FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 30, 2009

CONTACT: Matt Daloisio, 201-264-4424, daloisio@earthlink.net

Frida Berrigan, 347-683-4928, frida.berrigan@gmail.com

Demand Prosecution of U.S. Torture and Release of Innocent Detainees

Today, Thursday, April 30th, hundreds of human rights activists will gather near the White House to call on the Obama administration to support a criminal inquiry into torture under the Bush administration and to fully break with past detention policies. “We listened to President Obama’s speech last night hoping to hear decisiveness and resolve,” says Tanya Theriault, an organizer with Witness Against Torture, “instead we heard that ‘torture is a mistake.’ It is not a mistake, it is a crime.”

At a rally at Lafayette Park at 11:15 am, members of Witness Against Torture, Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Torture Abolition Survivors Support Coalition will speak out about the need for accountability and an end to Bush-era policies. At noon, sixty activists from Witness Against Torture — each representing one of the Guantanamo inmates cleared for release but still imprisoned – will risk arrest.

“Despite early, encouraging signs,” says Matthew Daloisio of Witness Against Torture, “the Obama administration has been a disappointment with respect to detainee issues and torture. President Obama has been reluctant to investigate possible, past crimes, and many of the immoral and illegal policies of the Bush administration — from the denial of habeas rights at Bagram Air Base, to the continued detention of innocent men in Guantanamo — remain in place. We need accountability, not immunity, and an end to the abuse of detainees. This president and many members of Congress are in office partly because of their promise to repudiate Bush's detention regime. It's time they live up to that promise."

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS, THURSDAY, APRIL 30

10:15am: Rally at the Capitol Reflecting Pool, followed by detainee procession to Lafayette Park

11:15 am: Rally at Lafayette Park and detainee procession to the White House

Noon: White House Protest

Witness Against Torture formed in 2005 when 25 activists went to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to protest outside the detention camp. The April 30 demonstration concludes Witness Against Torture's 100 Days Campaign to Close Guantanamo and End Torture. During the campaign, WAT activists have held a daily vigil at the White House, brought protest signs to confirmation and other congressional hearings, lobbied lawmakers to change detention policies, and hosted numerous public events in the Washington area.

Background on the campaign and WAT demands, http://www.100dayscampaign.org/node/475

Details for April 30th, http://www.100dayscampaign.org/a30

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