Contact: Sharon Singh, [email protected], 202-675-8579, @AIUSAmedia
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – In response to President Obama's remarks today about Guantanamo, Zeke Johnson, Director of Amnesty International USA's Security with Human Rights Campaign, issued the following statement:
"President Obama is right to recommit to closing Guantanamo. But it's time to do more than talk. Instead of sending more medics to force feed detainees, a process that can amount to ill-treatment, he should take concrete steps to keep his promise to close the detention facility.
"Even under current Congressional restrictions he can transfer out people like Shaker Aamer. Aamer has been cleared to leave and the UK government says he should be free with his wife and children in London.That process should start today.
"Furthermore, President Obama should again make the case to Congress and the American people about why it is so important to close the detention facility, and show he's serious by appointing a high level White House position to manage the closure process. All detainees must either be charged and fairly tried in federal court, or released."
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.