Amnesty International Brings Guantanamo Cell Replica to St. Paul

Human Rights Organization Will Tour Cell Across the Nation Urging the Bush Administration to Close Detention Facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

ST. PAUL, Minn., Aug. 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) brought its national tour of a life-size Guantanamo prison cell replica toSt. Paul, Minnesota. This tour is designed to increase public awareness and mount pressure on the Bush administration and Congress to close down the U.S.-controlled detention facility inGuantanamo Bay, Cuba.

AIUSA members and other activists experienced the cell replica and showed their support for the immediate closure of this prison facility two blocks away from the Xcel Center inSt. Paul. Previous tour stops includeMiami,Philadelphia,Portland (Maine),Washington, DC andDenver. After this stop, the cell replica will visitLos Angeles.

"In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the detainees' right to challenge their detention in court, and as Congress scrutinizes the authorization of harsh interrogation techniques, activists are joining the mounting chorus to urge the Bush administration to shut down Guantanamo," said Amnesty International USA's executive director Larry Cox. "It is time to counter terror with justice -- on American soil and abroad."

Five former U.S. Secretaries of State who served both Republican and Democratic presidents -- Madeline Albright, James Baker, Warren Christopher, Henry Kissinger and Colin Powell --- concurred at a recent University of Georgia roundtable discussion that closing the detention facility is important to bolsteringthe United States' image abroad. Even the former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo, Colonel Morris Davis, denounced the use of torture-tainted evidence in detainee trials. President Bush himself said he'd "like Guantanamo to end."

AIUSA's prison cell replica includes a steel toilet, florescent lights and a sliding metal door. In addition, visitors may record a 30-second reaction video that will be posted on http://www.youtube.com and http://www.tearitdown.org, as well as sign the global petition to shut Guantanamo down. On the outside of the cell are large LCD screens showing a timeline of illegal U.S. detentions and torture-related facts.

"Guantanamo continues to be the shameful global icon of this administration's outright disregard for basic human dignity and the rule of law," said Cox. "By assaulting core American values including the right to challenge one's incarceration and allowing techniques long associated with dictators and despots, President Bush has squanderedthe United States' moral leadership around the world. It's time to remove the ugly blot on the America we believe in and shut down Guantanamo."

For more information, including photographs and videos from recent cell replica tour stops, please visit http://www.amnestyusa.org or contact the AIUSA media office at 202-544-0200 x302.

SOURCE Amnesty International

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