Gitmo Clock 2020 photos

On Dec. 1, 2020, marking 6,900 days of Guantánamo's existence, former prisoner Mansoor Adayfi calls on President Elect Joe Biden to make its closure a priority when he takes office in seven weeks' time.

On Dec. 1, 2020, marking 6,900 days of Guantánamo's existence, Close Guantánamo co-founder Andy Worthington says, "President Elect Biden, today the prison at Guantánamo Bay has been open for 6,900 days — nearly 19 years — and it’s time for it to be closed for good. We have endured nearly four years of hostile indifference towards Guantánamo by Donald Trump, and it is time now for you to repudiate his failure to accept that Guantánamo’s very existence is wrong, and to resume what was happening when you were Barack Obama’s vice president, and steps were taken towards the prison’s closure. The obligation is on you to finish that job, and no more excuses can be accepted for the failure to do so. Please don’t disappoint us."

On Dec. 1, 2020, Susan McLucas, in Somerville, MA, says, "Today is the 6,900th day that Guantánamo has been open, supposedly holding the worst of the worst but actually holding a random collection of Muslim men, some of whom seem to have done some bad things but most of whom just got rounded up when the US was rounding up people, trying to make it look as if they were keeping us 'safe.' There are 40 men being held at Guantánamo. Five of them have been cleared for release by the Obama administration. This is an insane situation where there is no justice. The trials for the men accused in the 9/11 attacks are so tainted with torture that they may never come to any conclusion. I hope Biden fulfills Obama's promise to close that lawless place early in his term, at least starting with releasing the 5 men who are already cleared to go. Close down Guantánamo!"

On Dec. 1, 2020, marking 6,900 days of Guantánamo's existence, Natalia Rivera Scott, in Mexico City, calls on President Elect Joe Biden to make its closure a priority when he takes office in seven weeks' time.

On Dec. 1, 2020, marking 6,900 days of Guantánamo's existence, Ed Charles of the World Can't Wait, in L.A., calls on President Elect Joe Biden to make its closure a priority when he takes office in seven weeks' time.

On Dec. 1, 2020, marking 6,900 days of Guantánamo's existence, Jenny Jones calls on President Elect Joe Biden to make its closure a priority when he takes office in seven weeks' time.

On Dec. 1, 2020, marking 6,900 days of Guantánamo's existence, William Hudon, Professor of History at Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg, PA, calls on President Elect Joe Biden to make its closure a priority when he takes office in seven weeks' time, and says, "President Biden, Please begin your administration with strong, immediate action to support civil and human rights."

On Dec. 1, 2020, marking 6,900 days of Guantánamo's existence, Steve Lane, in Bethesda, Maryland, says, "Dear President-elect Biden, you have the chance to undo a serious wrong — Guantánamo Bay prison camp's existence. It is a gross injustice to most of the men held there, for decades, without trial or even charge. It is also a recruiting tool for terrorists, who point to it as evidence when they claim that America does not really stand for liberty and equality, but on the contrary oppresses Muslims, and therefore should be violently attacked. Please close it as soon as possible."

On Dec. 1, 2020, marking 6,900 days of Guantánamo's existence, Ian Clark, in the U.K., has some choice words for Donald Trump. He says, "Dear friends, please forward to President-elect Joe Biden with my sincerest regards. Wipe your bums on another sheet and send it to not-before-time ex-pres D Trump with my sincerest expressions of utter contempt."

On Dec. 1, 2020, marking 6,900 days of Guantánamo's existence, Robert Kolkebeck, in Park Forest, Illinois, calls on President Elect Joe Biden to make its closure a priority when he takes office in seven weeks' time.

On the day of the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, our co-founder Andy Worthington says, "On Election Day, we just wanted to remind people that today, Nov. 3, 2020, the shameful and disgraceful prison at Guantánamo Bay, where 40 men are still held, mostly without charge or trial, has been open for 6,872 days, and to point out that, in nearly four years as president, Donald Trump has done nothing to address the moral poison that Guantánamo's continued existence signifies for the soul of America. Trump has sealed the prison shut, refusing to contemplate releasing anyone, except for one man whose plea deal stipulated his repatriation to Saudi Arabia to face ongoing imprisonment — in 2018. Another four years of Trump would mean a continuation of Guantánamo as a living tomb, with, again, no prospect of anyone being released, under any circumstances, while he is president. If you're voting today, please vote wisely. The men still held at Guantánamo are counting on you to give them a glimmer of hope that a new administration will accept that the continued existence of Guantánamo is unacceptable, and to begin to move towards, at the very least, releasing insignificant prisoners who are still held, and being open to discussing the prison's closure."

Oct. 27, 2020: With one week to go until the U.S. Presidential Election, and just three days until the fifth anniversary of the release from Guantánamo of Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in the prison, here’s Shaker today, calling for the closure of the prison as we mark 6,865 days of its existence. It’s so great to see Shaker, who was held for nearly 14 years, looking so well, and as we recall the long years of campaigning that led to his release, I hope everyone is ready for renewed campaigning over the next 15 months, as we keep our eyes on the forthcoming 19th anniversary of the opening of the prison, on Jan. 11, 2021, and the 20th anniversary on Jan. 11, 2022. Hopefully on Nov. 4 we’ll have an administration that recognizes that Guantanamo is a legal, ethical and moral abomination, and that every day it is open poisons any notion of America as a country that has any respect whatsoever for the rule of law.

Today, August 23, 2020, the shameful and disgraceful prison at Guantánamo Bay — where 40 men are still held, mostly without charge or trial — has been open for 6,800 days, and former Guantánamo prisoner Mansoor Adayfi calls on Donald Trump to close it without further delay.

Today, August 23, 2020, the shameful and disgraceful prison at Guantánamo Bay — where 40 men are still held, mostly without charge or trial — has been open for 6,800 days, and Natalia Rivera Scott in Mexico City calls on Donald Trump to close it without further delay.

Today, August 23, 2020, the shameful and disgraceful prison at Guantánamo Bay — where 40 men are still held, mostly without charge or trial — has been open for 6,800 days, and Anna Fauzy-Ackroyd says, "6800 days TOO LONG! Close Guantánamo NOW!"

Today, August 23, 2020, the shameful and disgraceful prison at Guantánamo Bay — where 40 men are still held, mostly without charge or trial — has been open for 6,800 days, and Andy Worthington, the co-founder of the Close Guantánamo campaign (with the attorney Tom Wilner) says, "We don’t expect Donald Trump to close the prison, but we do hope that, when we mark 6,900 days of the prison’s existence on Dec. 1, the American people will have voted him out of office. On Guantánamo, he has been an absolute disgrace, refusing to recognize what a shameful and unacceptable facility the prison is, and only releasing one prisoner out of the 41 men he inherited from Barack Obama. His refusal to release anyone doesn’t prove strength on his part; rather, it reveals the lawless nature of Guantánamo, and how that remains its most dominant trait over 18 and a half years since it first opened. None of the 40 men still held can be released unless the president — or Congress — wants them to be released, even though few of them have been charged or put forward for trials, and even though five of them were unanimously approved for release by high-level government review processes under Obama. Their imprisonment is, to be blunt, exactly the same type of executive overreach that led to the war for U.S. independence nearly 250 years ago. Today, Donald Trump and the Republican Party are, to justice and fairness, what King George III was to the American people in the 1770s: a monster and a tyrant."

Today, August 23, 2020, the shameful and disgraceful prison at Guantánamo Bay — where 40 men are still held, mostly without charge or trial — has been open for 6,800 days, and Steve Lane, in Bethesda, Maryland, says, "You only have a few more months in office, President Trump, but that is long enough for you to undo some of the harm you have caused at Guantánamo Bay. Release those prisoners already cleared for release, try those who have not been tried, and you will not remain quite the stain on the United States that you presently are."

Today, August 23, 2020, the shameful and disgraceful prison at Guantánamo Bay — where 40 men are still held, mostly without charge or trial — has been open for 6,800 days, and William Hudon, Professor of History at Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, calls on Donald Trump to close it without further delay.

On August 23, 2020 the shameful and disgraceful prison at Guantánamo Bay — where 40 men are still held, mostly without charge or trial — had been open for 6,800 days, and, in Los Angeles, Ed Charles the editor of the World Can't Wait's Spanish website, called for its closure.

Today, August 23, 2020, the shameful and disgraceful prison at Guantánamo Bay — where 40 men are still held, mostly without charge or trial — has been open for 6,800 days, and, in Mexico City, Renata/Elevatia Rem calls on Donald Trump to close it without further delay.

Today, August 23, 2020, the shameful and disgraceful prison at Guantánamo Bay — where 40 men are still held, mostly without charge or trial — has been open for 6,800 days, and, in Mexico City, Demetrius Telenoid calls on Donald Trump to close it without further delay.

Marking the 6,750th day of Guantánamo's existence on July, 4, 2020 — Independence Day — Helen Schietinger, a campaigner with powerful campaigning group Witness Against Torture, says, "Guantánamo Prison exposes the truth about the Fourth of July: When the white 'founding fathers' declared independence from Great Britain to create a democratic nation for themselves, they had every intention of excluding certain people from the constitutional protections they established."

Marking the 6,750th day of Guantánamo's existence on July, 4, 2020 — Independence Day — Sister Jeannine Gramick, the co-founder of New Ways Ministry, a U.S. organization for justice and reconciliation of lesbian and gay Catholics, says, "I believe in justice for all, including all prisoners now at Guantánamo. No one should be imprisoned without a fair trial."

Marking the 6,750th day of Guantánamo's existence on July, 4, 2020 — Independence Day — Judith Kelly, a peace protestor from Arlington, Virginia, calls for the prison’s closure.

Today, July 4 — Independence Day — the prison at Guantánamo Bay has been open for 6,750 days, and Close Guantánamo co-founder Andy Worthington calls for its closure. Andy says, "We’ve been counting how long Guantánamo has been open since the 15th anniversary of its opening, on January 11, 2017, a week before Donald Trump’s inauguration, when it had been open for 5,845 days. Three and a half years later, the United States’ great day of self-congratulation — Independence Day — coincides with the prison having been open for 6,750 days. The irony will be lost on Donald Trump, but all decent Americans should be ashamed that, this year, the day that marks the U.S.’s liberation from the executive tyranny of King George III also marks the 6,750th day of existence of Guantánamo, a place where 40 men have been held for up to 18 years, for the most part without charge or trial, in a bitter demonstration of how much the United States has fallen from the values it claimed to aspire to 244 years ago."

Today, July 4 — Independence Day — the prison at Guantánamo Bay has been open for 6,750 days, and former Guantánamo prisoner Mansoor Adayfi calls for its closure.

Today, July 4 — Independence Day — the prison at Guantánamo Bay has been open for 6,750 days, and consultant neurologist and human rights activist Dr. David Nicholl calls for its closure. Dr. Nicholl has campaigned for the closure of Guantánamo for many years, having initiated, in 2006, a letter published in the medical journal The Lancet, signed by more than 250 medical experts, urging the Bush administration to stop force-feeding prisoners at Guantánamo and to close the prison.

Today, July 4 — Independence Day — the prison at Guantánamo Bay has been open for 6,750 days, and Natalia Rivera Scott, in Mexico City, calls for its closure.

Today, July 4 — Independence Day — the prison at Guantánamo Bay has been open for 6,750 days, and Sayed Chowdhury, in Australia, calls for its closure.

Today, July 4 — Independence Day — the prison at Guantánamo Bay has been open for 6,750 days, and Steve Lane in Bethesda, Maryland calls for its closure. Steve says, "Dear President Trump, the United States spends $13,000,000 a year on each man imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay. For that we get the world's scorn — they say it proves that we do not mean what we say about equal justice for all. Worse yet, we are targeted by terrorists, who say that Guantánamo Bay is an example of how we mistreat Muslims, and that other Muslims should therefore attack us with whatever weapon comes to hand. Close it, please, to keep us safe and to make America great again."

Today, July 4 — Independence Day — the prison at Guantánamo Bay has been open for 6,750 days, and Ed Charles in Los Angeles, the editor of the World Can't Wait's Spanish website, calls for its closure.

Today, July 4 — Independence Day — the prison at Guantánamo Bay has been open for 6,750 days, and yesterday Mark Colville, a Catholic Worker from New Haven, Connecticut, called for its closure. Mark is one of seven activists — the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 — who broke into the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base, the largest nuclear submarine base in the world, on April 4, 2018, on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, causing largely symbolic damage. They were found guilty last October, and are due to be sentenced at the end of August.

May 15, 2020 marks the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence, and former Guantánamo prisoner Mohamedou Ould Salahi calls for its closure.

May 15, 2020 marks the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence, and former Guantánamo prisoner Mansoor Adayfi calls for its closure.

May 15, 2020 marks the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence, and Asma Elhuni, Lead Organizer at the United Valley Interfaith Project in New Hampshire and Vermont, posted this photo and wrote, "May 15 marks 6,700 days of Guantanamo's reopening. The U.S. used Guantánamo Bay as an HIV prison for predominantly Black bodies that it did not allow to come to the U.S. (specifically Haitians) before it started targeting the Muslim community. That is why collective liberation or no liberation y'all!"

May 15, 2020 marks the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence, and Close Guantánamo co-founder Andy Worthington calls for its closure. Andy says, "40 men are still held at Guantánamo, mostly without charge or trial. Every day the prison is open is an affront to the U.S.'s notion if itself as a country that respects the rule of law, and yet Donald Trump remains disgracefully enthusiastic about keeping it open. It needs to be closed!"

May 15, 2020 marks the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence, and Sadia Junaid calls for its closure.

May 15, 2020 marks the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence, and William V. Hudon, Professor of History at Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg, PA sent a message: "Calling on President Trump to shut down this prison which represents the antithesis of American values. Do so in honor of those who truly embody those values: first responders who were the real heroes on 9/11, who are the heroes amid COVID-19, and in every other crisis."

May 15, 2020 marks the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence, and Natalia Rivera Scott in Mexico City calls for its closure.

May 15, 2020 marks the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence, and Steve Lane, in Bethesda, Maryland says, "President Trump, those men at Guantánamo Bay, who are there without trial, or even indictment, also face the threat of death from the COVID-19 virus. At least one U.S. sailor on the base is a confirmed case. It would be unjust to put them at that risk if they were prisoners serving a sentence. To expose men who have committed no crime to COVID-19 is a crime in itself. Please undo the harm our country has done them by removing them to a place where they can escape death, for now."

May 15, 2020 marks the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence, and Ed Charles in Los Angeles calls for its closure.

May 15, 2020 marks the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence, and, in the UK, Anna Fauzy-Ackroyd says, "6700 days TOO LONG! Close Guantánamo NOW!"

May 15, 2020 marks the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence, and Steve Brown in Crockett, California calls for its closure.

May 15, 2020 marks the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence, and Amatulrazaq Zai in Germany calls for its closure. Check out Amatulrazaq's Facebook page, featuring information about Guantánamo translated into German.

May 15, 2020 marks the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence, and Bob Kolkebeck, in Park Forest, Illinois calls for its closure.

Former Guantánamo prisoner Mansoor Adayfi is posting a photo a day with handmade posters in the run-up to the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence on May 15. This was on May 13, when Mansoor was remembering Sanad Al-Kazimi, a Yemeni "forever prisoner," and he wrote, "Sanad Al-Kazimi. I have been detained at Guantánamo since 2004 without ever being charged with any crime." For his story check out our Periodic Review Board page.

Former Guantánamo prisoner Mansoor Adayfi is posting a photo a day with handmade posters in the run-up to the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence on May 15. This was on May 12, when Mansoor was remembering Suhayl al-Sharabi, a Yemeni "forever prisoner," and he wrote, "Suhayl al-Sharabi (teacher). I have been indefinitely and inhumanity detained at Guantánamo since 2002 without ever being charged with any crime." For his story check out our Periodic Review Board page.

Former Guantánamo prisoner Mansoor Adayfi is posting a photo a day with handmade posters in the run-up to the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence on May 15. This was on May 11, when Mansoor was remembering Moath Al-Alwi, a Yemeni "forever prisoner," and he wrote, "Moath al-Alwi (teacher and artist). I have been indefinitely and inhumanely detained at Guantánamo since 2002 without ever being charged with any crime." Moath had his appeal for justice to the U.S. Supreme Court turned down last year and is a talented artist, as our co-founder Andy Worthington reported in February.

Former Guantánamo prisoner Mansoor Adayfi is posting a photo a day with handmade posters in the run-up to the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence on May 15. This was on May 10, when Mansoor was remembering his friend Khaled Qassim (aka Khalid Qasim), and he wrote, "Khaled Qassim (artist). I have been indefinitely detained at Guantánamo since 2002 without ever being charged." See Mansoor's article about Khaled, My Best Friend and Brother.

Former Guantánamo prisoner Mansoor Adayfi is posting a photo a day with handmade posters in the run-up to the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence on May 15. This was on May 9, when Mansoor was remembering his friend Saifullah Paracha, and he wrote, "Saifullah Paracha. I'm the oldest detainee at Guantánamo, 73 years old. I have been indefinitely detained since 2003 without ever being charged." See Mansoor's article about Saifullah, The Kind Father, Brother, and Friend for All at Guantánamo.

Former Guantánamo prisoner Mansoor Adayfi is posting a photo a day with handmade posters in the run-up to the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence on May 15. This was on May 7, and Mansoor wrote, simply, "Indefinite detention is a death sentence."

Former Guantánamo prisoner Mansoor Adayfi is posting a photo a day with handmade posters in the run-up to the 6,700th day of Guantánamo's existence on May 15. This was on May 5, and Mansoor wrote, "Dear friends, I'm tweeting daily with a photo for closing Guantánamo. This is the least I can do to those who have been wrongly and indefinitely detained for over 18 years. Please join me. Families are waiting for over 18 years for their relatives to be sent home alive from Guantánamo. Fathers, mothers, wives, kids, and the world are waiting."

Our co-founder Andy Worthington says, "Here I am marking 6,600 days of Guantánamo's existence (on Feb. 5, 2020), with theatre students at the BRIT School for the performing arts in south east London after a performance of their powerful and moving devised theatre piece, 'Guantánamo', which was drawn largely from the testimony of prisoners and their families. I had visited the school several months before, at the request of their tutor, Will Rennison, to brief them about Guantánamo, and had found them to be the most politically engaged group of people I'd had the pleasure of engaging with, so it was unsurprising that their performance was so inspiring, but it provides hope for a better world when young people are so engaged with the injustices of the world, and so determined to confront them."

On Feb. 5, 2020, marking 6,600 days of Guantánamo's existence, Julisa Wescott, in Sarasota, Florida says, "I am proudly supporting the Close Guantánamo campaign by holding a poster as a reminder that the unjust prison has now been open for 6,600 days. Close Guantánamo NOW in the name of humanity and in the name of justice! Don’t wait any longer to see justice - Close Guantánamo immediately. The corruption of the government system must cease and now is the time. STOP violating human rights and Close Guantánamo so that this will be a safer world to live in."

On Feb. 5, 2020, marking 6,600 days of Guantánamo's existence, Steve Lane, in Bethesda, Maryland says, "President Trump, every day that goes by with Guantánamo Bay prison open is a continuing stain on America's character and name, and a continuing source of harm to the men there whose only crime was being picked up by a bounty hunter. Moslem terrorists out to recruit suicide bombers use it as proof that we do not mean what we say about human rights in our Declaration of Independence or Constitution. It harms everyone associated with it in any way. Close it now, for the good of the whole world."

Journalist and publisher Alan Dearling calls on Donald Trump to close Guantánamo on its 6,600th day of operations, on Feb. 5, 2020.

Natalia Rivera Scott and her mum Christina in Mexico City hold up Spanish posters calling on Donald Trump to close Guantánamo on its 6,600th day of operations, on Feb. 5, 2020. Check out the Spanish posters here.

Ed Charles in Los Angeles, who runs the Spanish version of the website of the World Can't Wait campaigning group, holds up a Spanish poster he created, calling on Donald Trump to close Guantánamo on its 6,600th day of operations, on Feb. 5, 2020. Check out the Spanish posters here.

On Feb. 5, 2020, marking 6,600 days of Guantánamo's existence, Bob Kolkebeck in Park Forest, Illinois calls on Donald Trump to close the prison without further delay.

Our co-founder Andy Worthington says, "What a great privilege last night (Feb. 4) to visit the BRIT School for the performing arts in south east London to watch theatre students perform ‘Guantánamo’, a wonderfully powerful and inspiring devised piece drawing primarily on the testimony of Guantánamo prisoners and their families. I had been privileged to visit the BRIT school several months ago to brief the students about Guantánamo, and I found them to be the most politically engaged group I had ever spoken to, so it didn’t surprise me that their performance last night was so throughly engaging, and, at times, extremely moving, and I was particularly impressed by how they combined delivering the prisoners’ and families’ testimony with admirably choreographed physical theatre." This photo is from the very start of the performance, and shows a narrator standing on a box on which the production team projected the Gitmo Clock, which was just hours away from reaching 6,600 days, today’s bleak milestone in Guantánamo’s achingly long, cruel and unjust history.

January 27 was International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and, from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, History Professors M. Safa Saraçoğlu and William Hudon sent messages of solidarity, with Prof. Saraçoğlu stating that, to mark the occasion, "many of us are demanding the closure of all internment camps including Guantánamo." In addition Prof. Hudon said, "I call on President Trump to close Guantánamo; act for the good in defense of human rights, now!" Both men were holding up posters marking 6,575 days of the prison’s existence, which was on Jan. 11; on Jan. 27, the prison had been open for 6,591 days.

On January 23, the prison at Guantánamo Bay had been open for 6,587 days, and, to mark the occasion, theatre students at the BRIT School for the performing arts in south east London, on the first night of their performance of 'Guantánamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom', the 2004 play by Gillian Slovo and Victoria Brittain, projected onstage the Gitmo Clock, our initiative that counts in real time how long the prison has been open. The first photo was taken before the performance began, and the second, featuring the whole cast, was taken at the end of the night. We’d like to thank the students — and their tutor — for their involvement. Our co-founder Andy Worthington was invited several months ago to brief the students on Guantánamo, and found them to be the most engaged audience he has ever encountered, a vivid example of the increasing politicization of today’s teenagers.

January 11, 2020 was the 18th anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantánamo Bay; or, to put it another way, the 6,575th day of its disgraceful existence, and former prisoner Shaker Aamer was photographed by our co-founder Andy Worthington with a poster marking the occasion, and calling on Donald Trump to close it without further delay.

Julisa Wescott, from Sarasota, Florida, says, "I am proudly supporting the Close Guantánamo Campaign by giving an assertive reminder that the shameful and unjustified prison has been open for 6,575 days while violating the human rights of the men detained there and urging it to be closed immediately. Truth: Closing Guantánamo Bay Prison Camp IS undoubtedly the intelligent and safe action to take. Let’s see an end to terror and injustice, an end to oppression, and let’s see a new beginning with truth and better goals gained by closing Guantánamo prison. Factually, only incompetent decisions would have allowed a place like Guantánamo Bay Prison to exist. In the name of justice — Close Guantánamo NOW and forever!!!!"

Steve Lane, in Bethesda, Maryland says, "Our Guantánamo Bay prison is not just a stain on our country. Terrorists point to it as an example of U.S. failure to adhere to our own standards, and of prejudice against Islam, when they look for Muslims willing to attack our country and our people. Make us safe by closing it now, President Trump."

On January 11, 2020, the 18th anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo, Natalia Rivera Scott and her friend Renata, in Mexico City, call on Donald Trump to close the prison.

On January 11, 2020, the 18th anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo, the Close Guantánamo campaign's co-founder Andy Worthington calls on Donald Trump to close the prison without further delay. See Andy's report on the rally outside the White House here.

On January 11, 2020, the 18th anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo, Debra Sweet, the national director of the campaigning group the World Can't Wait, calls on Donald Trump to close the prison without further delay.

Ann Wright, peace campaigner and former U.S. Army Colonel and State Department official, who resigned in protest at the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003, calls on Donald Trump to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay without further delay at the annual rally outside the White House on Jan. 11, 2020.

James Yee, former military chaplain at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, who was wrongly imprisoned and accused of spying, calls on Donald Trump to close the prison without further delay at the annual rally outside the White House on Jan. 11, 2020. After his release, Yee wrote a book about his ordeal, "For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire."

Beth Velkey Brockman of Witness Against Torture calls on Donald Trump to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay without further delay at the annual rally outside the White House on Jan. 11, 2020.

Chicago-based artist Amber Ginsburg calls on Donald Trump to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay without further delay at the rally outside the White House on Jan. 11. 2020. With Aaron Hughes, Ginsburg created The Tea Project, an installation involving 779 porcelain cast Styrofoam cups, one for each of the men held by the US military at Guantánamo since the prison first opened in January 2002.

Amy Phillips, a long-time supporter of Close Guantánamo, calls on Donald Trump to close the prison without further delay at the rally outside the White House on Jan. 11, 2020.

Valerie Lucznikowska of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows calls on Donald Trump to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay without further delay at the rally outside the White House on Jan. 11, 2020.

Daphne Eviatar of Amnesty International USA calls on Donald Trump to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay without further delay at the rally outside the White House on Jan. 11, 2020.

Helen Schietinger of Witness Against Torture calls on Donald Trump to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay without further delay at the annual rally outside the White House on Jan. 11, 2020.

Art Laffin of Witness Against Torture calls on Donald Trump to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay without further delay as part of the annual rally outside the White House on Jan. 11, 2020.

Julie Alley and friend - both with Witness Against Torture - call on Donald Trump to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay without further delay as part of the annual rally outside the White House on Jan. 11, 2020.

Human rights activist Marie Meza calls on Donald Trump to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay without further delay on Jan. 11, 2020, the 18th anniversary of the opening of the prison, at an action outside a Trump hotel following the annual rally outside the White House.

Richard Sroczynski of Witness Against Torture calls on Donald Trump to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay without further delay on Jan. 11, 2020, the 18th anniversary of the opening of the prison, at an action outside a Trump hotel following the annual rally outside the White House.

Peace activist Leah Brown calls on Donald Trump to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay without further delay on Jan. 11, 2020, the 18th anniversary of the opening of the prison, at an action outside a Trump hotel following the annual rally outside the White House.

New York-based blogger The Talking Dog calls on Donald Trump to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay without further delay on Jan. 11, 2020, the 18th anniversary of the opening of the prison, after the annual rally outside the White House.