TRIAL FOR ANTI-TORTURE ACTIVISTS TO BEGIN IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
DEFENDANTS TO TAKE NAMES OF DETAINEES INTO COURT

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, May 27, thirty-five Americans arrested at the Supreme Court on January 11, 2008 will go on trial for their act of protesting the indefinite detention and torture of detainees at Guantanamo, Bay, Cuba. In D.C. Superior Court they will defend themselves (pro se) against charges of “causing a harangue” and/or “unlawful free speech” at the Supreme Court.

On January 11, they were arrested, along with 43 others, without their identification and taken into custody under the names of Guantanamo prisoners. The will stand trial on behalf of the detainees, symbolically granting the Guantanamo prisoners the day in court that the Bush Administration and the Pentagon have denied them.

The protest was organized by Witness Against Torture, a group that formed in 2005 when 25 people walked from Cuba to the U.S. detention facilities to protest conditions there. The defendants are common citizens: priests and pastors, construction workers and farmers, schoolteachers and professors. They come from Charlottesville, Des Moines, New York City, Scranton, Saratoga, Worcester, and other cites and towns.

“I went to the Supreme Court,” Father Bill Pickard from Scranton, Pennsylvania explains, “To bring the name and humanity of Faruq Ali Ahmed — who claims he traveled to Afghanistan in 2001 simply to teach the Koran to children and that he has no affiliation with the Taliban or Al Qaeda — before the law. He cannot do it for himself, so I am called by my faith, my respect for the rule of law, and my conscience to do it for him.”

Ed Kinane, a 63-year old educator from Syracuse, New York, demonstrated at the Supreme court and is now standing trial, “to petition my government to redress a tragic and frightening grievance: its illegal and inhumane treatment of fellow human beings held at Guantanamo.”

At the trial, a number of the defendants will forgo their right to speak, out of recognition of the near–total denial of legal and human rights to the Guantanamo detainees. “We will not exercise our rights,” says Matt Daloisio of this courtroom protest, “when our country continues to deny the rights of others.” (see full statement by Daloisio, attached).

January 11, 2008 marked six years since the opening of U.S. detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay. The Supreme Court demonstrators were joined by protestors around the world in such cities at London, Sydney, Edinburgh, Istanbul, and Barcelona.

Retired admiral John D. Hustorn, the former judge advocate general of the Navy, said of the Supreme Court demonstrators, "In the military, there is the concept of ‘calling in artillery onto your own position.’ It refers to heroic action taken in desperate situations for a greater good. That's essentially what these 35 courageous Americans are doing . . . They accept that there may be an adverse consequence to them personally but they believe drawing attention to the issue is worth the sacrifice."

“I have no doubt,” commented Professor of History Jeremy Varon (Drew University), “that the vast majority of Americans will one day look back at Guantanamo as a shameful chapter in our history. We will ask: who stood up, who risked their freedom and reputation to stop this injustice? We will point to Americans like those standing trial on May 27, and be heartened that average citizens ”

The defendants face penalties of up to 60 days in prison and fines and court fees for each charge. The trial is expected to last three to four days.

Witness Against Torture will continue its efforts to have the detention facilities at Guantanamo shut down and torture by United States ended.

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