Gitmo detainees’ relatives stage sit-ins [Archives:2006/964/Local News]

SANA'A, July 16 ) Relatives of detainees in Gitmo and other secret American detainments staged a sit-in in front of Parliament and the United Nations office in Sana'a on July 15. The protesters demanded the interference of Parliament members (MPs) to set Yemeni detainees free and close up all secret American detainments. They further asked Parliament members to address their counterparts in order to press US Administration to close Gitmo and other secret detainment camps in America and Europe and other countries. They also demanded bringing detainees back to their home countries alive and not as corpses.

In front of the United Nations office in Sana'a, the protesters criticized the difficult and often illegal ordeals detainees undergo in American detainments, asking the UN to denounce such inhuman American practices.

In a letter handed to a UN representative in Sana'a, demonstrators appealed to the organization to uphold its human and historic responsibility of defending and protecting human rights. They said also that UN nepotism of the USA weakens the organization's role.

In a press statement, Mohamed Naji Alaw, Chairman of the National Organization for Defending Human Rights and Freedoms (HOOD), said that “We handed Parliament letters from HOOD and detainees' relatives and another one from the Civil Society Organizations (CSO)