfers to the US prison camp at Guantánamo, over 5,000 people from more than 90 countries have set off on a virtual voyage to the US detention centre, Amnesty International writes in a press release Monday.
The travellers are taking part in AI’s latest online campaign to persuade the US government to close Guantánamo. The campaign will run until 26 June, International Day for the Protection of Victims of Torture.
Each person who signs up to join the flotilla can design their own outfit, redo their hair and choose from a range of flotation devices from pirate ships and dinghies to dolphins and dragons. People can also choose a message about Guantánamo in a selection of languages. As people progress towards Cuba, they will be invited to sign petitions on behalf of those detained in Guantánamo.
“The protests which took place less than a fortnight ago showed that people across the world want to see Guantánamo closed. We are now taking that struggle from the streets to cyber space,” said Denise Searle, Senior Director of Communications at Amnesty International.
“This campaign is also a response to the US government’s continuous disregard of international outrage at Guantánamo detentions and to AI’s numerous unanswered requests to visit the detainees who are held there virtually incommunicado.”
You can visit AI’s online flotilla at: http://www.amnesty.org/guantanamoflotilla/
To download a banner to AI’s flotilla (in English or Spanish), please go to: http://web.amnesty.org/pages/stoptorture-bannersflotilla-eng
For other languages, please contact Edurne Rubio on [email protected]
For further information about AI’s campaign to close Guantánamo, please see: www.amnesty.org/closeguantanamo
