Twelve protestors from the group Witness Against Torture were arrested Monday in New York City for participating in what they called a "die-in." Wearing the recognizable orange jumpsuits and black hoods of Guantanamo detainees, the protestors sprawled out on the steps of the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse with signs that read "I Died Waiting." A takeoff on a sit-in, the act was a public gesture in solidarity with the 84 Guantanamo prisoners who have been holding a hunger strike for almost three months now.
In a press release, Jeremy Varon, one of the group's organizers, said:
The hunger strike is the predictable result of a failed policy of indefinite detention that is morally unacceptable and politically unsustainable … If action is not taken to change that policy, more prisoners will die and our nation’s shame will deepen.
CBS New York reports that conditions at Guantanamo remain poor: Many of the inmates have been moved to solitary confinement, and at least 16 of the 84 strikers are being force-fed.
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