12 Years a Slave vs. 12 Years a Prisoner... in Guantanamo

[unhappycamper]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/12-Years-a-Slave-vs-12-Ye-by-Ann-Wright-Guantanamo-Prison_Injustice_Prisoner-Abuse_Slavery-131220-507.html



Twelve years too long. Of the 779 prisoners kidnapped and subjected to extraordinary rendition by the United States government, 693, or 89%, have been freed because there was no evidence against them. 79 more prisoners have been cleared for release years

12 Years a Slave vs. 12 Years a Prisoner... in Guantanamo
OpEdNews Op Eds 12/20/2013 at 20:07:56
By Ann Wright

I hope the first African-American United State President has seen the movie "12 Years A Slave." It's the story of Solomon Northup, a born-free, educated African-American carpenter and musician who lived in Saratoga, New York. In 1841, during a trip to Washington, DC, Northup was kidnapped by slave traders. He was sold into the slave pens in the nation's capitol, imprisoned in chains, beaten, and transported by paddle wheel steamer by slave traders to the American south. There he was sold to slave owners and began working as a slave on an American Southern plantation. He was savagely beaten and humiliated on the plantation and remained there for 12 years, unable to escape, except by suicide.

~snip~

After 12 years, of the 779 prisoners kidnapped and subjected to extraordinary rendition by the United States government, 693, or 89%, have been freed because there was no evidence against them. 79 more prisoners were cleared for release years ago but are still being held.

Twelve years later, 158 prisoners are still imprisoned in Guantanamo: seven have been convicted by a US military commission of criminal acts against the United States, six are facing trial by US military commission and 46 have been designated for indefinite detention, without charge or trial. After no releases of cleared prisoners for several years, eight were released in the past three months -- four to Algeria, two to Saudi Arabia and two to Sudan.

I hope President Obama remembers that one-half of those remaining in Guantanamo -- 79 prisoners -- have been cleared for release -- and that he will issue an order for them to be released and that he also will finally order the infamous Guantanamo Prison to be closed... 12 years later.