Calling for the release of Guantánamo prisoners in the U.S.

Last month, when two prisoners were released from Guantánamo and given new homes in El Salvador, it was the first time for 15 months that any prisoners had been released from the prison, largely because of Congressional obstruction.

The two were Uighurs, Muslims from China's Xinjiang province, and it was unsafe for them to be repatriated, but although it is good news that two more innocent prisoners are free -- and, specifically, that two men who couldn't be repatriated safely were provided with new homes -- 87 of the remaining 169 prisoners have also been cleared for release by the Obama administration's Guantánamo Review Task Force, but are still held. 

In an article last week, "Washington Post Calls for Three Guantánamo Prisoners to Be Freed in the U.S.," we agreed with the Post that the last three Uighurs in Guantánamo, who may not find a country that will offer them a new home, should be offered a new home in the United States, and this week, we have followed up with another article on a similar theme, ""Close Guantánamo" Urges U.S. Communities to Call for Release of Guantánamo Prisoners on U.S. Mainland," calling our supporters' attention to the work of "No More Guantánamos." 

This is an organization that has worked hard to pass resolutions in two towns in Massachusetts, Amherst and Leverett, and also in Berkeley, in California, where the communities have agreed to ask Congress to drop its restrictions on releasing prisoners into the United States, and have specifically agreed to take in cleared prisoners who cannot be repatriated.

We hope you agree that these responses to the continuing impasse regarding the closure of Guantánamo are useful, and worth supporting, and, as ever, we thank you for your support.

To help us build a campaign to call for the release of prisoners in the U.S., please forward this email to your family and friends, and ask them to join us -- just an email is required!