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I can’t help feeling frustrated at the news of Guantánamo’s 6th anniversary on 11 January. Hundreds of innocent people (including one journalist) locked up under inhumane conditions for SIX years, and there’s not a shred of hope something like THAT would ever become a campaign issue in the US presidential elections. Who would want to be seen supporting “terrorists”?

Amnesty International has a new campaign to collect at least 500,000 signatures on this new website that slowly eats away at an image of the prison, one pixel per signature. The audiovisual site, called Tear it Down, also provides grueling facts and dates, such as:

“Up to 86% of detainees held at Guantánamo were arrested by the Afghan Northern Alliance and in Pakistan at a time when rewards of up to US$5,000 were paid for every unidentified terror suspect handed over to US forces.”

In California, the pro bono lawyers of two Guantánamo detainees have a blog where they keep track of news about the detention facility, and also provide updates about their own interactions with their clients. Here’s the depressing news from last week:

Today I received a letter from Mr. Al-Ghizzawi in which he informs me that he has recently seen a doctor and the doctor informed him that he has AIDs. It will take some time for me to confirm this information as the government is reluctant to give out any information to the prisoners or their attorneys but you can bet I will be doing everything I can to find out the truth.

How sad that many of the countries of origin of the majority of detainees themselves have abysmal records on democracy and freedom of expression. Somehow it makes their pleas for justice and criticism of the United States ring hollow. And vice versa. Any policy condoning any degree of torture or illegal detention, perpetuates the practice worldwide. At least that’s what I think.