Inspired by sustained support for an end to torture from the world community and a clear majority of Americans, Avaaz.org launched a metro billboard ad campaign to remind policymakers that torture is illegal, unethical and a top recruiting tool for the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network.



The ads (which are running at Farragut North Station and in a Washington Paper) feature Osama bin Laden in an "I love Gitmo" t-shirt (an acknowledgement that Al Qaeda uses the prison to recruit terrorists) and include quotes from President Obama and Presidential candidate John McCain.

Click here to download the press release

Thanks go to the thousands of Avaaz members who donated to fund this campaign. Our global voices are vital if we are to see Guantanamo Bay closed, a total ban on torture, and the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry into past practices. If you would like to make a further donation for this ongoing campaign - click here.

Some of the media achieved from the campaign is listed below:

Times of Malta

Agence France Press

Yahoo Espana

Middle East Online

The night before the US Senate hearing, 60,000 Avaaz members had signed the petition in support of a Commission of Inquiry into Bush's War on Terror - all within 48hours of the petition being launched. By the next morning, the number had jumped an extra 40,000.

When 100,000 names from over 180 countries were officially tabled at the Senate hearing, the international message was clear: find out the truth about the War on Terror, and don't let it happen again. Here are some pictures from the day:

A real Commission of Inquiry would provide a powerful stop signal to further human rights abuses being committed by the US Administration. It would suggest a new era in human rights and a shift in how the US government intends to deal with conflict and terrorism.

Witnesses at the hearing in favour of the Commission made it clear that the best way to respond to terrorism is with justice, due process and human rights. Descending to torture, water-boarding, abductions and wire-tapping only fuels extremism.

As Avaaz Executive Director, Ricken Patel, said "Bush's war on terror tactics are both immoral and incompetent. They violate our fundamental values and stoke the anger and hatred that feed terrorism. Torture and disappearances are more of a gift than a threat to Al Qaeda."

The establishment of a Commission of Inquiry should not be about vengeance or a political witch-hunt. A thorough and honest investigation should be established to ensure accountability and an end to impunity for those who have committed wrongdoings -- created as a preventative measure to limit the possibility of recurrence.

Any Commission must be independent, bi-partisan, and able to investigate all the way up the chain of command. It should have the power to refer for prosecution, but not be a substitute for prosecution. It should be able to follow evidence where it may lead, without fear or favour. Ultimately, it should recommend legislative or policy changes that need to be implemented.

We need to move beyond the language of the War on Terror and start talking about a security framework centred on human rights. But there is still a long way to go. Bagram, the US prison in Afghanistan, contains hundreds of prisoners. The Obama Administration recently restated Bush's line that those detained there should not have the legal right to challenge their detention. Similarly, the state secrets privilege is still being used in cases before the US courts.

An end to the war on terror requires a movement, lawyers, policy makers and politicians. The global outcry, evidenced by the Avaaz petition, shows that to repair relations and restore respect for human rights, the truth must first be uncovered and wrongdoing publicly acknowledged.

Leahy and the Judiciary Committee will need all the support it can get, to get this Commission over the line.

Dear friends,

Let's find out the truth! Sign the petition for an independent investigation into Bush’s War on Terror. Sign the petition here

Yet more proof of the widespread disapproval of the illegal prison in Guantanamo Bay. Pressure to close down that human rights nightmare is growing inside the USA and elsewhere.
Our good friend Alex at MTV News did a special on Guantanamo that highlights the horrible conditions of detainees.
Thanks for linking to Avaaz!
If you haven't signed the petition, do so today!

We received a moving email from a lawyer representing a detainee at Guantanamo, and I thought I'd share it with the Avaaz community:

Jumah has been at Guantánamo for more than five years. The government has never charged him with a crime and does not accuse him of taking any action against the United States. For several years, Jumah has been held alone in solid-wall cells from which he cannot see other detainees or communicate except by yelling. He has spent 22 to 24 hours a day by himself in these cells. He has been short shackled, threatened with death and, once, severly beaten. Interrogators have told him that he will be at Guantánamo for the next 50 years and that there is no law at Guantánamo.
Sometimes the idea of spending the rest of his life locked up thousands of miles from his family is too much for Jumah. On Oct. 15, 2005, I walked into an interview room to visit him. There was blood on the floor. I looked up and saw Jumah hanging by his neck from the other side of a metal mesh wall that divided his cell from our meeting area. He was bleeding from a gash in his arm.
I couldn't reach Jumah because the door to the cell was locked. I yelled for guards who came, unlocked the door and cut the noose from Jumah's neck. I was ordered out of the room but later learned that Jumah had survived. Since that day, Jumah has tried to kill himself three times. Last spring he slashed his throat with a razor, spraying blood on the ceiling of his cell.
During our meeting on Monday, we talked about Jumah's court case, a bleak -- and therefore dangerous -- subject. I explained again that the Bush administration insists it may detain anyone it designates an ''enemy combatant'' forever without a trial. I explained how Congress blessed that notion in last year's Military Commissions Act, which bars foreign ''enemy combatants'' from going to court to challenge that designation. I explained that lawyers for the detainees had challenged the act as unconstitutional, but that in February a federal appeals had ruled against us on the grounds that people like Jumah have no rights.
Desperately wanting to boost his spirits, I also told Jumah that there was reason to be optimistic. We had asked the Supreme Court to review the appeals court decision and we felt pretty sure that our request would be granted. Were that to happen, Jumah might be a step closer to a court hearing.
At noon, I went to the galley -- as the cafeteria at Guantánamo is called -- to get lunch for Jumah and myself. While waiting for a burger, I glanced up at a television tuned to CNN. Text ran across the bottom of the screen: ``Supreme Court refuses to hear Guantánamo detainee appeals until alternative procedures are exhausted.''
Our request -- the one reason I had given Jumah to be optimistic -- had been denied. The Supreme Court was saying it might consider the detainees' cases, but not until the detainees subjected themselves to proceedings created by the Military Commissions Act.
It is a disturbing ruling because the government says the purpose of these proceedings is not to determine if a detainee is actually an ''enemy combatant'' but rather to determine if the military followed its own rules in applying the ''enemy combatant'' label. For that reason, detainees will have no chance to produce evidence of their innocence that the military didn't consider or to challenge the use of evidence obtained through torture. Worse yet, these procedures will be held before the same appeals court that recently found the detainees have no rights at all.
I walked slowly back to the room where Jumah sat shackled. I wondered if there was a good way to tell a suicidal man that all three branches of our government appear content to let him rot at Guantánamo. Nothing came to mind.
Maybe I shouldn't have worried. Jumah's reaction to bad legal news has become as muted as his emotions generally. He long ago stopped believing that a court will ever hear his case and thinks I'm naive for hoping otherwise. Instead, Jumah believes that he has been condemned to live forever on an island where there is no law. He may well be right.

Let's speak out now for those, like Jumah, who cannot.

Guantanamo embodies so many of the things Avaaz members stand against--and there's never been a better time to shut it down that right now. This is what Avaaz is all about--It's not just about picking the right battles, but about picking the right times. Let's take advantage of the divide at the topmost circles of the Bush administration. Send the petition to your friends, but a link on your blog or website, help us spread the word.

Thanks for all you do!

Galit

Sign the petition at Avaaz.org. You can put this graphic and link on your blog or website by copy-and-pasting the code below:

<a href="http://www.avaaz.org/en/close_guantanamo/"><img src="http://leesean.net/avaaz/GitmoMySpace.jpg" border="0"></a>