ACTION ALERT

On Tuesday, October 17 at 9:35 a.m., President Bush will sign the Military Commissions Act (S. 3930) at the White House. Ironically, the signing will take place the day after the 300th birthday of Benjamin Franklin, the oldest signer of the U.S. Constitution, who wrote of the importance of Habeas Corpus.

In Washington, DC, you are invited to participate in a mourning vigil and “People’s Signing Ceremony” at 9 a.m. on Tuesday 10/17 in front of the White House on the Lafayette Park side. There will be speakers and a choir. The vigil has been planned by the Washington Region Religious Campaign Against Torture, who will be joined by the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC) International, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), PeaceAction Montgomery, The Shalom Center, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, and several other organizations.

For those outside Washington, DC: Rabbis for Human Rights calls upon you to take an hour as near to 9 a.m. as you can and head to your local Post Office, coffee shop, or bookstore with copies of the counter-statement for distribution to the public and copies of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) statement for the public to sign.

• Click here to print out copies of the Rabbi for Human Rights counter-statement for distribution. Click here for the NRCAT statement, and click here to print out a petition form to gather signatures in support of the NRCAT statement.

• The Center for Constitutional Rights has drafted an alternative statement for signing, which we have made into a petition here.
  

Whether you go to Lafayette Park or to your local community centers, notify your local press of your plan by submitting a press release to them.

Thank you for all you do to defend civil liberties and human rights.