Guantanamo Prison Camp Activist Speaks at KVCC
Dear HumanDHS Friends!
Comment : Dr. Lynch: From Article:
“Further, they have been systematically subjected to torture and to sexual and religious humilation, as were inmates at Abu Ghraid in Iraq.”
Start of Article:
Guantanamo Prison Camp activist speaks at KVCC
MARTHA ALLEN, News Correspondent
KEENE VALLEY — A diverse group of about 30 people, some members of the congregation, others from out of town, gathered at Keene Valley Congregational Church on the evening of Aug. 8 to hear Matt Daloisio, associate editor of the “Catholic Worker,” speak.
The subject of his speech, accompanied by slides, was the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He spoke about a demonstration outside the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007 to advocate for Guantanamo inmates’ legal rights, and the activist religious group who embarked on “a pilgrimage to shut down Guantanamo” in December 2005.
His son Tobias played at his feet, sometimes climbing into his lap before being retrieved by his mother, Amamnda Daloisio, also an editor at the Catholic Worker. Daloisio discussed with his audience the problems involved in closing Guantanamo, with possible repatriation of some of its inmates. He said it can be used as a “squeaky wheel” to bear pressure on the subjects of torture and foreign prisons, although he said that, due to its exposure, Guantanamo is the best of the U.S. prisons on foreign soil.
“We do what is right because it’s right,” he said. “Perhaps we can be effective. Two presidential candidates (Obama and McCain) say that they will close Guantanamo.”
He told the group that there will be a public fast and peaceful protest outside the White House Jan. 11 until inauguration day Jan. 20. A group will remain, Monday through Friday, until May 9, protesting torture, rendition and treatment of inmates at the prison at Guantanamo.