Press Releases
Campaigners hold coordinated global vigilsfor the closure of Guantánamo on March 8
- Category: Press Releases
PRESS RELEASE
MARCH 6, 2023: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On March 8 (international Women’s Day), campaigners in the UK, the US andMexico are holding coordinated vigils calling for the release of 18 men stillheld at the prison at Guantánamo Bay (out of 32 in total) who have beenapproved for release, and for the closure of the prison.
For International Women’s Day, they will also be highlighting the sufferingcaused to prisoners’ female relatives — their mothers, wives and daughters —through their long and inexcusable imprisonment without charge or trial.
The campaigners are from organizations including Amnesty International,Close Guantánamo, Witness Against Torture and the World Can’t Wait. Via thecoordinated vigils, which will take place on the first Wednesday of everymonth from now on, they hope in particular to raise awareness of the plight ofthese 18 men, who were never charged with a crime.
Although these men have been unanimously approved for release by high-level government review processes, they continue to be held because theseprocesses were purely administrative, and have no legal weight. Their casesstand in marked contrast to the case of Majid Khan, who was recentlyreleased from Guantánamo after serving a terrorism-related sentence,because he was able to ask a court to order his release when the governmentfailed to promptly release him at the end of his sentence.
$30 Million Minimum in Reparations for Afghan Family Demanded by U.S. National Group Opposing Drone Attacks
- Category: Press Releases
Ban Killer Drones, a national network opposed to drone attacks, is calling for reparation payments of at least $3 million for each of the 10 members of the Afghan Ahmadi family killed on August 29, 2021, by a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone. The group says thousands of others killed by U.S. drones deserve similar payments, which should be made under the oversight of Congress’ Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.
“The $3 million U.S. payment to the family of Giovanni Lo Porto when he was killed by a U.S. drone in Pakistan in 2015 sets the minimum standard that the U.S. must meet in compensating families of civilians who are killed by U.S. drones,” said Nick Mottern, of the Ban Killer Drones network. U.S. agrees to pay nearly $3 million to the family of Italian killed in CIA strike.
June 13: Iranian political prisoners face sham trial - Regime repression sparks global movement for prisoners' freedom
- Category: Press Releases
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On the Eve of Global Climate Strikes and Summit, Celebrities, Advocates and Grassroots Groups Call on UN to Endorse Worldwide Fracking Ban
- Category: Press Releases
For immediate release:
Prominent activists, hundreds of groups urge U.N. to champion a global ban, call fracking a climate and human rights disaster
New York, NY – On the eve of international youth-led climate strikes and next week’s United Nations Climate Change Summit, nearly 500 grassroots groups, faith communities, celebrities, activists and organizations from across the world are calling on the United Nations to endorse a worldwide ban on fracking.
Actors Mark Ruffalo, Emma Thompson and Amber Heard, authors and activists Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben, Karenna Gore and Wenonah Hauter, fashion icons Vivienne Westwood and Joe Corré, human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, iconic childrens’ singer Raffi, climate experts Dr. Robert Howarth and Dr. Sandra Steingraber, and nearly 500 grassroots groups sent an open letter to U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres stating that the “continued production, trade and use of fracked hydrocarbons for energy, petrochemicals and plastics torpedoes our global efforts to tackle climate change and violates basic human rights.”
Kings Bay Plowshares Case Shifts to U.S. District Court for August 7 Hearing
- Category: Press Releases
The seven members of the Kings Bay Plowshares received a notice of hearing June 4 answering their request for an oral argument before District Court Judge Lisa Wood. The seven are ordered to be in Brunswick, GA in U.S. District Court on August 7 at 10 a.m.
