On January 11, 2022, the prison at Guantánamo Bay had been open for 20 years — that’s 7306 days — and the Gitmo Clock, first launched under President Obama, and re-launched in 2018, continues to let the world know how disgraceful it is that the prison is still open.
The clock will count how many days the prison has been open until it is finally closed for good.
Conceived by the Bush administration as a place to hold prisoners seized in the “war on terror” outside the reach of the U.S. courts, Guantánamo became a place where torture and abuse were practiced, and it remains a place where those held are not imprisoned according to international accepted norms — as criminals facing federal court trials, or as prisoners of war protected by the Geneva Conventions, who can be held unmolested until the end of hostilities — but as, essentially, what they have always been: men without rights subjected to indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial, whose release can only come about through the whim of the president.
39 men are still held at Guantánamo, and every day that the prison remains open is an affront to America’s cherished notion of itself as a country founded on the rule of law, that respects the rule of law. Guantánamo is a legal, moral and ethical abomination, and its continued existence is also counter-productive, tarnishing America’s reputation abroad and inflaming anti-American sentiment.
What you can do
Please print one of the posters below, showing how many days Guantánamo has been open, and calling on President Biden to close it, take a photo of yourself with the poster (or ask a friend or family member to take a photo) and send it to: info@closeguantanamo.org. We’ll show your photos on a new, dedicated page on the website. Please choose from the posters below:
- 7300 Days (Jan. 5, 2022)
- 7306 Days (Jan. 11, 2022)
- 7400 days (Apr 15, 2022)
- 7500 days (Jul 24, 2022)
- 7600 days (Nov 1, 2022)
- 7671 days (Jan 11, 2023)
What else you can do
You can contact the White House here. You can also ask your Senators and Representatives to call for the prison to be closed. Find your Senators here, and your Representatives here.