CLOSE GUANTБNAMO BAY DETENTION FACILITY

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500
Fax: +1 202 456 2461 January 13, 2006


CLOSE GUANTБNAMO BAY DETENTION FACILITY

Dear Mr President,

It has been four years since the first detainees were transferred to the detention facility at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantбnamo Bay, Cuba.

Detainees in Guantбnamo Bay have been held in prolonged indefinite detention, which violates a fundamental legal principle: that anyone detained has the right to be promptly brought before an independent judicial officer to challenge the lawfulness of their detention. Moreover, some of these detainees who have been on hunger strike are forced to be fed by tubes. This forced feeding is a clear violation of human rights and Geneva Convention. You have repeatedly asserted that the USA strives to defend and extend a vision of human dignity and uphold the rule of law. For the detainees at Guantбnamo Bay these words ring hollow.

We, the congregants of the Islamic Center of Long Island in Westbury, NY, request that you close the detention facility in Guantбnamo Bay and ensure that all those detained in Guantбnamo are immediately released if they are not to be charged and brought to trial in line with standards of fairness. The military commissions violate several provisions of international treaties to which the USA is a state party and cannot provide fair trials in line with international standards. They are fundamentally flawed and therefore should be abandoned immediately.

Many detainees in Guantбnamo come from countries which the US Government has condemned for human rights violations. Therefore, we request you to ensure that they are not transferred to a country where they may face further human rights violations.

Yours sincerely,


cc:
- Vice President, Dick Cheney