Budapest Protests Bush Arrival: Day One

international | anti-war / imperialism | news report Wednesday June 21, 2006 19:22 by redjade

Amnesty Int'l Demands Closing of GITMO Gulags

all photos copyleft
{nem ©}

Amnesty Int'l Eng Group Sets up for Photo-Op

PRESS RELEASE
Amnesty International demands the immediate closure of Guantanamo
by U.S. President George W. Bush upon his visit to Budapest

Amnesty International Hungary’s English-speaking group will protest with demonstrations on 21st and 22nd of June 2006, during the Budapest visit of U.S. President George W. Bush, in reaction to the serious violations of human rights that have occurred and continue to occur – among others, in the Guantanamo prison camp.

The organizers, in accordance with regulations of law of assembly, requiring planned demonstrations to be announced at least 72 hours prior, have done so on the evening of 17 June 2006 at the Budapest Police Headquarters.

Planned Protest Action Locations:
21 June 2006
12:30-13:00 Clark Ádám Square
14:00-15:00 corner of Andrássy-Bajcsy Avenues
15:30-16:00 Oktogon
16:30 opposite the New York Hotel

22 June 2006
10:00-12:00 Clark Ádám Square
13:00-16:00 Kossuth Lajos Square

The demands of Amnesty International:

Amnesty International (hereafter, AI) calls upon George Bush to forthwith close the Guantanamo camp, which was established in violation of international law, where for 4 years already hundreds of individuals have been held illegally, generally without being accused of any crimes. To date, there are still almost 500 prisoners held at the Guantanamo Bay American naval base located in Cuba, who were captured by American soldiers primarily in Afghanistan and Iraq.

According to the U.S. Government, they are guarding enemy fighters, who cannot be considered Prisoners of War, and thus, they are not due the protection and treatment guaranteed by the Geneva Convention.

AI calls upon Hungarian President László Sólyom and Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány, both meeting with the American President, to demand the immediate closure of Guantanamo, and to stand up against the serious violation of human rights!

AI calls upon the Bush Government to liquidate all prison camps like Guantanamo, that have been established in violation of international law, under the pretext of the so-called War on Terror!

AI demands that the American Government guarantee that those being held in Guantanamo either be accused of their crimes and then be allowed to defend themselves within the framework of a fair legal procedure, or, in the case that no they have no criminal accusations against them, allow them to go free!

Amnesty International calls upon the attention of the American Government not to hand over prisoners of Guantanamo to countries in which they are liable to be subject to torture or inhumane treatment, or may even be threatened with the death penalty!

In May 2006, the UN Committee Against Torture also demanded the shutdown of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, indicating that imprisonment of an undefined period, without the accusation of a crime, is already in itself in violation of the international convention decreeing the prohibition of torture.

AI declares that these prisoners are being held in conditions that are inhuman, cruel and that display a total disregard for human dignity, and are moreover completely isolated from the outside world. Inside the camp, for months, a portion of the prisoners has protested their conditions with a hunger strike. Many among them are force-fed, against their will. On 10 June, two Saudi and one Yemeni citizens committed suicide, according to the American statement – presumably in protest of their unbearable situation. One of them, the Saudi citizen Yassar Talal Abdullah, was only 17-years-old when he was brought to Guantanamo.

AI demands that the Bush Government establish an independent investigating commission to examine the deaths of the three prisoners!

AI demands that the American Government make it possible for five experts of the UN to gain immediate and unlimited access to the Guantanamo camp and for them to meet directly with the prisoners!

AI demands that an independent investigating commission explore what sorts of practices of custody and interrogation have been exercised by the U.S. Government in connection with the War on Terror. This investigation should also extend to reveal where there have been clandestine prisons and what has occurred within the framework of the secret transport of prisoners.

For further information regarding the demonstrations, please contact:

Balázs Nagy Navarro
(06-30-486-6707)

[please note: the above was previously unpublished in english on the web]