[Peace-discuss] Christians face jail after President's call to visit Guantánamo

[John W.]

Thought this might interest some of you.


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Christians face jail after President's call to visit Guantánamo -02/08/06

Seven Christians protesting the denial of rights to prisoners at the U.S. 
Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have been served papers by the US 
Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and face jail 
terms of up to 10 years.

This is despite the fact that 
<http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_051214guantanamo.shtml>their 
trip was a response to a challenge by the US president that those concerned 
with the conditions there should go down and 'take a look'.

The group of twenty-four U.S. Christians, part of the group Witness Against 
Torture, 
<http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_051214guantanamo.shtml>marched 
over 60 miles to the Naval Base in an attempt to practice the Christian act 
of prisoner visitation.

The group camped and fasted for four days at the gate of the militarised 
zone while awaiting access to the base.

Five hundred prisoners are currently detained by the U.S. government in 
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Human rights organizations and released detainees have documented torture 
and extreme prisoner abuse at the base, but the Bush administration asserts 
that Guantánamo is beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. and international courts 
of law.

In a response sent through the Center for Constitutional Rights, Witness 
Against Torture refused to answer OFAC's questions, maintaining that the 
true crime is the torture and abuse of civilian prisoners by U.S. soldiers 
at Guantánamo, not the violation of the travel ban on Cuba.

As the U.S. prohibits travel to Cuba, Witness Against Torture members risk 
a maximum of 10 years in prison or a $250,000 fine for their actions to 
bring attention to U.S. practices in Guantánamo.

However, their actions were a response to a statement by George W Bush that 
those concerned with the conditions there should go down and 'take a look'.

"I find it extremely hypocritical that Washington is investigating this 
group for the 'crime' of travelling to Cuba. The U.S. government is 
flagrantly violating even the most basic norms of human rights - such as 
indefinite detention without charges, denial of fair trials and, most 
importantly, torture." says Michael Ratner, the President of the Center for 
Constitutional Rights, which coordinates legal representation for many of 
the men held at the U.S. Base. "There are far greater crimes at play here 
than Witness Against Torture's travel logistics."

Marchers included Fr. Steven Kelly, S.J. and 79-year-old Sister Anne 
Montgomery. Upon return to the U.S. all members of the group openly shared 
that they had been to Cuba and gave their names and addresses to Customs 
officials. Despite this high level of openness, the U.S. Treasury 
Department sent letters of inquiry to individuals that were not even on the 
trip.

Witness Against Torture member Gary Ashbeck, of Baltimore's Jonah House 
community, reflects, "We gave U.S. customs all the current information on 
our group and they were still not able to accurately account for who 
travelled. It seems that despite all their new methods of spying on U.S. 
citizens, our government has a very flawed intelligence program. It makes 
us wonder how good the intelligence is on the cases of those who are 
imprisoned at Guantánamo. Do they even know who is imprisoned there?"  
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