Radio: Andy Worthington Discusses the Guantánamo Hunger Strike with Scott Horton, Dennis Bernstein and Pippa Jones

With the prison-wide hunger strike at Guantánamo nearing its 100th day (on Sunday), and even President Obama finally breaking his silence at a news conference on Tuesday — condemning the ongoing existence of the prison, but offering little in the way of solutions — I have been very busy with media appearances, as the mainstream media has woken up to the chronic injustice of Guantánamo in a convincing manner that — dare I say it — shows no sign of going away, as has the general public.

If you haven’t already signed it, please sign the petition calling for President Obama to close Guantánamo, which was launched this week by Col. Morris Davis, the former chief prosecutor of the military commissions, who resigned in protest at the Bush administration’s use of torture. In just a few days, the petition has already secured over 125,000 signatures, showing a depth of concern for the ongoing injustice of Guantánamo that has been imaginable for the last few years.

This is entirely appropriate, of course, as 166 men languish in Guantánamo, abandoned by all three branches of the US government — President Obama and his administration, Congress and the courts — including the 86 who were cleared for release at least three years ago by an inter-agency task force established the President Obama himself.

With the widespread media attention, I took part in three BBC programmes on Tuesday — on BBC World News, the international TV channel, with George Alagiah; and twice on the BBC World Service, on Newsday and World Have Your Say, and in the last week I have also spoken to two old friends and colleagues in the US — Scott Horton and Dennis Bernstein — as well as speaking to Pippa Jones, a Spanish-based British radio presenter who has her own show on iTalkFM, an English language radio channel “broadcasting topical news, interviews and music across the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca.”

My 40-minute interview with Scott Horton, who I have spoken to countless times in the last six years, is available here as an MP3, and this is how he described the show:

Andy Worthington, author of The Guantánamo Files, discusses his article “The Prisoners Speak: Reports from the Hunger Strike in Guantánamo;” the likelihood that the remaining prisoners will be held until they die, without charge or trial; Obama’s continuing pretense about closing Guantánamo; and the hunger strike’s success at bringing media attention to the situation.

Last night, I also spoke — again — to Dennis Bernstein, on his Flashpoints show on KPFA 94.1 FM in Berkeley, California. Dennis and I have spoken many times before — and twice since the hunger strike began (see here and here) — and it was great to be able to bring him and his listeners up to date on the hunger strike, and, in particular, the meaning — or lack of it — of President Obama’s decision to finally address the ongoing horrors of Guantánamo, and the need for renewed action to free prisoners and to finally close the prison, at his news conference on Tuesday.

My 15 minutes with Dennis, recorded late last night UK time, is available here as an MP3 (beginning at 11 minutes and 30 seconds), and it was a pleasure to talk to him, as ever. The page for the show is here.

Earlier in the week, I also spoke to Pippa Jones, who had previously interviewed the US attorney Tom Wilner. Tom represented the Guantánamo prisoners in their successful habeas corpus cases before the Supreme Court in 2004 and 2008, and is my colleague in the “Close Guantánamo” campaign, which we established together last January on the 10th anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo.

Below is the interview with Pippa, which she made available on YouTube, and below that is Pippa’s earlier interview with Tom:

Andy Worthington is the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison (published by Pluto Press, distributed by Macmillan in the US, and available from Amazon — click on the following for the US and the UK) and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to my RSS feed — and I can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr (my photos) and YouTube. Also see my definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, updated in April 2012, “The Complete Guantánamo Files,” a 70-part, million-word series drawing on files released by WikiLeaks in April 2011, and details about the documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (co-directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington, and available on DVD here — or here for the US). Also see my definitive Guantánamo habeas list and the chronological list of all my articles, and please also consider joining the “Close Guantánamo campaign”, and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.