FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 23, 2016

CONTACT: Benny Witkovsky, West End Strategy Team; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; (o) 202-766-7700, (c) 202-765-4290

Faith Leaders Applaud President's Plan to Close Guantanamo
Remind Him that Indefinite Detention is Immoral

WASHINGTON – Today President Obama released a plan for closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Leaders of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture released the following statements:

Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director: "Keeping Guantanamo open this long has never been a good idea, from either a national security or a moral perspective. The President's goal of transferring or trying almost all of the detainees can only improve our moral standing in the world.

However, an important flaw in the President's plan is that it is immoral and contrary to American values for the U.S. to hold anyone without the reasonable prospect of a trial."

Matt Hawthorne, Policy Director added: "The President's plan will save over $100 million per year, and it will improve our reputation around the world. Closing Guantanamo isn't just morally right, it's practically sound - and it points to how costly a mistake it was to open Guantanamo as a prison in the first place."

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is a membership organization committed to ending U.S.-sponsored torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Since its formation in January 2006, more than 300 religious organizations have joined NRCAT, including representatives from the Catholic, evangelical Christian, mainline Protestant, Unitarian Universalist, Quaker, Orthodox Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Baha’i, Buddhist, and Sikh communities. Members include national denominations and faith groups, regional organizations and local congregations.
NRCAT.org    @NRCATtweets   facebook.com/nrcat

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