CPTnet
30 January 2006

TORONTO: Hundreds gather to call for end to military occupation of Iraq,
release of missing CPTers.

On the evening of 29 January, several hundred members and supporters of
Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) paraded through central Toronto to the U.S.
Consulate, calling for an end to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. Five
people wearing orange jumpsuits black hoods led the procession,
representing the 16,000 Iraqis illegally detained. Participants carried
photos of Iraqi detainees and of the four CPTers who went missing in Baghdad
two months ago.

This vigil was the last of fourteen daily processions to the U.S. Consulate
in Toronto, and was part of CPT's "Shine the Light" campaign, which included
events throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. In
Washington, D.C., daily processions began at institutions that bear key
responsibility for the war in Iraq such as the Pentagon and the C.I.A., and
ended at the White House.

"We are continuing the work that James Loney and our other missing
colleagues were doing," commented CPT Canada Coordinator Rebecca Johnson at
the Toronto gathering. "They would want us to continue calling for an end
to the occupation and to the abuse of Iraqi detainees, even as we wait for
their safe return." The "Shine the Light" campaign connects the
disappearance of the four CPTers to the suffering of ordinary Iraqis.

Since 2003, CPT has documented over a hundred cases of detainee abuse. This
work was partially responsible for the 2004 disclosure of the abuses
committed by U.S. soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison. CPT has been present in
Iraq since October 2002, providing first-hand, independent reports from the
region, advocating on behalf of detainees and their families and training
others in nonviolent intervention and human rights documentation.

Photos of the Toronto vigil are available at

http://www.cpt.org/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album160