Author: Chris Knestrick

Torture Abolition and Accountability[1]

Close the Guantanamo Prison

1. The US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay is both a primary site and enduring symbol of post-9- 11 US torture. The prison must close immediately.
2. All remaining Guantanamo detainees who are not under indictment for serious crimes will be immediately repatriated or resettled. Repatriation to Yemen should be an option for Yemeni nationals. All detained men, simply put, should be fairly tried or released.
3. The Military Commissions will be brought to an end. Those prisoners currently on trial, or awaiting trial, before Military Commissions should be transferred into competent, civilian courts, federal courts, or international courts under international sovereignty. All evidence regarding allegations made against them, and all pertinent documentation regarding treatment of defendants while under government custody, must be made available to defendants and their counsel. Any evidence obtained under torture is inadmissible under law. If valid evidence is insufficient to prosecute, the charges must be dropped and the defendants must be released.
4. The current legislative ban on the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the United States will be revoked.
5. A fair and well-managed process will be established for all formerly detained men to swiftly secure damages for their unjust detention and abuse.
6. All onerous bans on the travel of formerly detained men to the United States will be removed, so that they may address US media and participate in various forums seeking accountability.
7. Substantial US monetary and other resources will be disbursed to aid the resettlement and well-being of formerly detained men.
8. Serious negotiations with the sovereign state of Cuba to return the entire US Naval base at Guantanamo to the Cuban state and people will be initiated. It is an unpardonable indignity that the United States committed torture on Cuban soil, in a facility that by treaty was only ever to be used for the refueling of naval vessels.
9. The US government will immediately and absolutely renounce indefinite detention without charge.[2]

Ensure Accountability for Torture[3]

10. A full and unsparing record of US torture, based on government documents and internal government investigations, must be made public (with reasonable measures to protect potentially sensitive information). The full Senate Torture Report will be released immediately, along with any and all other investigations by US military and civilian agencies into the US treatment of detainees.
11. The US Department of Justice will discontinue invoking states’ secrets, executive privilege, and other national security grounds to stop lawsuits from victims of US torture, rendition, and other abuse against individuals in the US government, government agencies, and private companies. Victims of US policies and practices should have their day in criminal and civil courts.
12. The US Department of Justice will scrutinize the entirety of the Senate Torture Report to determine the existence of evidence of indictable crimes. Should such evidence exist, DOJ will bring appropriate indictments against CIA and other personnel.
13. The US government will honor its obligation under the UN Convention Against Torture to seriously investigate alleged violations of the Convention by its citizens and agencies of the government itself.
14. All branches of the US government, working with human rights bodies, journalists, legal advocates, religious figures, and torture victims, will devise a comprehensive legal process to investigate and, when/if warranted, prosecute all those who criminally participated, or were criminally complicit, in torture. These investigations should not regard rank, title, or position in the US government in determining eligibility for prosecution. Such a process could be directed by a special prosecutor, exist within conventional courts, or in an international forum.
15. The United States will sign and ratify the treaty creating the International Criminal Court, which would allow U.S. citizens to be tried for war crimes in an internationally-recognized venue. 

Strengthen Anti-Torture Provisions[4]

16. Congress will pass legislation making torture a federal crime inside the United States, and not only outside the United States (as currently stipulated in Section 2340 of the federal criminal code).
17. The US government US Army Field Manual on Interrogations will be amended so as to a) eliminate appendixes that permit abusive treatment and b) explicitly prohibit stress positions and abnormal sleep.
18. The United States will work with the international community to amend the Convention Against Torture so as to explicitly describe and prohibit all forms of psychological torture.
19. The US government will proactively challenge all nations — especially its allies — that torture their own or other citizens to cease this practice.
20. The US will grant asylum to additional survivors who have fled their countries after being brutally tortured.

[1] Torture is always and in every sense wrong. It is a violation of human rights; a breach of domestic laws and international conventions; a sin to all faiths; a moral outrage; a profound abuse of the body, the psyche and the soul; and an enduring trauma that can destroy individuals, families, and whole communities.

The People’s Convention calls for the total abolition of torture throughout the world. We demand, in particular, that the United States fully repudiate torture, which became a systematic state practice following September 11, 2001. We sharply denounce the pro-torture candidacy of Republican nominee Donald Trump. Trump’s call to “bring back” plainly illegal torture techniques like waterboarding should alone disqualify him from consideration for the presidency. However, both Republican and Democratic administrations and politicians have been complicit in torture policies over the last 15 years. All lawmakers and candidates have an obligation to relegate torture to the US past.

[2] President Bush asserted, and President Obama formally claimed by Executive Order, the right to detain captives indefinitely without charge or trial. This is illegal and wrong.

[3] Torture policies were devised or condoned by our highest elected officials and their staffs, including the President and Vice President, and leading cabinet heads, notably the Secretary of Defense. Torture was carried out by US intelligence officials, civilian contractors, and uniformed US military. It was sometimes assisted by professionals in the fields of medicine and psychology. (The American Psychiatric Association has since taken a position prohibiting its members from participating in these) And yet almost no one — whether they concocted, facilitated, or executed torture policies — has ever been held to legal account for their treatment of detainees. Shortly after becoming Attorney General in 2009, Eric Holder announced that the DoJ would not pursue criminal investigations of US intelligence and military personnel operating under the aegis of since-discredited DoJ memos that essentially authorized torture. This was a an unconscionable whitewash of criminal activity, terrible mistake, as it both effectively immunized torture and accepted the power of the Executive to unilaterally rewrite without accountability for torture, the rule of law and the US justice system stand shattered. The law, moreover, is removed as a deterrent to current and future torturers.

The People’s Convention seeks meaningful legal and other forms of accountability for US torture. We are motivated not by a desire for punishment but rather the desire for justice for survivors of torture victims and assurance that the United States will never again torture anyone in its custody/protection.

[4] As indicated, US and international law already prohibits torture and the cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment of detainees. Nonetheless, existing laws can be strengthened.

Torture is always and in every sense wrong. It is a violation of human rights; a breach of domestic laws and international conventions; a sin to all faiths; a moral outrage; a profound abuse of the body, the psyche and the soul; and an enduring trauma that can destroy individuals, families, and whole communities.

Witness Against Torture calls for the total abolition of torture throughout the world. We demand, in particular, that the United States fully repudiate torture, which became a systematic state practice following September 11, 2001. We sharply denounce the pro-torture candidacy of Republican nominee Donald Trump. Trump’s call to “bring back” plainly illegal torture techniques like waterboarding should alone disqualify him from consideration for the presidency. However, both Republican and Democratic administrations and politicians have been complicit in torture policies over the last 15 years. All lawmakers and candidates have an obligation to relegate torture to the US past.

Repudiating torture entails, most immediately: the rapid closure of the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; apologies, monetary payments, and other restitution to the post-9-11 victims of torture, as required under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT); the unequivocal disavowal of torture by all presidential and congressional candidates, all elected representatives, and leaders of the US military and intelligence agencies; and meaningful, legal accountability for those who designed, authorized, and carried out torture policies.

Varieties of Torture

Torture may be committed by militaries, police, other state security forces, insurgents, or terrorists. It may be used as a means of interrogation of captives in war and other conflicts or in campaigns of state repression to control and terrorize people. It may seek “information,” coerced “confessions,” or simply to brutalize its victims. It may be applied with obvious sadism or clinical precision. It may even follow protocols developed by lawyers, policymakers, and psychologists — and overseen by medical observers — so as to evade the law and blunt public concern.

Torture may be physical or psychological in nature. It may be a secret, rogue operation, or have the blessing of elected officials and voices in the media and popular culture. It may be used against perceived enemies in military operations; to punish dissidents so that others remain silent; to break the protests of detained men, such as in the forced-feeding of hunger strikers at Guantanamo Bay; or as a standard procedure in detention regimes, such as extended solitary confinement in US prisons and jails.

No matter the means and circumstances, potential sanction by the state, the justifications offered, and the promise to the torturers of immunity, torture always remains criminal and wrong. Torture has permanent debilitating effects on its victims, its perpetrators, and on the population of others who might be tortured.

US Torture Before and After 9-11

The United States has long been an outspoken defender of human rights and the rule of law. But the country also has a long history of practicing, sponsoring, and training others in torture. Waterboarding mirrors a similar technique given the ironic name “the water cure” by US soldiers, who used it in the Philippines at the turn of the 20^th century. US military and intelligence personnel used torture during the Vietnam War, notably in the interrogation and assassination program “Operation Phoenix.” In the 1970s and 1980s, the United States instructed Latin America security forces in the use of torture and other terror tactics against civilians. The CIA even paid millions of dollars for academic research into torture, collected in its 1963 “KUBARK” manual, which details how to apply specific torture techniques. That manual was reissued in 1983, and used by U.S.-supported forces in Central America. Torture, in sum, is part of the United States’ modern imperial history. Directed at South Asian, Latin American, and now Muslim peoples (from many regions), it is also an expression of US racism.

In the aftermath of 9-11, the United States fully committed to a program of state torture, validated by Department of Justice (DoJ) attorneys and approved by the country’s highest elected officials, including President Bush. Dozens or even hundreds of men were tortured by the CIA in its “enhanced interrogation” program. That torture took place in “black sites” in such countries as Afghanistan, Poland and Thailand. Other victims were “rendered” to countries like Syria and Egypt for torture on behalf of US officials.

Many hundreds or thousands more people were tortured by the United States in its conduct of the so-called “war on terror” and its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. This includes the great majority of the nearly 800 men brought to Guantanamo, tortured at various sites (including Guantanamo itself); men brutalized in prisons in Abu Ghraib, Bagram Air Base and other facilities; and captives abused by uniformed, US military and civilian contractors in multiple theatres of conflict. Indeed, the US abuse of detainees has been rampant in post-9-11 wars and security operations.

That the United States committed widespread torture after 2001 has been proven beyond any reasonable doubt. In late 2014, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released the “Findings and Conclusions” and a 500-page executive summary of its 6,700-page Study on the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program. Using the CIA’s own documents, it chronicles the origins and evolution of the CIA torture program, concluding that it plainly violated US laws. The report also refutes persisting claims that torture yielded valuable, actionable intelligence.

In 2013 the non-partisan Constitution Project issued the report of its Task Force on Detainee Treatment. It identified “indisputable” breeches of US laws and international treaties based on the detailed reading of specific laws against documented US conduct. Journalists, academic researchers, attorneys and filmmakers have rigorously exposed post-9-11 torture. (Notable works include Alfred McCoy, A Question of Torture; Jane Mayer, The Dark Side; the ACLU and Larry Siems, et. al., The Torture Report; Polly Nash and Andy Worthington, Outside the Law, and Rebecca Gordon, Mainstreaming Torture.) Finally, international human rights bodies like Amnesty International, the UN Committee against Torture, and the International Committee of the Red Cross have also documented and condemned US torture.

Continued denials by some politicians, military and intelligence officials, and media voices that the United States committed torture — or their contradictory insistence that torture produced key intelligence — have no bearing on the reality of US conduct.

US Torture and the Law

Torture is illegal under US federal law and international treaties to which the United States is a signatory, and therefore have the force of law. The 1984 United Nations Convention Against Torture defines torture as “an act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him . . . information, punishing him. . . or intimidating or coercing him.”

Based on the Convention, US criminal statute 2340 declares torture, “an act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering.” Other federal statutes and international conventions, such as the War Crimes Act and the Geneva Conventions, outlaw the torture and other abuse of detainees.

The long-rescinded “torture memos” of Department of Justice lawyers John Yoo and Jay Bybee, which sought to define torture out of existence, have no meaning with respect to the understanding and application of anti-torture laws and treaties.

The United States — as asserted in the Senate Torture Report and by the Constitution Project — violated the above laws and treaties in its treatment of post-9-11 detainees. President Obama himself admitted in August 2014, “We tortured some folks.”

Torture Abolition and Accountability – Platform Positions

 There exists no precedent in US history of state torture on the scale since 9-11. So too, there is no direct precedent for how to reckon with this history, nor agreement among legal and human rights advocates as to the best way forward, especially given current political and legislative constraints and pressures, and the balance between short and long term goals. Below we offer broad imperatives, specific demands and recommendations, and options for their implementation.

Close the Guantanamo Prison

The US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay is both a primary site and enduring symbol of post-9-11 US torture. The prison must close immediately. Its closure should entail:

• The immediate repatriation or re-settlement of all remaining detained men who are not under indictment for serious crimes. Repatriation to Yemen should be an option for Yemeni nationals. All detained men, simply put, should be fairly tried or released.

• An end to the unjust and unworkable Military Commissions. Those prisoners currently on trial, or awaiting trial, before Military Commissions should be transferred into competent, civilian courts or international courts under international sovereignty. All evidence regarding allegations made against them, and all pertinent documentation regarding treatment of defendants while under government custody, must be made available to defendants and their counsel. Any evidence obtained under torture is inadmissible under law. If valid evidence is insufficient to prosecute, the charges must be dropped and the defendants must be released.

• The revocation of the current legislative ban on the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the United States.

• The establishment of a fair and well-managed process for all formerly detained men to swiftly secure damages for their unjust detention and abuse.

• The removal of all onerous bans on the travel of formerly detained men to the United States, so that they may address US media and participate in various forums seeking accountability.

• The disbursement of substantial US monetary and other resources to aid the resettlement and well-being of formerly detained men.

• The initiation of serious negotiations with the sovereign state of Cuba to return the entire US Naval base at Guantanamo to the Cuban state and people. It is an unpardonable indignity that the United States committed torture on Cuban soil, in a facility that by treaty was only ever to be used for the refueling of naval vessels.

End Indefinite Detention

President Bush asserted, and President Obama formally claimed by Executive Order, the right to detain captives indefinitely without charge or trial. This is illegal and wrong. We call for:

• The immediate and absolute renunciation of indefinite detention without charge, which has no place in a democratic order and our Constitutional system of law.

End Government Secrecy

A full and unsparing record of US torture, based on government documents and internal government investigations, must be made public (with reasonable measures to protect potentially sensitive information). The full Senate Torture Report should be released immediately, along with any and all other investigations by US military and civilian agencies into the US treatment of detainees.

Ensure Accountability for Torture

Torture policies were devised or condoned by our highest elected officials and their staffs, including the President and Vice President, and leading cabinet heads, notably the Secretary of Defense. Torture was carried out by US intelligence officials, civilian contractors, and uniformed US military. It was sometimes assisted by professionals in the fields of medicine and psychology. (The American Psychological Association has since taken a position prohibiting its members from participating in these interrogations.)

And yet almost no one — whether they concocted, facilitated, or executed torture policies — has ever been held to legal account for their treatment of detainees. Shortly after becoming Attorney General in 2009, Eric Holder announced that the DoJ would not pursue criminal investigations of US intelligence and military personnel operating under the aegis of since-discredited DoJ memos that essentially authorized torture. This was an unconscionable whitewash of criminal activity, as it both effectively immunized torture and accepted the power of the Executive to unilaterally rewrite laws to its liking.

Without accountability for torture, the rule of law and the US justice system stand shattered. The law, moreover, is removed as a deterrent to current and future torturers.

The People’s Convention seeks meaningful legal and other forms of accountability for US torture. We are motivate not by a desire for punishment but rather the desire for justice for survivors of torture and assurance that the United States will never again torture anyone in its custody. We therefore demand:

• That US Justice Department discontinue invoking states’ secrets, executive privilege, and other nation security grounds to stop lawsuits from victims of US torture, rendition, and other abuse against individuals in the US government, government agencies, and private companies. Victims of US policies and practices should have their day in criminal and civil courts.

• That the US Department of Justice scrutinize the entirety of the Senate Torture Report to determine the existence of evidence of indictable crimes. Should such evidence exist, DoJ should bring appropriate indictments against CIA and other personnel.

• That the US government honor its obligation under the UN Convention Against Torture to seriously investigate alleged violations of the Convention by its citizens and agencies of the government itself.

• That all branches of the US government, working with human rights bodies, journalists, legal advocates, religious figures, and torture victims, devise a comprehensive legal process to investigate and, when warranted, prosecute all those who criminally participated, or were criminally complicit, in torture. These investigations should not regard rank, title, or position in the US government in determining eligibility for prosecution. Such a process could be directed by a special prosecutor, exist within conventional courts, or in an international forum.

• That the United States sign and ratify the treaty creating the International Criminal Court, which would allow US citizens to be tried for war crimes in an internationally-recognized venue.

Strengthen Anti-Torture Provisions

 As indicated, US and international law already prohibits torture and the cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment of detainees. Nonetheless, existing laws can be strengthened. We therefore insist that:

• Congress pass legislation making torture a federal crime inside the United States, and not only outside the United States (as currently stipulated in Section 2340 of the federal criminal code).

• The US government US Army Field Manual on Interrogations be amended so as to a) eliminate appendixes that permit abusive treatment and b) explicitly prohibit stress positions and abnormal sleep manipulation.

• The United States work with the international community to amend the Convention Against Torture so as to explicitly describe and prohibit all forms of psychological torture.

• The US government proactively challenge all nations — especially its allies — that torture their own or other citizens to cease this practice.

• The US grant asylum to additional survivors who have fled their countries after being brutally tortured.

Expand the Recognition of Torture and Cruel, Inhumane, and Degrading Treatment

 The torture techniques used on detainees in the so-called “war on terror” have shocked the conscience of the world. But cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment of prisoners is routine with the US penal system. In particular, the extended use of solitary confinement in prisons and jails — including against minors — has been denounced by credible human rights and medical bodies as itself a form of torture. Organizations such as Amnesty International have also decried the widespread institutional tolerance of rape in U.S. prisons. The People’s Convention therefore calls for the abolition of extended solitary confinement in any and all US detention facilities and urges that other harsh and controversial penal practices be challenged in their morality, legality, and consequences.

– Witness Against Torture

Join the WAT community  as we participate in the People’s Justice and Peace Convention and the first day of the Republican National Convention protest in Cleveland, Ohio. WAT will be in Cleveland from July 15th thru 18th participating in the following activities to speak against the pro-torture stances of Donald Trump and to protest the racist and islamophobic rhetoric that has permeated his campaign. As torture and closing Guantanamo have been treated with horrifying humor, this is an important opportunity to remind the public that torture is always wrong and Guantanamo should be closed today.

If you are interested in attending and need accommodations, please RSVP by July 8th to witnesstorture@gmail.com. We can host people from July 15th to the 18th, but space is limited.

WAT’s activities for the weekend include:

Friday, July 15th to Sunday, July 17th: People’s Justice and Peace Convention

Activists and progressives will be gathering in Cleveland the weekend before the RNC to construct the people’s platform which will be presented to both the RNC and Democratic National Convention (DNC). The weekend will include educational opportunities, speakers and workshops. We have been invited to join people from across the country to lift up issues and problems. WAT has volunteered to write the Anti-Torture Platform.  Registration is also required for the Convention and you can do that here.

Sunday: July 17th, 7pm to 9pm: The People’s Mic: Word to our Resistance

Communities will be rising up to resist injustices, hatred, racism, islamophobia and torture. The night before the RNC starts local poets, musicians, and the New York based, Peace Poets will come together to speak peace and put music over hate. Join us for this night of open mic, #movementmusic, and community building.

Monday, July 18th, 2pm: End Poverty Now March

In 1966, welfare recipients marched from Cleveland to Columbus demanding that they be treated like human beings. This was the launch of the Welfare Rights Movement. It is in this tradition that we call on all who care about justice to join and to deliver a message to the Republicans gathering in Cleveland. Your membership status in the human race should not depend on the size of your income. Check out the Facebook page for more info.

Dear friends,

Thank you for all of your support these past few months. We want to give you an update on some of our projects and invite you into events happening this month.

We are excited to announce that we have raised $1700 for the Ramadan Project of the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms (NCPCF). This fund will provide Muslim detainees in the U.S. with commissary money during Ramadan (June 6-July 6). Thank you to all who donated and to Maha Hilal from NCPCF for organizing us.

This month brings sad and encouraging news. First, we are saddened by news that U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler denied the Duka brothers’ final appeal.  During 2016’s Fast for Justice members of Witness Against Torture traveled to Camden, New Jersey to stand with the Duka brothers and their family. We then published an article to highlight the case. In 2008, they were found guilty of conspiracy to commit terrorism and other charges. Yet, the whole plan was conceived and planned by two FBI-paid informants and preemptively prosecuted by the legal system. Ultimately, these three Muslim men from a working-class family in Cherry Hill, New Jersey became victims of the post-9/11 counterterrorism frenzy that engulfed the United States.

On the encouraging side, we understand that the Obama administration is pushing for the release of twenty or so men from Guantanamo. This would mean freedom for the majority of those cleared for release. Nevertheless, this is not enough and we will continue to pressure the administration to bring this ugly history to an end and permanently close Guantanamo.

Torture Survivor Awareness Week: June 22nd-26th

If you are in the east coast area, please consider supporting the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC) by attending their activities in Washington, DC for International June Survivors Week. The theme is “We Will Not Be Silent.” Email Kelsey@tassc.org for more information.

Wednesday, June 22: Conference at Gowan Hall, Catholic University, 9:00am-5:00pm (located opposite Brookland metro)

Thursday, June 23: Capitol Hill Advocacy:  9:00am – 5:00pm

Saturday, June 25: White House Vigil at Lafayette Park: 11:00am – 4:00pm

Commemorate victims of torture by keeping vigil, celebrating life, remembering lost friends and family, and renewing our commitment to a world where torture is banned forever. Listen to music, poetry, survivor testimonies and statements of solidarity from human rights groups and interfaith allies who are part of this ongoing struggle.

Sunday, June 26: Celebration at Busboys and Poets: 6:00pm – 10:00pm 2021 14th St, NW Washington DC

You may also mark the week by organizing your own events and vigils that focus on sharing the stories of the men in your local communities and public spaces. Email witnesstorture@gmail.com to let us know what you have planned.

Take Action

The ACLU has launched #FreeSlahi petition. Mohamedou Slahi, the author of Guantanamo Diary, has been unlawfully imprisoned for 14 years by the U.S. government. Thirteen of those years have been at Guantánamo Bay prison, where he was subjected to gruesome torture. The U.S. has never charged Slahi with a crime.

The U.S. government’s justifications for holding Slahi fail because he has never taken part in any hostilities against the United States. He poses no threat to the United States. A former chief military prosecutor in the Guantanamo military commissions, Colonel Morris Davis, has said he couldn’t find any crime with which to charge Slahi.

In 2010, a federal judge ordered Slahi’s release, rejecting the government’s arguments since evidence was tainted by torture and coercion or was otherwise not credible. But the government appealed. Now, the U.S. is currently holding him indefinitely despite his innocence.

Slahi just had the Periodic Review Board hearing he should have had four years ago, and hopes to prove he’s not a threat to the United States. Read more here.

Save the Date: Witness Against Torture Resisting the RNC (July 15-17 Cleveland, Ohio)

WAT has accepted an invitation to participate in the People’s Convention the weekend before the Republican National Convention July 15th -17th. We will be gathering to offer an anti-torture viewpoint and confront the pro-torture and hate-filled rhetoric of Donald Trump. We are also planning on sticking around to find creative ways to engage the RNC. If you are interested in joining us in Cleveland, please RSVP at witnesstorture@gmail.com

Joe Morton – Daniel Berrigan, S.J. – Michael Ratner: Presente!

The Witness Against Torture community continues to grow – in our shared analysis, in our expanding leadership, and in our work. But now we pause to remember those who have left our circle. Over the last few months, three people who were integral to the founding of our community passed from this plane. None of them would have sought or acknowledged their particular contributions to our community – all of them would have focused on the need not to mourn, but organize.

But in order to keep organizing, we must also take a moment to remember their witness.  And express our deep, deep gratitude.

Joe Morton (December 7 1935 – April 7, 2016) was a mentor, a friend, an example, a teacher, a resister, a gardener. a lover of people and life. He was part of conversations planning the trip to Cuba in 2005. He was part of every WAT action since then. He would always show up. He would chop firewood. He would deliver juice during our fasts. He would put on a jumpsuit and go to jail.  Joe would always be present in the moment, but never fail to ask what’s next. It’s hard to imagine what’s next without Joe. We’ll all have to figure that out, alone and together.

Dan Berrigan, SJ (May 9, 1921 – April 30, 2016) was a poet, priest, and prophet. Without the imagination, words, and creative action of Dan Berrigan, Witness Against Torture would never have begun.

“Our apologies, good friends, for the fracture of good order, the burning of paper instead of children, the angering of the orderlies in the front parlor of the charnel house. We could not, so help us God, do otherwise…..We say: killing is disorder, life and gentleness and community and unselfishness is the only order we recognize. For the sake of that order, we risk our liberty, our good name.”

Dan’s softness of speech, sense of humor and humility, boldness of action, and call to friendship and community were part of the initial conversation that led to a trip to Cuba in 2005, and the subsequent beginning of the Witness Against Torture community. He has been part of everything we have done. We were fortunate to share the earth with Dan for as long as we did.

Michael Ratner (June 13, 1943 – May 11, 2016), in the introduction to our book about the work of Witness Against Torture, recounts one of our first meetings — when we went to the Center for Constitutional Rights to share our plan about traveling to Cuba to protest the Guantanamo prison. He writes: “I thought it was a great sentiment, and an important initiative, but I also thought they were out of their minds.”

But Michael took us seriously. He counseled us. He supported us. He pushed us. He pulled us. He cried with us. He believed in us, and because of that belief, we put one foot in front of the other. Michael understood the link between the courtroom and the street. Our work would have never begun without him.

Our community would not exist if not for Joe, and Dan, and Michael.  And the work will be harder, but all the more important, in their absence.

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Dear Friends,

Witness Against Torture members gathered in Cleveland, Ohio earlier this month to reflect on the past year, renew our commitment to build together, and plan future projects. We have committed to implementing a variety of actions but will need our whole community to participate. We hope that you will join us in any and all of the actions that are being planned.

First, we want to celebrate and acknowledge the long road of healing ahead for Omar Khalifa Mohammed Abu Bakr (43) and Salem Abdul Salem Ghereby (55), who have been “resettled” in Senegal. As we celebrate their long awaited freedom, we continue to hold these men and their families in our hearts and minds because we know that healing from the trauma and torture of Guantanamo is so much more than “resettlement.” It requires time, community, and even reparations.

Read more by clicking here.

WAT Retreat Report Back

Over thirty members of the WAT community participated in the planning. Our work together focused on analysing the current political climate. We focused on Obama’s plan to close Guantanamo, the current elections, and the broadening climate of racism and Islamophobia.

Here is a short recap of the analysis offered by Jeremy Varon and Maha Hilal:

Jeremy spoke about how the state of Guantanamo is directly linked to Americans feeling “safe.”  The fear of ISIS is being overblown so that Americans think being safe requires them to be exclusionary and intolerant which has bred an ethnonational racism. This is one of the reasons we see the detainees being demonized in the service of this intolerant propaganda. In our work, WAT has historically addressed the US government and those with the power to release the men, while at the same time reaching out to the detainees to let them know they are not alone. While this work is important, we asked ourselves if we could in some way speak more directly to the culture of fear and hate by attempting to vocalize some sanity into the public sphere and discourse. Given the current racist rhetoric in the election process, we might be able to get public attention by placing our clear anti-torture voice into the mix. In other words, let’s use the election to get the public’s attention.

Maha spoke of distressing new developments concerning Muslim communities, particularly, the CVE (Countering Violent Extremism) campaign being promoted by the Obama administration. It is a “counter-terrorist strategy” that is completely focused on Muslim communities, which are expected to conduct surveillance on each other. It is penetrating and disrupting peace and conflict resolution efforts.

In addition to deepening our analysis, we also created some chants and songs with Frank, Luke and Enmanuel from the Peace Poets. We delved into identifying white supremacy in our work and the ways we act to resist the violent structures of racism and capitalism (see pictures below). We addressed questions about the intentions of our civil disobedience and committed to some website and social media work. Needless to say, we did a lot of work over the two days!

          
WAT members embodying resisting white supremacy through tableaus.

Please mark your calendars for the following dates and activities and let us know if you are interested in helping plan them and or joining us: 

First Monday of every month (New York, NY): No Separate Justice Vigil

If you are in New York City, please join the No Separate Justice Vigils at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in lower Manhattan. The monthly vigil aims to shed light on and end a pattern of human rights and civil liberties abuses in “War on Terror” cases in the U.S. criminal justice system. You can contact us for more information.

June 6 to July 6 (everyone and everywhere): Ramadan Project with the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms

This project will work closely with WAT member and the director of the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms (NCPCF), Maha Hilal to provide Muslim detainees in the U.S. with commissary money during Ramadan (June 6-July 6). We are currently looking for financial support for these efforts. Please consider making a donation to Witness Against Torture towards this work.

June 26 (everywhere): Torture Survivor Awareness Week

This year will be focused on sharing the stories of the men in our local communities and public spaces. We will organize some online discussion forums and participate in a rolling Ramadan fast. Folks are also welcome to join Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC) activities in DC. More to come on this soon.

July 15-17 (Cleveland, Ohio): The People’s Convention in Response to the RNC

WAT has accepted an invitation to participate in the People’s Convention the weekend before the Republican National Convention. We will be gathering to offer an anti-torture viewpoint and confront the hate-filled rhetoric of the Republican candidates. We are also planning on sticking around to find creative ways to engage the RNC. More details to be announced.

October 7-10 (Nogales Sonora, AZ): Mobilize to the US-Mexico Border for the SOA Watch Vigil

Members of WAT will be joining SOA Watch on the border October 7-10, in Nogales Sonora, AZ. The goal of the gathering is to resist border militarization and engage in nonviolent direct action. We stand in solidarity with those working to expose the root causes of migration and end U.S. intervention in the Americas.

Year long engagement into combating Communication Management Units:

Communication Management Units (CMU) are domestic prisons which hold an hold a majority Muslim population in terribly cruel ways. The people placed in these brutal units go without  human contact for years. This policy and practice is currently being challenged by the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Over the course of the next months WAT will begin a time of study and engagement in ending Communication Management Units (CMU). It will also involve reaching out to local groups who work to support families visiting their loved ones and overturning the court decisions that led to their detention. We will work to provide learning opportunities for the larger WAT community, as we study the relationships between detention of Muslim men in Guantanamo and those who are victims domestically through targeting, preemptive prosecution and incarceration.

TBD: Confronting White Supremacy Workshop/Retreat

This year WAT will host a workshop on dismantling white supremacy in our society. The past few years have brought to light our need to address white supremacy in our organizing and we will spend two days this year reflecting on ways we enact and resist this in our work to close Guantanamo and end torture everywhere.

TBD: Life After Guantanamo Documentary Project

We are beginning to explore a possible documentary project about life after Guantanamo. This project seeks to visit the men resettled around the world, in places such as Uruguay, and create a video that will spread awareness about life after detention with a focus on the long lasting effects of U.S. sponsored torture.

Fast For Justice (Washington DC): January 8- 21

Last but not least is our annual Fast for Justice, which will take place from January 8-21, 2017. We are encouraging our community to consider coming all the days of the fast this year. We will be building on the anniversary of January 11th to address the presidential inauguration.

In closing

We lift up the life of Joe Morton, a sustained and beautiful person in our WAT community, as he passed away last week. He was a loving and encouraging presence in Witness Against Torture’s memory and work.  We would not be who we are without Joe. We miss him dearly. We are reminded that even though we are spread out across the country and world, our creativity and desire for change, continue to fuel this work. As always, we cannot do this work without each other.

Witness Against Torture on Social Media:

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Post any pictures of your local activities to our flicker account and we will help spread the word.

Donate to support our work:

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: http://www.witnesstorture.org.

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Witness Against Torture
www.witnesstorture.org
@witnesstorture

Witness Against Torture will carry on in its activities until torture is decisively ended, its victims are fully acknowledged, Guantánamo and similar facilities are closed, and those who ordered and committed torture are held to account.