T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, a leading Jewish member of The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NCRAT), applauds President Obama’s renewed commitment to closing the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, per his May 23rd speech at the National Defense University. We urge him to act quickly to carry out his stated plan to close the facility, and to lift the moratorium on transferring to Yemen detainees cleared for release. T’ruah also praises President Obama for his reiterated condemnation of torture and indefinite detention.

More than 100 Guantanamo detainees have been on a hunger strike for more than 100 days. 86 of these men have been cleared for release for years, but remain in prison as a result of restrictions on transferring cleared prisons to Yemen. These men are risking their lives in an act of desperation meant to remind the world that they still await their freedom five years after President Obama issued Executive Orders to close Guantanamo.

T’ruah also calls on President Obama to order an end to force feeding the detainees, per the consensus within the human rights and medical community that this practice constitutes torture. The bipartisan  report, “Task Force on Detainee Treatment” released by the Constitution Project, the UN Commission on Human Rights, and the American Medical Association have classified force feeding as a form of torture.

We cannot forget the men who are languishing at Guantanamo. No human being, created b’tzelem elohim (in the image of God), should have to fast in order for the world to see his or her suffering. One of the first laws that God gives humanity, according to the Torah, is the obligation to set up fair courts of justice. Jewish law–like American law–guarantees every person accused of a crime the right to stand trial, and to be judged fairly.

We implore the President to stand by his word, and to uphold the democratic and moral values so dear to America, by closing Guantanamo and returning those cleared for release home.

We also call on the President to press for the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’ 6,000 page report on CIA use of torture since 9/11. Those who have read the report—including Senator John McCain—have said that the report lays to rest any question about whether torture was effective. In light of the President’s renewed call for government transparency in his speech, the right step would be to allow the American public to see the report.

We thank President Obama for his renewed commitment to bringing closure to these critical issues. As he said on the 23rd, “ [H]istory will cast a harsh judgment on this aspect of our fight against terrorism and those of us who fail to end it.  Imagine a future — 10 years from now or 20 years from now — when the United States of America is still holding people who have been charged with no crime on a piece of land that is not part of our country.  . .  Is that the America we want to leave our children? ”

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