For Immediate Release: January 11, 2012

Contact: Samantha Friedman, office: (202) 265-3000 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

NRCAT Executive Director Joins Speakers at White House Rally, Calls on President Obama to Close Guantanamo Bay Prison
Groups mark 10th anniversary of first detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay with rally, human chain and interfaith service

Washington, D.C.  – Today, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) helped organize and lead national events in Washington marking the 10th anniversary of the day the first detainees were imprisoned in the U.S-controlled detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  The 66 organizations co-sponsoring the events in Washington joined together in a call for the U.S. government to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.

Through a rally at Lafayette Park, a human chain, and an interfaith service, participants, who also expressed opposition  toward detention provisions in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that violate human rights, gathered together in solidarity to urge President Obama to keep his campaign promise and shut down Guantanamo.  The detention center has become a symbol of an era in which the U.S. government used torture as an interrogation technique

Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director of NRCAT, was one of several leaders representing human rights organizations, members of the military, legal experts and families of 9/11 victims, to address the more than 1,000 people gathered in the cold rain in Lafayette Park for the rally.

“Guantanamo is the symbol of our country’s violation of our deepest values,” he said in his remarks.  “Regardless of how it is operated now compared to how it was operated in earlier years, it stands in the minds of hundreds of millions of people in our nation and around the globe as the place where America broke faith with itself and used torture as an interrogation technique.  Torture is immoral, illegal, and never justifiable -- without exception.

“Guantanamo is a symbol of our nation’s vulnerability to abandon our principles and commitment to the rule of law in times of crisis.  It is a stain on our image and reputation.  It weakens our moral authority and influence around the world, and it puts our troops and our citizens abroad in danger.  The challenge for the United States is to assure that U.S.-sponsored torture never happens again.

After the rally, 171 people wearing orange jumpsuits, representing those currently imprisoned at Guantanamo, led participants in a march up Pennsylvania Avenue, holding brief rallies at the Department of Justice, the U.S. Capitol and the Supreme Court, highlighting the chain of responsibility connecting the three branches of government to the prison’s continued operation.

This afternoon, NRCAT also sponsored an interfaith service at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church led by Rev. J. Herbert Nelson, Director, Office of Public Witness, Presbyterian Church USA; Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster, Director of North American Programs, Rabbis for Human Rights-North America; Sister Patricia Chappell, Executive Director, Pax Christi USA; and Dr. Sayyid Syeed, National Director for the Office of Interfaith and Community Alliances, Islamic Society of North America.

The Washington events were part of several vigils and protests that NRCAT co-sponsored today across the country, including commemorations in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Ann Arbor.  Additional information on the National Religious Campaign Against Torture’s efforts encouraging the United States government to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay is available at www.nrcat.org/close_guantanamo.

Please find photos of the rally below.  High resolution images can also be requested.

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Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, discusses the moral reasons why the U.S. government should close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Protesters silently oppose the continued operation of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in front of the White House.