My name is Jerry Breen and I am here on behalf of Hosaifa Parhat.

On January 11th, 2008, I was arrested outside the Supreme Court.

Your Honor, we come before you today to plead our innocence. When we went to the Supreme Court on January 11th our intention was not to commit any crimes, but our sole purpose was to appeal to the justices on behalf of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Some of us who were inside the court that day had simply brought letters to deliver to the justices. Others planned to pray and hold signs, but before any of us knew it the police were arresting us without warning. We believe that our actions that day are guaranteed by the bill of rights for we were simply exercising free speech and our right to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Those of us outside on the Supreme Court steps were arrested and charged with 40 USC 6135. Parades, assemblages, and display of flags in the Supreme Court Building and grounds, or to display in the Building and grounds a flag, banner, or device designed or adapted to bring into public notice a party, organization, or movement."

Our case will prove that we were not a parade, assemblage, or display of flags on the Supreme Court grounds, nor did we display anything to bring into public notice a party, organization or movement. Our witnesses will show that we were at the Supreme Court to bring into public notice not parties or organizations or movements, but people…men who have been held by our government, many for over six years, without ever having the chance we have today, to see the evidence against us, confront our accusers, and prove our innocence. We were at the Supreme Court on January 11th in the same spirit that we hope to have with us today…a spirit of appealing for justice.

Key to our defense today is our state of mind. You will hear our witnesses speak to what their intent was and what formed their intent on January 11th 2008. You will see a copy of the letter that had been mailed to the Supreme Court months in advance, which many carried with them to hand deliver on January 11th.

The facts that formed our intent include the fact that the men at Guantanamo are being held there without charge. The human right of the writ of habeas corpus is fundamental to the rule of law and is enshrined in our Constitution. It must not be denied to the Guantanamo prisoners any longer.

We cannot be silent when these prisoners have endured cruel, inhumane treatment and torture. Our government has willingly abandoned the Geneva Conventions, specifically Common Article 3 which states among other things:
“The following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever…
• violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
• outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;
• the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.

That most of these prohibited acts have been carried out by the current administration is no longer in dispute. And yet in our governmental system of checks and balances neither Congress nor the Supreme Court act to rein in the Executive Branch.

We have demonstrated, written, lobbied, talked, signed petitions…some of us even attempted to travel to Guantanamo, but we have failed. Because of the failures of the three branches of government to live up to our own American and international standards, we, on January 11th, went to the Supreme Court to demand that the rule of law be maintained, that these men be charged, that all form of torture stop and that the prison at Guantanamo Bay be closed.

We respectfully ask you, your Honor, to hear our plea.