Stand With Snowden! Free Bradley Manning! Close Guantánamo!

Protest Rally: Stand With Snowden! Free Bradley Manning! Close Guantánamo Now!

Activists supporting whistleblowers Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden, and calling for the closure of the U.S. prison at Guantánamo, will demonstrate at Senator Feinstein’s office in reply to Feinstein’s remarks accusing Edward Snowden of “treason,” and her praise for the military’s treatment of Guantánamo prisoners as “safe and respectful.”

World Can’t Wait spokesperson Curt Wechsler said in San Francisco today: “We must defend Edward Snowden, build momentum through this to stop the persecution of Bradley Manning, and demand the illegal prison and torture camp at Guantánamo be closed forthwith.”

Snowden, 29, has now claimed responsibility for the biggest intelligence leak in U.S. history, which has broken open a national debate over the revelations of the NSA’s enormous data vacuuming, data-mining, and other spyware programs.  A TIME magazine poll shows that 54% of Americans believe Snowden did "a good thing", while only 30% disagreed. This is a higher public approval rating than either Obama or the U.S. Congress enjoys at this time.

At Ft. Meade, Maryland the court-martial of Bradley Manning is entering a third week.  Manning faces possible life in prison in the trial of the century (to date), on whistleblower charges that cast him as a political hero to many in the U.S. and abroad who see his role in revealing evidence of government misconduct as a great public service, not a crime.

Almost a month since President Obama said he still “wants to” close Guantánamo – and years after his first promise to do so – the prison is still open, not a single prisoner release has been ordered, and almost every one of the 166 prisoners remain on the hunger strike that began four months ago.  Dozens are being force-fed, a practice recognized as illegal, unethical torture by the International Red Cross, the World Medical Association, and the United Nations. The prisoners’ access to their attorneys is being curtailed and iinterfered with, even as they are being brutalized and beaten. The majority of these men have been held for 12 years, yet never charged with a crime.

ENDS

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