Photos of the latest monthly global vigils for Guantánamo’s closure

My report, including the latest news regarding Trump’s use of Guantánamo as a migrant prison, and a transit point for flights to El Salvador’s horrendous CECOT prison.

I hope you have time to read my latest article on my website, Photos and Report: The Monthly Global Vigils for Guantánamo’s Closure – and No More Migrant Prisoners – on April 2, 2025, which features photos from, and my report about the coordinated monthly global vigils for the closure of Guantánamo that took place across the US — in Washington, D.C., New York, San Francisco, Detroit and Phoenix — and in London and Brussels last Wednesday, April 2, and in Cobleskill, NY on Saturday.

The "First Wednesday" vigils have been taking place on the first Wednesday of every month for more than two years, calling for the release of — or justice for — the men still held (currently, 15 in total).

In addition, the vigils are, of course, continuing under Donald Trump, after he has cynically, cruelly and illegally decided to use the prison to hold migrants as part of the racist "war on migrants" that he declared when he took office.

In the text accompanying the 25 photos, I bring the story of Trump's use of the prison — which I’ve written about extensively — up to date, including the use of Guantánamo as a transit point for the deportation of migrants to the vile CECOT prison in El Salvador. I’ve also written in depth about that particular scandal, although I'll be posting an article in much more detail about recent developments in the coming days.

As for Guantánamo, the next vigils are on Wednesday May 7. Please feel free to join us!

The photo above is of a campaigner at the vigils, outside the European Parliament in Brussels, with a poster I made to publicize Trump’s cruel and illegal imprisonment of migrants at Guantánamo.

8,500 days of Guantánamo, on April 19

Please also join the ongoing photo campaign on April 19, marking 8,500 days of Guantánamo’s existence, via the Gitmo Clock, an initiative of the Close Guantánamo campaign, which I co-founded with the US attorney Tom Wilner in 2012.

The Gitmo Clock counts in real time how long Guantánamo has been open, and the photo campaign, which has been running for the last seven years, involves a poster every 100 days. Supporters take a photo with the poster, and send it to info@closeguantanamo.org.

You can see the inspiring collection of photos from 8,400 days, in January, here, and the photos from last year here and here.

Although we’re all meant to have forgotten about Guantánamo, as it has become enshrouded in amnesia by politicians and by most of the mainstream media, I genuinely think that the photo campaign — and the vigils — show how many people do actually care.

Photos with the 8,400 days poster in January: me, Mohamedou Oud Slahi and two campaigners in San Francisco.

* * *

Please consider supporting my work if you appreciate it, as I am a reader-funded journalist and activist, and entirely dependent on your generosity. If you can’t afford a paid subscription here, you can make a one-off donation via PayPal.