October 22, 2009 13:53

REM and Pearl Jam supporting Barack Obama's Guantanamo Bay plan

Rage Against The Machine and Billy Bragg also backing 2010 shutdown

Photo: PA Photos

REM, Pearl Jam, Rage Against The Machine and Billy Bragg have pledged to support US President Barack Obama's campaign to shut down Guantanamo Bay prison.

They join Jackson Browne, Steve Earle, Roseanne Cash and Bonnie Raitt in signing up for a coalition of musicians who are calling for the jail to be closed, reports reports BBC News.

Many of the artists have backed the campaign because they're angry their music was used as an interrogation tool.

REM said in a statement: "We have spent the past 30 years supporting causes related to peace and justice. To now learn that some of our friends' music may have been used as part of the torture tactics, without their consent or knowledge, is horrific. It's anti-American, period."

A report published by the Senate Armed Services Committee last year made several references to music being used for interrogation.

Records were played to to "stress" a prisoner, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who was questioned while being "exposed to variable lighting patterns" and repeated plays of 'Let The Bodies Hit The Floor by Drowning Pool in 2003.

According to the National Security Archive, songs by AC/DC, Britney Spears, The Bee Gees and Marilyn Manson were also played at the prison.

Obama is trying to close the Guantanamo detention camp by January 2010.