WASHINGTON, June 2 ME-AmnestyIntl-cells
Human Rights Organization Tours Cell Across the Nation Urging the Bush Administration to Close Detention Facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
WASHINGTON, June 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) brings its national tour of a life-size Guantanamo prison cell replica to Portland, ME beginning Thursday, June 5 until Saturday, June 7. On Thursday, June 5, AIUSA members and other activists will gather at 11:30 a.m. in Monument Square in downtown Portland to experience the cell and continue to push the Bush administration to shut down the U.S.-controlled detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Larry Cox, AIUSA executive director, will kick off the event where many participants will be dressed in Guantanamo-style orange jumpsuits. Activists will hold signs urging the U.S. government to stop torture, halt indefinite detention practices and end the use of secret prisons.
This cell replica will visit cities and towns across the United States. The cell is designed to provide all visitors with a realistic glimpse into the life of a Guantanamo detainee. The replica includes a steel toilet, florescent lights, frosted windows and a sliding metal door.
The cell replica will be on exhibit at Monument Square on Thursday, June 5 (10 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.), Friday, June 6 (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.) and Saturday, June 7 (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.). Visitors may tour the cell and record a 30-second reaction video that will be posted on youtube.com and tearitdown.org, as well as sign the global petition to shut Guantanamo down.
Also on Thursday evening (June 5) there will be another public event featuring Cox, Pardiss Kebriaei from Center for Constitutional Rights and Jameel Jaffer, from the American Civil Liberties Union. The panel event will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Rines Auditorium at the Portland Public Library.
These events are being sponsored by AIUSA and its Greater Portland Chapter in coalition with the Social Action Committee of the Allen Avenue Unitarian Universalist Church, the Maine Civil Liberties Union, Peace Action Maine, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Veterans for Peace and Pax Christi.
EVENT: National Tour of Guantanamo Cell Replica stop
DATE: Thursday, June 5, 2008
TIME: Beginning at 11:30 a.m.
LOCATION: Monument Square
Congress Street, Portland, Maine
For more details and further information, contact the AIUSA media office at 202-544-0200 x302.
SOURCE Amnesty International
