January 11th, 2011 demonstration by the Illinois Coalition Against Torture

Faith Community Calls for Ending Indefinite Detention & Closure of Guantanamo  
For more than a decade, NRCAT has equipped the faith community to call for the closure of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.

Faith leader letters have included a 2009 letter by more than 40 heads of faith groups, religious institutions and other senior religious leaders calling on Congress to do everything in their power to close Guantanamo. 43 religious leaders joined a November 2013 letter expressing support for removing several transfer restrictions from those imprisoned at Guantanamo. On September 18, 2015, NRCAT joined a coaltion of organizations in a letter to Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and Attorney General Loretta Lynch opposing the CIA's efforts to hide the truth about torture in the case of Abu Zubaydah. 

Hunger strike at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay
In early February 2013, a hunger strike at Guantanamo began. For more on the hunger strike, see this op-ed by Rev. Richard Killmer, this op-ed by a prisoner at Guantanamo, this New York Times article, and the video of a NRCAT co-sponsored Congressional briefing. In response to the force-feeding of hunger-striking detainees, NRCAT released a statement opposing the force-feeding of mentally competent detainees and calling for independent medical professionals to examine hunger striking prisoners.

Fast to Close Guantanamo and July 24, 2013 Judiciary Committee Hearing
On July 24, Sen. Richard Durbin held a hearing about the possibility of closing Guantanamo. To express the religious community’s serious concerns about the dire situation at Guantanamo, NRCAT asked its supporters to engage in a “Fast to Close Guantanamo” leading up to the hearing. Almost 200 clergy and people of faith from across the country joined in the fast. See photos from some of the fasters on this Facebook page. For more information about the fast, view this story by Religion & Ethics Newsweekly.

Congressional briefing
On May 10, 2013, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture cosponsored a Congressional briefing on why it is imperative that we close Guantanamo. NRCAT founder, Dr. George Hunsinger, eloquently spoke about the unfolding human crisis at Guantanamo. “The consequences of ignoring Guantanamo,” he said, “its abuses, and its hunger-striking detainees are enormous --not only for America, but for the prisoners themselves, many of whom have reached the point that they would prefer to die rather than persist in more years of indefinite detention, which is itself tantamount to torture.”  You can watch the video of the briefing here, with Dr. Hunsinger’s presentation starting at 36:10.