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Toronto: Close Guantanamo North and South rally Jan. 13th, cross Canada actions Jan. 11-15!

Rally: "Close Guantanamo"
Speak Up for Human Rights - Tell the USA!

Saturday, January 13, 1:00 p.m.
Assemble at the US consulate,
E. side of University Ave, S. of Dundas


Guantanamo Bay has become a symbol of injustice and abuse. Hundreds of people called "enemy combatants" have been illegally detained and often tortured at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for over four years, many without access to any court, legal counsel or family visits. They are so desperate that three have committed suicide and others have gone on prolonged hunger strikes.

It is time, America, to CLOSE GUANTANAMO!

More Info at www.noexceptions.ca OR www.amnesty.ca
To connect with the USA Team: 416-363-9933
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Close Guantanamo North and South
End Indefinite Detention and Deportation to Torture, from Canada to U.S.-Occupied Cuba
A Call for Cross-Canada actions, January 11-15, 2007

January 11, 2007 marks 5 years since the official opening of Guantanamo Bay, a detention and torture centre run by the United States in Cuba that has been a legal black hole for countless people swept up in the terror of war. While many have been released (after spending upwards of four or more years without being charged or given a trial), hundreds of others languish under illegal detention, facing inhumane conditions without access to the outside world.

Canada has its own Guantanamo Bay, located in Millhaven Penitentiary, Kingston. Here, three "security certificate" detainees who have been held upwards of seven years without charge on secret evidence, are fighting deportation to torture. All are currently on hunger strike protesting their conditions of detention, including denial of medical treatment. Two other men, also held between two and four years, are currently "out" on some of the most severe restrictions on human liberty ever imposed in a Canadian bail release. These draconian restrictions also curtail the freedoms of their entire families. They too continue to live under the threat of deportation to torture.

Human rights groups in the U.S. are calling for international actions on January 11 for the closure of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. We join in that call, adding our own demand for the closure of Guantanamo Bay North, right here in Canada. January 15 is Martin Luther King Day, an opportunity to remember the radical spirit of the civil rights movement that demanded full human rights for ALL people.

We are asking that groups across Canada choose a date that works best for them between January 11 and January 15, 2007, to organize a vigil or some other public show of support for the demand to close Guantanamo Bay, North and South.

Offices of Members of Parliament, federal government buildings, offices of CSIS or the RCMP or Canadian Border Services Agency, make excellent places for such public expressions.

If you would like to discuss other ideas or need help preparing a flyer, feel free to contact the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada at tasc@web.ca or
(416) 651-5800. Please let us know of your plans so we can coordinate a national press release.

Join us to demand that the Canadian government:

1. Immediately close Kingston Immigration Holding Centre (Guantanamo Bay North)
2. Immediately release Canada's secret trial "security certificate" detainees or provide them with a fair, transparent, open trial.
3. End all proceedings to deport the Secret Trial Five (Mahmoud Jaballah, Mohammad Mahjoub, Hassan Almrei, Mohamed Harkat, Adil Charkaoui)
4. Abolish security certificates and end deportation to torture.
5. Immediately condemn the illegal Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

Callout from: Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee, Justice for Adil Charkaoui.



The Mississauga Coalition for Peace and Justice
Website: www.justpeace.ca www.mcpj.org


Open “The Windows of Dissent, in which activists take down the first fences on the streets and in their minds”
-Naomi Klein, GTA Activist

posted by Annamarie at 9:11 PM