Approximately 200 human rights activists rallied in Washington April 30 to urge President Obama to support a criminal inquiry into use of torture by the United States and to fully break with the detention policies of the Bush administration.

The anti-torture demonstration included a procession from the Capitol to the White House, where 62 activists were arrested. Dressed in orange jumpsuits and black hoods to resemble Guantanamo detainees, they stood behind a large banner that read: "Justice Delayed is Justice Denied." Stenciled on their uniforms were the names of prisoners who have been cleared for release but remain at the detention facility, as well as those who died in custody.

"Despite early, encouraging signs, the first months of the Obama administration have been a grave disappointment with respect to detainee issues and torture," said Matt Daloisio, a member of the New York Catholic Worker and co-founder of Witness Against Torture.

"Many of the immoral and illegal policies of the Bush administration remain in place, and President Obama has been reluctant to investigate possible past crimes," Daloisio said. The group of Catholic activists organized yesterday's action in collaboration with Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Torture Abolition Survivors Support Coalition.

During his presidential campaign, Obama promised to close Guantanamo and restore American commitment to the rule of law. On the first day of his presidency, he signed two executive orders that directed the closure of the U.S. detention facility by January 2010 and ended the CIA's use of secret prisons and coercive interrogations.

"Signing pieces of paper has done little to relieve the circumstances of Guantanamo's detainees," Daloisio said. By one count, 55 of the prison's 239 detainees have been cleared for release but remain incarcerated out of concern they could be mistreated if they returned to their home countries.

Read the editorial from the May 1 print issue of National Catholic Reporter: Torture as a wake-up moment.

Earlier this week, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asked European leaders to help relocate 30 detainees cleared for release. U.S. officials have appealed to Europe before. But a not-in-my-backyard attitude in the United States. and abroad has made it difficult to resettle men the American government once tagged as terrorists.

Yesterday's demonstration comes amidst revelations that, under the Bush administration, CIA operatives used extremely harsh interrogation tactics against detainees suspected of terrorism. Last month, the Justice Department released four torture memos which were written in 2002 and 2004.