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Obama Vows to Seek Guantánamo Closure, But Immediate Action Could Prevent Hunger Strikers' Deaths

811 views · Published 1 May 2013 · 15:43 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: Democracy Now! · 2013 · News & Politics

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http://www.democracynow.org - President Obama has vowed a renewed push to shut down the military prison at Guantánamo Bay more than four years after first pledging its closure. Speaking at a White House news conference, Obama called the indefinite imprisonment of more than 100 people unsustainable, but defended the ongoing force-feeding of those on a three-month hunger-strike to win their freedom. Attorneys representing Guantánamo prisoners have welcomed Obama's closure pledge, but have urged him to take immediate action, including the immediate release of 86 people already cleared for transfer and lifting his self-imposed moratorium on repatriating Yemeni nationals. We're joined by Pardiss Kebriaei, senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights and lawyer for hunger striking Guantánamo prisoner Ghaleb Al-Bihani. "President Obama has made very important statements about Guantánamo before -- what we need now is action," Kebriaei says. "It is a national security liability, it is legally unsupportable, it is morally wrong, it is unjust, the world knows it, President Obama knows it. The American people should know it, it needs to close."

See more Democracy Now! coverage of the Guantánamo hunger strike at
http://www.democracynow.org/topics/guantanamo.

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