Bloggers Unite for Human Rights: Close GITMO

Today is a day when bloggers across the globe unite to shed light on human rights abuses around the world. While the United States proclaims itself "the land of the free", countless people are silenced because of their words against injustice or ethnicities.

Guantánamo Bay (a.k.a. GITMO) in Cuba is a classic example of what happens when freedoms are removed under the guise of "combating terrorism".

On January 11, 2002, the first wave of detainees arrived at this facility during the early stages of "the War on Terror". It is composed of several "camps" for various offenses. The small mesh chain cells are brightly lit both day and night. Torture and beatings are routine operations. Rights imposed by the United Nations, Geneva Conventions, and even the United States Constitution are violated continually.

We are often lead to assume that only those guilty of terrorist attacks against the US are imprisoned here, yet this is far from the truth. Most have merely been accused by the government of conspiracy and "plotting terrorist acts". The government even holds foreign citizens in the prisons, such as 15-year-old Omar Ahmed Khadr of Canada.

Hunger strikes are common. Some have even gone as far as attempting suicide to avoid further persecution.

Amnesty International is making a firm stand against the atrocities committed at this facility. You can too.

Speak out against the unofficial prison. Sign the petition to have the doors closed forever. Make a statament.