Author: Witness Against Torture Staff

Our Sojourn to Justice: Writing from Guantanamo

News // Film

WAT-Facing-Camera

Day 1
Action Report by Frida Berrigan

There is something deeply Unamerican about waiting. We do not wait. The message is that we get what we want when we want. Convenience, fast, easy, instant. You get the picture, “NOW” is our right.

Waiting is for the poor, the marginalized, those without the clout or the cash to buy the NOW.

But, here we are in Cuba– people from the culture and ethic of the NOW- for even we leftist, radical, revolutionary, counter-culture types are not immune to the siren song of The Almighty NOW. Here we are in Cuba and we are waiting.

We are waiting for permission to walk, or at least we are waiting for the absence of non-permission. We are waiting on some of our luggage- which did not arrive with us. We are waiting for sessions of the conference to begin, because everything seems to run about 45 minutes behind schedule.

We don’t mind waiting for any of these things. There are things worth waiting for. We don’t mind waiting for the Cubans to be okay with our plans and intentions, because we are confident that they will see their way through their concerns and bureaucracies to a way to help us or at least not to hinder us. The luggage will (or will not) come and the one borrowing tee shirts and underpants seems Unamericanly sanguine about it. And the lateness of the conference sessions give us a chance to connect with those around us- companeros and companeras from all over the world who are drawn here by Cuba’s example and by the desire to bring home the spark of the revolution to reanimate their own work.

All of this waiting is good.

But there is another kind of waiting that we cannot abide. It haunts us, it animates our organizing and our resistance, It is the lonely, fruitless, agony of waiting that is life for the men at Guantanamo. 13 years- 4,445 days- of waiting. That is the waiting– the torture of endless confinement, the torture of no human contact– that Witness Against Torture denounces in the strongest terms, we define this waiting as inhuman, immoral and illegal. And we will wait no longer for freedom and justice.

And so we work and try and strive. We know you are with us, please keep checking the website and Facebook. Share our work, support it, look for our action alerts.

Frida

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The Guardian Reports on Witness Against Torture in Cuba

News // Film

Guantanamo Bay

The Guardian is reporting on our trip to Cuba:

The group, ranging in age from 25 to 65 and drawn from across the US, has strong ties with the Catholic workers movement but also includes Protestants, Muslims, Jews and Buddhists. “We see Guantánamo as a radical assault on the rule of law and the alleged pillars of American democracy, and we call on the US to obey the values it claims to hold dear,” said Jeremy Varon, an associate professor of history at the New School in New York and the one atheist among the group.

Read the full article on their web site. (Photograph: Brennan Linsley/AP)

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US Human Rights Advocates Hold Protest at Guantánamo Naval Base

Press Releases // Film

Demand Release of Detainees, Closure of the Detention Center and US Base

Activists Decry Islamophobia in the US Following Terrorist Attacks

The Peace Poets perform in Guantaánamo City

As people in the United States enjoys Thanksgiving with their families, 14 human rights activists with Witness Against Torture are in Cuba protesting the ongoing operation of the US prison at Guantánamo Bay. At an encampment outside the base, the delegation demands that the prison close and that it not simply be moved to North America by holding men without charge or trial in federal prisons. The group returns November 30 from Guantánamo to Havana, where it will request a meeting with the US ambassador.

Forced-Feeding, Not Feasting at Guantánamo

On Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26), the delegation will hold a vigil outside the base under the banner “Forced-Feeding, Not Feasting at Guantánamo.” The vigil highlights the continued forced-feeding of hunger striking prisoners, as well as the separation of the detained men from their families. The US activists are fasting in solidarity with the prisoners.

“While most people in the US are enjoying meals with their families,” says Marie Shebeck, a social worker in Chicago, Illinois, “I am fasting at the site of one of our country’s greatest shames. If the detained men can’t have a homecoming, we must bring our humanity to them.”

With its vigil, WAT seeks to bridge the distance between their encampment and men like Tariq Ba Odah, detained without charge since 2002. Tariq weighs 74 pounds after years of hunger striking. “Our actions are a simple act of solidarity,” says Chris Knestrick from Cleveland, Ohio. “We are here to say: We know you are suffering; we have come to stand with you.”

“There is real power in showing compassion to Guantanamo prisoners,” says Omar Farah, an attorney representing Tariq Ba Odah. “I saw firsthand when I visited him a week ago the impact of his learning that there are people beyond the prison wires who bear witness to his torment.”

Time is Up: Close Guantánamo Now

Witness Against Torture, which visited the detention camp in 2005, is returning after 10 years. “We are impatient. That is the understatement of the century,” says Frank Lopez, an educator from New York City. “Obama promised to close Guantánamo in 2008, calling it a moral outrage. But there are still 47 prisoners who have been cleared for release. It’s great that Shaker Aamer and a couple others have been freed recently. But whole prison must shut down.”

The protestors carry a stern message for President Obama and for those in Congress who have stood in the way of the prison’s closure. “Failing to close Guantánamo will be a terrible stain on Obama’s legacy,” says Jeremy Varon, a Professor of History in New York City. “Those lawmakers who worked to keep scores of innocent men imprisoned will be judged harshly by history.”

Close, Don’t Move Guantánamo

The Obama administration is developing a plan to move the men in Guantánamo to prisons in the US, while detaining some indefinitely without charge or trial. “Simply moving Guantánamo is no solution,” says Helen Schietinger of Washington, D.C. “That would mean holding on to the barbaric practice of indefinite detention. Besides, the entire domestic system of ‘correctional’ institutions is a travesty, poisoned by racism. We need to overhaul the US justice system, not add Guantánamo to it.”

Say No to Islamophobia

In the wake of attacks in Paris, Lebanon and Mali, Islamophobia rages in the US, evident in anti-Muslim violence and the bigoted statements of presidential candidates and others in positions of power. Witness Against Torture denounces this surge of xenophobia and hatred. “Our presence at Guantanamo is more important than ever,” says Jerica Arents, a professor from Chicago. “Guantanamo is the bitter legacy of the US’s devastating reaction to 9/11, which has meant the unjust detention and torture of Muslim men. This is a disgrace we can’t repeat.”

Many Faiths, One Message

Two Muslim Americans are on the trip. “It’s important for me to come to Guantánamo,” says Maha Hilal, Executive Director of the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms, “to protest a ‘war on terror’ that has so callously and indiscriminately targeted Muslims. My identity as a Muslim obliges me to pursue justice, while my identity as a US citizen demands that I challenge my government’s role in the dehumanization and torture of Muslim prisoners.”

The delegation includes Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and atheists. Many members are affiliated with the Catholic Worker movement, whose founder Dorothy Day was praised by Pope Francis during his US visit. “Jesus teaches us that what we do to the least of us, we do to him,” says Frida Berrigan of New London, Connecticut. “As Pope Francis’ radical call for compassionate action breathes new life into the Catholic church, we are putting that call into practice by reaching out to the men in Guantánamo.”

US Military Out of Cuba

Witness Against Torture began this trip by participating in the International Seminar for Peace and Abolition of Foreign Military Bases on Nov. 23-25. The conference was held in Guantánamo Province, where the US has controlled a huge swath of territory for more than a century. Witness Against Torture is calling as well for the closure of the entire US Naval base in Cuba. “The military base itself is an unwelcome symbol of US power, which houses a torture chamber,” says Enmanuel Candelario, an artist from the New York. “No country should endure this breach of its sovereignty.”

The delegation in Cuba will make photographs, video, and statements available to the media during its trip, and be available for phone interviews. It is supported by solidarity efforts in the United States and the UK, including a rolling fast, a prayer chain, and a vigil at the White House on November 30th and at the US embassy in London on November 26. For solidarity actions, contact: Beth Brockman, brockman.beth@gmail.com

Witness Against Torture formed in 2005 when 25 US citizens went to Guantánamo and attempted to visit the detention facility. Back in the United States, the group began to organize more broadly to shut down Guantánamo, working with interfaith, human rights, and grassroots organizations. The group established an annual gathering—with days of fasting, demonstrations, vigils, and direct action —around January 11, the date when the first men were brought to Guantánamo in 2002. The trip to Guantánamo builds towards the annual fast and vigil in Washington, DC in January 2016.

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WAT to Hold Protest at Guantánamo Naval Base

News // Film

The Peace Poets perform in Guantaánamo City

As people in the United States enjoys Thanksgiving with their families, 14 human rights activists with Witness Against Torture are in Cuba protesting the ongoing operation of the US prison at Guantánamo Bay. At an encampment outside the base, the delegation demands that the prison close and that it not simply be moved to North America by holding men without charge or trial in federal prisons. The group returns November 30 from Guantánamo to Havana, where it will request a meeting with the US ambassador.

Forced-Feeding, Not Feasting at Guantánamo

On Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26), the delegation will hold a vigil outside the base under the banner “Forced-Feeding, Not Feasting at Guantánamo.” The vigil highlights the continued forced-feeding of hunger striking prisoners, as well as the separation of the detained men from their families. The US activists are fasting in solidarity with the prisoners.

“While most people in the US are enjoying meals with their families,” says Marie Shebeck, a social worker in Chicago, Illinois, “I am fasting at the site of one of our country’s greatest shames. If the detained men can’t have a homecoming, we must bring our humanity to them.”

With its vigil, WAT seeks to bridge the distance between their encampment and men like Tariq Ba Odah, detained without charge since 2002. Tariq weighs 74 pounds after years of hunger striking. “Our actions are a simple act of solidarity,” says Chris Knestrick from Cleveland, Ohio. “We are here to say: We know you are suffering; we have come to stand with you.”

“There is real power in showing compassion to Guantanamo prisoners,” says Omar Farah, an attorney representing Tariq Ba Odah. “I saw firsthand when I visited him a week ago the impact of his learning that there are people beyond the prison wires who bear witness to his torment.”

Time is Up: Close Guantánamo Now

Witness Against Torture, which visited the detention camp in 2005, is returning after 10 years. “We are impatient. That is the understatement of the century,” says Frank Lopez, an educator from New York City. “Obama promised to close Guantánamo in 2008, calling it a moral outrage. But there are still 47 prisoners who have been cleared for release. It’s great that Shaker Aamer and a couple others have been freed recently. But whole prison must shut down.”

The protestors carry a stern message for President Obama and for those in Congress who have stood in the way of the prison’s closure. “Failing to close Guantánamo will be a terrible stain on Obama’s legacy,” says Jeremy Varon, a Professor of History in New York City. “Those lawmakers who worked to keep scores of innocent men imprisoned will be judged harshly by history.”

Close, Don’t Move Guantánamo

The Obama administration is developing a plan to move the men in Guantánamo to prisons in the US, while detaining some indefinitely without charge or trial. “Simply moving Guantánamo is no solution,” says Helen Schietinger of Washington, D.C. “That would mean holding on to the barbaric practice of indefinite detention. Besides, the entire domestic system of ‘correctional’ institutions is a travesty, poisoned by racism. We need to overhaul the US justice system, not add Guantánamo to it.”

Say No to Islamophobia

In the wake of attacks in Paris, Lebanon and Mali, Islamophobia rages in the US, evident in anti-Muslim violence and the bigoted statements of presidential candidates and others in positions of power. Witness Against Torture denounces this surge of xenophobia and hatred. “Our presence at Guantanamo is more important than ever,” says Jerica Arents, a professor from Chicago. “Guantanamo is the bitter legacy of the US’s devastating reaction to 9/11, which has meant the unjust detention and torture of Muslim men. This is a disgrace we can’t repeat.”

Many Faiths, One Message

Two Muslim Americans are on the trip. “It’s important for me to come to Guantánamo,” says Maha Hilal, Executive Director of the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms, “to protest a ‘war on terror’ that has so callously and indiscriminately targeted Muslims. My identity as a Muslim obliges me to pursue justice, while my identity as a US citizen demands that I challenge my government’s role in the dehumanization and torture of Muslim prisoners.”

The delegation includes Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and atheists. Many members are affiliated with the Catholic Worker movement, whose founder Dorothy Day was praised by Pope Francis during his US visit. “Jesus teaches us that what we do to the least of us, we do to him,” says Frida Berrigan of New London, Connecticut. “As Pope Francis’ radical call for compassionate action breathes new life into the Catholic church, we are putting that call into practice by reaching out to the men in Guantánamo.”

US Military Out of Cuba

Witness Against Torture began this trip by participating in the International Seminar for Peace and Abolition of Foreign Military Bases on Nov. 23-25. The conference was held in Guantánamo Province, where the US has controlled a huge swath of territory for more than a century. Witness Against Torture is calling as well for the closure of the entire US Naval base in Cuba. “The military base itself is an unwelcome symbol of US power, which houses a torture chamber,” says Enmanuel Candelario, an artist from the New York. “No country should endure this breach of its sovereignty.”

The delegation in Cuba will make photographs, video, and statements available to the media during its trip, and be available for phone interviews. It is supported by solidarity efforts in the United States and the UK, including a rolling fast, a prayer chain, and a vigil at the White House on November 30th and at the US embassy in London on November 26. For solidarity actions, contact: Beth Brockman, brockman.beth@gmail.com

Witness Against Torture formed in 2005 when 25 US citizens went to Guantánamo and attempted to visit the detention facility. Back in the United States, the group began to organize more broadly to shut down Guantánamo, working with interfaith, human rights, and grassroots organizations. The group established an annual gathering—with days of fasting, demonstrations, vigils, and direct action —around January 11, the date when the first men were brought to Guantánamo in 2002. The trip to Guantánamo builds towards the annual fast and vigil in Washington, DC in January 2016.

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Video: From Guantánamo Bay to Rikers

News // Film

Experts and organizers from a wide variety of backgrounds, from anti-torture to prison abolition work, gathered in Washington DC on June 27th, 2015 to discuss how solitary confinement, police torture, surveillance of Muslim communities and CIA torture intersect to create a culture where torture is permitted and legally justified to perpetuate state violence. Panelists included Juan E. Méndez, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture; Dr. Stephen Xenakis, anti-torture advisor to Physicians For Human Rights; Dr. Maha Hilal is the Deputy Executive Director of the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms; El-Hajj Mauri’ Saalakhan is a Metropolitan Washington, DC. Check out the full discussion on video right here.

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What the Court Would Have Heard

News // Film

In June 2015, members of Witness Against Torture went on trial for disrupting the Senate with an anti-torture message in January of the same year. They all had their cases dismissed. If the trial had moved forward, however, here are the opening and closing statements the court would have heard.

Opening Statement

Good morning, your honor, I am Josephine Setzler, defendant pro se.

Your honor, you have before you eight citizens who entered the gallery of the Senate chamber on January 12th. We traveled from several states around this country, during a week of activities with a group called Witness Against Torture, to learn more about the conduct of our government. We visited the Senate chamber that afternoon with the intent to inform our Senators about matters vital to the business of the Senate. We were led out, however, in handcuffs, and charged with disorderly conduct in a public building. The relevant section of the D.C. code charges that the conduct was done “with the intent and effect of impeding or disrupting the orderly conduct of business.” The statute states clearly that both intent and effect are relevant to this charge. We will address both while making our case before this court.

I turn first to the matter of intent. The Senate is a legislative forum, not a court of law or an executive board. In a legislative forum, the public should have input, and we tried to give input that day.   We came with the intent to communicate with our Senators who are elected to represent us. We came to exercise our First Amendment right to petition and to seek redress from our government.

Among us are parents, grandparents, citizens from several walks of life including teachers, health workers, and clergy, people whose life experience compelled them to come to Washington to participate in the work of our democracy by informing their legislators on a matter of some urgency. One of us is the wife of a torture survivor and she knows from personal experience how corrosive torture is for the victim, his family, and their relationships with the larger society. Another of us is a member of the clergy and a teacher. Her work gave her an urgent sense that she must aid the Senators in their duty to hold torture perpetrators accountable.

Your honor, the government will call our discourse in the Senate a disruption, but we will beg to differ.   We will testify that we did not seek to cause a disruption. No, a disruption would have interfered with our true intent, that is, to communicate information vital to the conduct of the Senate’s responsibilities.

Rather than disrupt, our actions were meant to assist the conduct of the Senate’s business.   Just a month before our visit to the Senate, the Senate Intelligence Committee finally released the executive summary of their 6000-page report on CIA Torture. The Senate has not released the full report, nor has it called for the Department of Justice to prosecute the violations of law that the report discloses. Our words in the Senate chamber conveyed our concern that the U.S. Senate has ignored its own findings. It has neglected its legal and moral responsibility when it failed to call for government accountability for torture. The Senate ratified the UN Convention Against Torture and the Geneva Conventions, both of which require signatories to hold torturers accountable.  Therefore, the Senate has a special responsibility in this matter. In fact, this matter is of such vital consequence that the public must be given leeway to express themselves. Their discourse must be brought out into the public arena, to the entire Senate as a body.   The Senate floor is indeed the appropriate public arena for this discourse.

Our message was a fundamental one – easy to understand for anyone who ever completed a high school civics class– yet left sadly unaddressed by the Senate. We spoke these words to the Senate: “U.S. Torture. It’s official. Prosecute now.” When we spoke, the Senate stopped and heard. Such expression can hardly be termed a disruption. We ask the court: Was there not a better way that the Senate could have responded to our communication that day?

Your Honor, we will show that we came to the gallery that day to call on our senators to safeguard the fundamental rule of law in our democracy. We asked them to institute measures of accountability for U.S. torture perpetrated at Guantanamo and CIA black sites around the world. In fact, we have hopes that the Senate will call for accountability at the highest level of government, so that this crime against humanity will never again be used in our name. If indeed we are successful in bringing about our intent, then it will have been order, not disorder, which we brought to the Senate that day.

Your Honor, based upon our lack of specific intent to disrupt, I ask that you find all of the defendants not guilty.

Closing Statement

Good morning/afternoon Your Honor, members of the court, Mr/Ms (prosecutor) and friends/co-defendants. My name is Martha Hennessy, pro se defendant and I would like to give the closing statement on behalf of all the defendants.

You have heard our sincere testimony in this courtroom. You have heard about why we took the action that we did on January 12th, 2015. We face the charge of disorderly conduct. We hope that you have come to understand the intentions of our actions through hearing the humanity of our testimonies. It has not been easy for us to find the courage to act as we have, to lobby the Senate in this way, and we do so out of a sense of responsibility as citizens and community members. Our motive is to seek full disclosure by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence regarding the CIA Torture Report, released in April of 2014. We seek an investigation, and if necessary, prosecution of wrongdoing and of war crimes. Our intent in the Senate Chamber that day was to instruct and bring attention to the Senate, the public, and the country that laws were/are being broken and the dangers that stem from a lack of accountability on the part of the CIA and of our elected officials.

We are concerned about the rule of law and the legal and human rights and dignity of all people. We are attempting to exercise our citizen’s duties and engage as participants in our democracy by bringing attention to the Senate CIA Torture Report. The full report has not been released, there has not been an adequate hearing, and there have been no indictments despite the evidence that torture was committed by the CIA and possibly with the compliance of our government. The rule of law was clearly violated through the mistreatment and even deaths, of prisoners.

The evidence has shown that we did not use threatening or abusive language. It has also shown that we did not disrupt the Senate during an orderly session. The Chamber was empty but for two Senators. Our action has occurred after many years of lobbying and petitioning our government for redress of our legitimate grievances relating to indefinite detention and torture. We have petitioned our representatives, we have attempted to establish a dialogue with the Department of Justice, and we have confronted Congressional and Senatorial silence on this matter.

We have learned about the conditions of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay Prison and other “black sites” around the world, of how they were tortured with supervision from professionally licensed psychologists and medical doctors. We have learned that the CIA marginalized and ignored numerous internal critiques, criticisms, and objections concerning the operation and management of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program. We have learned that the interrogations of CIA detainees were brutal and far worse than the CIA represented to policymakers and others. We have learned that the CIA repeatedly provided inaccurate information to the Department of Justice, impeding a proper legal analysis of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program.

We are forever changed by these reports of horrific violations of human rights and the violation of international laws. We must respond to this breech of law that has gone unaddressed by Congress, the Senate, and by the President. This violation of the law, this use of torture could be applied to any one of us. To citizens, to soldiers, to political dissidents, even private contractors who witness and report unlawful conduct in the so-called theatre of war.

Your Honor, we have tried to communicate these threats and concerns to an unresponsive Senate. Many prisoners have been mistreated and died under CIA detention. As ordinary citizens, we the defendants do have the power and duty to hold our government accountable, especially if war crimes are being committed. We would encourage you, Judge Howze, to think about how you could act as the conscience of the community in this situation, based on what you have heard in our testimony about why we took the action we did on January 12th, 2015. We the defendants ask that you weigh the greater threat of violations of international human rights laws and against this charge of disorderly conduct that was an actual attempt on our part to exercise our 1st amendment right of free speech. We are willing to speak out and risk arrest on minor charges in order to bring attention to much more serious violations of the law committed in our name by our government using our precious resourses. We hope you will also consider how the use of torture and deaths of prisoners while in the custody of the CIA has impacted our democracy and the world’s view of us.

We depend on you to be a finder of the facts in this case. We depend on your understanding, your exercise of reasonable judgment, and your willingness to follow your conscience when considering our motivations in the interest of justice and freedom of speech. Our intentions were to petition and bring our grievances to the government to demand the adherence to the rule of law. We leave it in your hands to determine what is a just outcome for all citizens regarding the use of torture and the fear of curtailing our constitutional rights, based on these facts.

I ask that you follow your conscience and the law and find us not guilty of unlawful conduct. Our intent was not to disrupt. Our intent was to inform and educate the senate and the public about the grave crimes including unlawful detention and torture committed in our name with our tax dollars in Guantanamo. Please find us not guilty.

Thank you.

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Witness Against Torture (WAT) on Trial

Press Releases // Film

CONFRONTING RACIST VIOLENCE FROM GUANTANAMO TO FERGUSON

Anti-Torture Activists Stand Trial for Alleged Disruption in US Capitol;
Condemn Lack of Accountability for Torture and Racist Police Violence

Media Contacts: Tom Casey, caseytpc@aol.com, 716-491-9172; Matt Daloisio, daloisio@earthlink.net, 201-264-4424

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Thursday, June 25, members of Witness Against Torture (WAT) will defend themselves in Washington, D.C. Superior Court against charges stemming from their demand of accountability for torture and domestic police violence.

On January 12, 2015, ten people were arrested in the US Capitol Visitor Center after unfurling banners reading, “We Demand Accountability for Torture and Police Murder!” and “From Ferguson to Guantanamo: White Silence = State Violence.”

The trial will take place at DC Superior Court, 500 Indiana Avenue, Washington, D.C., NW at 2:30 pm.

The protests followed the release of the Senate’s report on the CIA’s use of torture, including waterboarding and “rectal feeding.” They also took place against the backdrop of grand juries’ refusal to indict police officers who killed young black men. The defendants will argue that the government itself is guilty of crimes and of failing to enforce its own laws.

In the Capitol, the protestors drew parallels between the abuse of detainees overseas and state violence against people of color here at home. “The CIA, US military, and political leaders get away with the torture of Muslim men, just like police get away with the killing of African American men,” says Beth Brockman, a WAT member from North Carolina arrested in the Visitor Center. “Both reflect the racism of our system and must stop.”

The trial comes in the wake of terrorist violence in South Carolina and the same week that human rights organizations called on Attorney General Lynch to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate CIA conduct in its interrogation program, as detailed in the Senate report.

“The United States has a race problem and a violence problem, and an unwillingness to confront either of them,” says Tom Casey, from Buffalo, New York. “The government itself must stand up for equality under the law, which means defending the rights of all people, no matter who violates them.”

On Monday, June 22, the case of 11 members of Witness Against Torture, who had allegedly disrupted a session of the US Senate in January, was dismissed when the government conceded that it was “not ready” to prosecute the defendants. “It’s sad and pathetic,” says Bob Cooke of Maryland. “The government can’t get its act together to prosecute US citizens, and drops the case. But it holds foreign, Muslim men at Guantanamo for more than a decade with any charge whatsoever. Something is terribly wrong here.”

*you can read more on this blog post by our friend Aliya from CCR — You Will Never Guess Who Is on Trial Due to the CIA Torture Report

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WAT Members on Trial

News // Film

Dear Friends and Supporters,

As the Department of Defense expresses doubt about Guantanamo’s closure, and the Department of Justice refuses to hold those who created and implemented torture policies accountable, Witness Against Torture is again in Washington, DC focused on the closure of Guantanamo, accountability for torture, and the connections between Islamophobia, racism, and white supremacy.

Below you will find information about Witness Against Torture on Trial, the Friday Fast for Justice, rallies in DC and around the country, a national call-in day on Torture Accountability, and other ways to get involved.

Thanks for your continued support and dedication.

Witness Against Torture

Witness Against Torture (WAT) on Trial

CONFRONTING RACIST VIOLENCE FROM GUANTANAMO TO FERGUSON
Anti-Torture Activists Stand Trial for Alleged Disruption in US Capitol;
Condemn Lack of Accountability for Torture and Racist Police Violence

Media Contacts: Tom Casey, caseytpc@aol.com, 716-491-9172; Matt Daloisio, daloisio@earthlink.net, 201-264-4424

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Thursday, June 25, members of Witness Against Torture (WAT) will defend themselves in Washington, D.C. Superior Court against charges stemming from their demand of accountability for torture and domestic police violence.

On January 12, 2015, ten people were arrested in the US Capitol Visitor Center after unfurling banners reading, “We Demand Accountability for Torture and Police Murder!” and “From Ferguson to Guantanamo: White Silence = State Violence.”

The trial will take place at DC Superior Court, 500 Indiana Avenue, Washington, D.C., NW at 2:30 pm.

The protests followed the release of the Senate’s report on the CIA’s use of torture, including waterboarding and “rectal feeding.” They also took place against the backdrop of grand juries’ refusal to indict police officers who killed young black men. The defendants will argue that the government itself is guilty of crimes and of failing to enforce its own laws.

In the Capitol, the protestors drew parallels between the abuse of detainees overseas and state violence against people of color here at home. “The CIA, US military, and political leaders get away with the torture of Muslim men, just like police get away with the killing of African American men,” says Beth Brockman, a WAT member from North Carolina arrested in the Visitor Center. “Both reflect the racism of our system and must stop.”

The trial comes in the wake of terrorist violence in South Carolina and the same week that human rights organizations called on Attorney General Lynch to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate CIA conduct in its interrogation program, as detailed in the Senate report.

“The United States has a race problem and a violence problem, and an unwillingness to confront either of them,” says Tom Casey, from Buffalo, New York. “The government itself must stand up for equality under the law, which means defending the rights of all people, no matter who violates them.”

On Monday, June 22, the case of 11 members of Witness Against Torture, who had allegedly disrupted a session of the US Senate in January, was dismissed when the government conceded that it was “not ready” to prosecute the defendants. “It’s sad and pathetic,” says Bob Cooke of Maryland. “The government can’t get its act together to prosecute US citizens, and drops the case. But it holds foreign, Muslim men at Guantanamo for more than a decade with any charge whatsoever. Something is terribly wrong here.”

*you can read more on this blog post by our friend Aliya from CCR — You Will Never Guess Who Is on Trial Due to the CIA Torture Report

Fast for Justice on Friday

This Friday, June 26th – the United Nation’s International Day in Support of Torture Survivors – we are calling for a national day of fasting (sunrise to sundown) in solidarity with the hunger strikers at Guantanamo Bay. We invite you to join Witness Against Torture’s Fast for Justice — a tradition we’ve held for many years.

This year we are joining our partners in Amnesty International, the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms, the Washington Peace Center, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and other organizations, in a traditional Ramadan fast. If you’re in DC, please join us at the White House at 7:30 pm for an iftar celebration ending with the breaking of the fast at 8:38 pm.

As you may know, a traditional Ramadan fast begins with eating a light breakfast before sunrise (tomorrow it will be 5:44 am) and breaking the fast with a meal that begins with dates (called the iftar) after sundown (June 26: 8:38 pm). Between sunrise and sunset, no food or drink, including water, is taken. If you join the fast, we ask you to go without food from sunrise to sundown.

Amnesty International National call-in to the DOJ

On Friday, June 26, we are supporting Amnesty International’s national call-in to the Justice Department urging it to reopen investigations into CIA torture in light of the Senate torture report. The call-in information can be found here.

Amnesty also has a new toolkit and Q&A on the American Torture Story campaign and our factsheet on the Justice Department’s inaction.

June 26-28 in Washington, DC

12-1pm: Vigil at the White House with the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker Community

4:00 p.m.: Rally at the Department of Justice
Constitution Ave between 9th St & 10th St NW WDC
(Amnesty Int’l, WAT, CCR, NRCAT, NCPCF, No Separate Justice, and others)

7:30 p.m.: Iftar (breaking Ramadan fast)
The White House
(AI, NCPCF)

• There are also June 26 actions in 8 cities and towns urging the Justice Department to investigate CIA torture, available here.

Saturday June 27

10 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Torture Abolition and Survivor Support Coalition Vigil
TASSC annual vigil in Lafayette Square

Sunday June 28

6:30 p.m.: Targeting Muslims: State Violence in the War on Terror
Ramadan Iftar fundraiser and documentary for the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms (CPCF): $20
Impact Hub DC, 419 7th St NW WDC 20004
(cosponsored by Impact Hub and Washington Peace Center)

WAT will be based at St. Stephens Church. To stay there, contact Helen Schietinger at h.schietinger@verizon.net

For more information on trial dates and times: Click here.

 

Mark your Calendars – October 5, 2015

Witness Against Torture Vigil in collaboration with No Separate Justice in NYC
The human rights and civil rights abuses taking place in the military prison at Guantanamo Bay have, rightly, been placed under a spotlight by people of conscience around the world. Some believe that if only those detained at Guantanamo could be transferred to American soil, to be held and tried as civilians, the abuses would end and justice would be done.

Yet many of the same abuses can be found in the hundreds of “war on terror” cases that have been processed through courtrooms and federal prisons across the United States since 9/11. These abuses–which include inhumane conditions of confinement both pre- and post-trial; secret evidence; intrusive surveillance; vague material support charges; FBI-created plots brought into communities through paid informants; and the criminalization of Islamic speech and association–remain largely invisible.

The mission of the No Separate Justice campaign is to place these abuses, taking place in prisons and courtrooms across the United States, firmly on the agendas of human and civil right organizations, the media, and the U.S. public through education and activism that draws directly upon the experiences and voices of those most directly affected.

Contact Jeremy Varon at jvaron@aol.com to get involved in the October 5 Vigil.

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Witness Against Torture was formed in 2005 with the goal of shutting down the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay and ending US torture. It now addresses state violence more broadly, including the persecution of people of color by police and in US prisons and jails.

Witness Against Torture is completely volunteer driven and run. We have no paid staff, but do have expenses associated with our organizing work. If you are able, please donate here.

Witness Against Torture

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