Welcome to "Close Guantánamo"

Welcome to the Close Guantánamo website.

Donations to support the work of the Close Guantánamo campaign in 2025 are welcome and are greatly encouraged, as we will continue our work in opposition to the inevitable pro-Guantánamo presidency of Donald Trump. Please click on the "Donate" button below to pay via PayPal.

If you can make a regular monthly donation, please tick the box marked, "Make this a monthly donation," and fill in the amount you wish to donate every month.

The poster above shows eleven Yemenis, all held for over two decades without charge or trial, and approved for release many years ago, who have just been freed and resettled in Oman. For the full story, see our co-founder Andy Worthington’s article on his website, Wonderful News as Eleven Men Are Freed from Guantánamo and Resettled in Oman, which contains much more relevant information than is available anywhere in the mainstream media's reports. With their release, just 15 men are still held at Guantánamo, half the number that it was just a month ago.

For the last two years we have campaigned strenuously to secure the release of the men still held who have long been approved for release — 16 of the 30 men still held as of April 2023. In November, with Donald Trump on his way to the White House, we stepped up our actions, calling for urgent action from President Biden, as we discussed in our article, Free the Guantánamo 16: A Message to President Biden as His Time Runs Out, and following up, on December 6, with two letters sent to President Biden, signed by former Guantánamo prisoners, and prominent individuals and organizations in the U.S., the U.K. and elsewhere. See the full list of signatories here: Free the Guantánamo 16! Two Letters to President Biden; Signatories Include Former Prisoners, Ex-US Government Officials, UK Parliamentarians.

On December 17, one of these 16 men, Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu, was repatriated to Kenya, two other men, the Malaysians Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, were repatriated on December 18 as part of their plea deal in the military commissions, and the last Tunisian in the prison, Ridah Al-Yazidi, followed on December 30. The resettlement in Oman of the eleven Yemenis, on January 6, is the most significant release of prisoners since the dying days of the Obama administration, eight years ago, although it still leaves three men long approved for release amongst the 15 still held, and we hope for further good news in the last weeks of Biden's presidency.

For further information about the men long approved for release — the eleven just freed, the two freed last month, and the three still held — please have a look at the series of ten articles that Andy wrote, telling these men's stories, which were published alternately here and on Andy's website from February to April last year.

The ten articles are about Uthman Abd Al-Rahim Muhammad Uthman, Hani Saleh Rashid Abdullah, Toffiq Al-Bihani, Ridah Al-Yazidi and Muieen Abd Al-Sattar, Abdulsalam Al-Hela and Sharqawi Al-Hajj, Moath Al-Alwi, Zakaria Al-Baidany and Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu, Suhayl Al-Sharabi and Guled Hassan Duran, Khaled Qassim, Hassan Bin Attash, Sanad Al-Kazimi, and Ismail Ali Bakush.

January 11, 2025 marks the shameful and unacceptable 23rd anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, and we will be involved in a number of events, including online panel discussions and global vigils, as well as the latest grim milestone in our ongoing photo campaign, in which we mark every 100 days of Guantánamo's existence with posters, with which supporters take photos of themselves. January 9 marked 8,400 days, and you can still take a photo with the poster, and send it to us. For inspiration, see the photos we've received to date here, some of which are included in the composite image below.

Speakers, including former prisoners, lawyers, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin and Andy Worthington at "Close Guantánamo!", a meeting held in the European Parliament in Brussels on September 28, 2023. Please read Andy's report here, and see below for videos of this extraordinary event, and of Andy's speech.

2024 was a busy year for campaigning. Monthly coordinated global vigils calling for the closure of the prison, which Andy initiated last year, and which were particularly focused on the plight of the men still held who had been approved for release, continued on the first Wednesday of every month (becoming known as the "First Wednesday" vigils) at locations across the U.S., and in London, Mexico City and Brussels. Follow the links for reports and photos from the vigils on February 7, March 6, April 3, May 1, June 5, and July 3, August 7, September 4, October 2 and November 6, the day after Donald Trump's dispiriting election victory, and December 4. Please also see here for Andy's round-up of the vigils for Close Guantánamo.

Please join us, if you can, for the next vigils on Saturday January 11, the 23rd anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo, when we will be joining with other groups and taking a break from our regular vigils on the first Wednesday of every month. The "First Wednesday" vigils will resume on Wednesday February 5, and will continue until these men are freed and the prison is closed.

As we move into 2025, we will also continue to cover the stories of the 12 other men still held: the three "forever prisoners," the seven men charged in the military commissions, and the two who have been convicted.

Who we are and why we care

We are a group of lawyers, journalists, retired military personnel and concerned citizens seeking to close the "war on terror" prison at Guantánamo Bay, where 15 men are still held, three unanimously approved for release by high-level government review processes, and three still held as "forever prisoners," never charged with a crime.

January 11, 2025 is the 23rd anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, and the start of its 24th year of operations. This is an anniversary that should never have come to pass.

The prison at Guantánamo Bay is an abominable experiment in indefinite detention, which poisons America's claim to be a nation that believes in justice. Three men are still held despite being long approved for release, including one man approved for release 15 years ago.

Just nine men are facing or have faced trials, while the others (three men in total, including Abu Zubaydah, the first victim of the CIA's post-9/11 torture program) have been aptly described as "forever prisoners," persistently recommended for ongoing imprisonment without charge or trial by the PRBs. Check out our full list of the PRBs here, and please also feel free to look at our full prisoner list, identifying the 15 men still held, and incorporating the decisions about whether they should be freed, tried or held indefinitely.

Please encourage President Biden and your Senators and Representatives to support our call to close the prison. Let them know that, while the prison remains open, it undermines America's values and national security. You can send a message to the White House here, and you can find your Senators here, and your Representatives here.

Join us now to help end this injustice and restore the rule of law. We call on President Biden to close Guantánamo, and will continue to do so until it is closed for good. Your voice matters.

Thank you for your commitment and support, and thank you for your interest in bringing this dark chapter in modern U.S. history to an end. Please see our mission statement for a more detailed analysis of why Guantánamo must be closed, and to see the list of prominent individuals and organizations who have signed it.