Students Collect Signatures to Close Guantanamo

By Connect Mason Reporter Rachael Dickson

Amnesty International held a demonstration on the north plaza calling for the closing of Guantanamo Bay on April 24.

A demonstrator in an orange jumpsuit stood in a small square formed by wire mesh to represent the cells in Guantanamo Bay, a military prison based at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

“The actual cells in Guantanamo are about that size - they’re being kept in there for hours and hours at a time in this cramped little cage,” said Janet Ghazizadeh, a global affairs major. “That’s why we decided to set this up so people get an idea of what it’s like.”

The group asked passerbys to sign a petition demanding that the detention camp be closed. They passed out fliers that detailed facts about the base.

“We feel that it’s really violating a lot of human rights and a lot of our constitutional rights,” said Marva Tokhi, a nursing major. “I’m just afraid of what’s going on with our future - I feel like so many of our rights have been taken away. I have this right to petition and I’m using it to the fullest right now.”

They also placed approximately 200 orange paper cutouts of men representing the prisoners around the area, hanging them from trees, bushes and benches.

“Our goal is to get 200 signatures so we can take them to President Bush,” said Ghazizadeh. “Just walk up there and hand it to him and say, this is how many people support us.”

Allegations of abuse and torture have been made by former detainees at the detention center and outside human rights groups such as Amnesty International and the American Red Cross. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced last December that the Bush administration desired to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, but needed other countries to help them relocate the prisoners that are there currently.