Welcome to "Close Guantánamo"

Sunday January 11 marked the 24th anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantánamo Bay. See our new article, 24 Years of Guantánamo, for our co-founder Andy Worthington's account of the 15 men still held, the horrors of this anniversary, Trump and migrants, and the global vigils and photo campaign that took place over the weekend, and see here for photos of campaigners across the U.S. and around the world holding up our poster marking 8,767 days of the prison's existence on this baleful anniversary, and here for Andy's report about the 19 global vigils, featuring 56 photos. Just published is our overview of all the anniversary actions and media activity, Guantánamo at 24: 19 Global Vigils, 135 Photos and Three Videos.

Welcome to the Close Guantánamo website.

Donations to support the work of the Close Guantánamo campaign in 2026 are welcome and are greatly encouraged, as we continue our work in opposition to Donald Trump, who has been cynically and illegally using the prison as part of his vile and racist "war on migrants," and who recently lost a significant court case, as we reported in our article, Judge Condemns the Trump Administration’s Illegal and “Impermissibly Punitive” Use of Guantánamo to Hold Migrants.

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For the last 14 years, the Close Guantánamo campaign, with your support, has engaged in a ceaseless struggle to break through the amnesia that generally envelops the prison at Guantánamo Bay, profiling the men held, calling for the release of those who have never been charged with crimes, and who, as a result, are held indefinitely without charge or trial, calling for justice for those who have been charged, but in the broken military commission trial system, and also calling for the closure of the entire facility.

Marking the 24th anniversary of the prison's opening, Andy Worthington was interviewed by Salaamedia in South Africa on January 13, and the video of that interview is posted below.

Andy was also interviewed by Scott Horton for an in-depth, hour-long discussion about Guantánamo past and present.

Since 2018, our efforts to keep shining a light on Guantánamo have involved a popular photo campaign, in which our supporters take photos with posters marking every 100 days of Guantánamo’s existence, via our Gitmo Clock initiative, which counts in real time how long Guantánamo has been open.

We received a hugely enthusiastic response to our poster, marking 8,767 days of the prison’s existence on January 11, 2026, the 24th anniversary of the opening of the prison, and further posters will be made available throughout 2026.

You can also see all the 2025 photos here, and also see our article, No Tears for Dick Cheney on Guantánamo’s 8,700th Day of Existence, about the vigils and the observation of 8,700 days, which focused primarily on the death, the day before, of Dick Cheney, the main architect of the post-9/11 global "war on terror."

For the last three years, initiated by Andy Worthington, monthly coordinated global vigils — the "First Wednesday" vigils — have also taken place across the U.S., and in London, Brussels and Mexico City, calling for the prison’s closure, and specifically focusing on the men approved for release but still held. There was a wonderful turnout for the January vigils, moved to Saturday January 11 to mark the anniversary. We returned to our "First Wednesday" slot on February 5, March 5, April 2 and May 7, June 4, July 2, August 6, September 3, October 1, November 5 and December 3. 19 vigils took place on and around January 11, 2026, the 24th anniversary of the opening of the prison, and our regular "First Wednesday" vigils will resume on Wednesday February 4, and will continue throughout 2026.

Please see below for the video of Andy Worthington's speech about Guantánamo at the London vigil for the prison's closure on January 10.

Thanks to everyone’s efforts, the Biden administration, in its last months, arranged for the release of 13 of the 16 men who had long been approved for release — a Kenyan, a Tunisian, and eleven Yemenis, who couldn’t be sent home because U.S. law prevents their repatriation, who were resettled in Oman on January 6. Two other men, convicted via pleas deals in the military commissions, were sent back to Malaysia, reducing the prison’s population to just 15 men as Biden left office.

Unfortunately, almost as soon as Donald Trump took office for the second time, he launched a blizzard of hateful executive orders, including many aimed at the 13.3 million undocumented migrants in the U.S., who he has sweepingly mischaracterized as posing a collective threat to the U.S., and is seeking to deport in huge numbers. As part of this vile policy, he announced, in an executive order on January 29, a plan to expand an existing migrant detention facility within the naval base where the "war on terror" prison is located, to hold up to 30,000 migrants he intends to deport, as we discussed in our article, Monthly Close Guantánamo Vigils Resume Amidst Trump’s Chilling Promise to Expand a Neighboring Facility to Hold 30,000 Migrants.

Since then, we have continued to cover Trump's use of Guantánamo in his "war on migrants," via articles here, and here, and Andy has also undertaken interviews with Rebecca Myles on WBAI in New York City, and with Misty Winston on Due Dissidence. Further articles followed in July and October.

Please note that we have been adding our outrage about the "war on migrants" to the demands for the closure of the "war on terror" prison at our monthly vigils, and will continue to do so throughout 2026.

Who we are and why we care

We are a group of lawyers, journalists, retired military personnel and concerned citizens seeking to close the "war on terror" prison at Guantánamo Bay, where 15 men are still held, three unanimously approved for release by high-level government review processes, and three still held as "forever prisoners," never charged with a crime.

January 11, 2026 marked the 24th anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, and the start of its 25th year of operations. This is an anniversary that should never have come to pass.

The prison at Guantánamo Bay is an abominable experiment in indefinite detention, which poisons America's claim to be a nation that believes in justice. Three men are still held despite being long approved for release, including one man approved for release 15 years ago.

Just nine men are facing or have faced trials, while the others (three men in total, including Abu Zubaydah, the first victim of the CIA's post-9/11 torture program) have been aptly described as "forever prisoners," persistently recommended for ongoing imprisonment without charge or trial by the PRBs. Check out our full list of the PRBs here, and please also feel free to look at our full prisoner list, identifying the 15 men still held, and incorporating the decisions about whether they should be freed, tried or held indefinitely.

Please encourage Donald Trump and your Senators and Representatives to support our call to close the prison. Let them know that, while the prison remains open, it undermines America's values and national security. You can send a message to the White House here, and you can find your Senators here, and your Representatives here.

Join us now to help end this injustice and restore the rule of law. We call on Donald Trump to close Guantánamo, and will continue to do so until it is closed for good. Your voice matters.

Thank you for your commitment and support, and thank you for your interest in bringing this dark chapter in modern U.S. history to an end. Please see our mission statement for a more detailed analysis of why Guantánamo must be closed, and to see the list of prominent individuals and organizations who have signed it.