Photo Essay: Amnesty International mobilises on January 11

national | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Monday January 14, 2008 10:40

by Amnesty1 - Amnesty International

info at amnesty dot ie

Amnesty International members and supporters mobilised across Ireland

AI member as Guantánamo prisoner at the Spire

Kieran Clifford, Campaigns Manager for Amnesty International Irish Section, said: “In the six years that Guantánamo has been in operation only one of the almost 800 men who have been detained there has been convicted. Approximately a quarter of the nearly 300 detainees still held in Gunatánamo have been declared eligible for release or transfer by US authorities.

“Many of these prisoners, held without charges, without trial, often without any access to legal representation, have been subject to extremely harsh prison conditions. Most spend at least 22 hours a day in total isolation. Three inmates have taken their own lives and dozens have made repeated suicide attempts.”

To convey the solitary nature of their imprisonment at each protest a single Amnesty member donned the Guantánamo prison uniform in the name of a specific prisoner and stood separate to other protestors to represent the solitude felt by detainees.

Solitary actions have already taken place in Galway City and at Shannon Airport. More events took place in Dun Laoghaire, Tralee, Cork, Skibbereen, Letterkenny, Limerick city, Sligo and Wicklow.

AI member as Guantánamo prisoner at Leinster House