News Archives - Page 11 of 22 - Witness Against Torture

Closing Days of Torture Awareness Week

News // Film

Reflections by Helen Schietinger

Anti-Torture Rally at the Department of Justice On Friday afternoon we found ourselves once again at the Department of Justice, this time at a coalition rally along with Amnesty International, Center for Constitutional Rights, National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms, National Religious Campaign Against Torture, Code Pink, No Separate Justice, Hands Up Coalition DC and a number of other organizations. The backdrops to the rally included larger-than-life portraits of Shaker Aamer and Tariq Ba Odah (by our own artist, Deb van Poolen), a stretcher on which equipment for forced feeding was displayed, and another stretcher holding carnations labeled with the names of the detainees still imprisoned at Guantanamo. Each name was read as a participant laid the carnation for that detainee at the entrance to the DOJ. Speakers read writings of and stories about the men in prison, and talked about the structural racism underlying Guantanamo injustices and domestic police violence. Among the speakers were Jeremy Varon of No Separate Justice and Witness Against Torture, Naureen Shah of Amnesty International, and Maha Hilal of the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms. We sang, chanted, were inspired by what we heard. We came away frustrated by the huge deaf ear of the DOJ but energized by this action with our allies.

Iftar at the White House Many in Witness Against Torture were fasting on Friday, choosing either a Ramadan fast in solidarity with the Muslim community or the weekly WAT liquid-only fast in solidarity with the men in Guantanamo. At 7:30 we gathered at the White House to break our fast in a typical Iftar as observed by Muslims around the world — which meant waiting until after sundown to begin drinking and eating. Aliya Hussein of CCR, Maha Hilal of NCPCR, Noor Mir of Amnesty International, and Ramah Kudaimi of the National Campaign to End the Occupation organized the meal. When we arrived at the White House, a huge crowd was gathering at the White House fence, also waiting for sundown. While our event was bittersweet — celebrating community and our blessings while remembering all those still imprisoned and tortured by the U.S. government — their event was simply joyous — celebrating the Supreme Court decision to uphold gay marriage by lighting up the outside of the White House with rainbow colors. We set up our event in a quiet spot on the lawn in Lafayette Park, where we prayed at sundown and then shared a delicious meal together. What a simple but universal experience of our common humanity.

TASSC Saturday Vigil WAT has attended the TASSC White House vigil for a number of years, in solidarity with the torture survivors who make up the membership of that organization (www.tassc,org). Rain forced the vigil inside, so we gathered at the TASSC office rather than in Lafayette Square. A number of WAT members came, enjoying the company, food and music as well as listening to TASSC members speak about the situations in their native countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The vigil ended with a dabke team performing a rousing Arab folk dance in traditional costumes, after which we circled up to learn the steps and do the dance ourselves. It was an energizing end to a powerful week of WAT activities.

Targeting Muslims: State Violence in the War on Terror: On Sunday, I attended a Ramadan fundraising iftar and documentary in support of the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms (CPCF), for which Maha Hilal is the Deputy Executive Director. That day, I confess, I was not fasting, so I waited until others filled their plates before partaking in the food and drink. The highlight of the evening was a showing of the documentary (T)error followed by a discussion with its producer and co-director, Lyric R Cabral, who actually has filmed an FBI informant while he participates in a “sting” operation against an imam. The film will be used in an impact campaign to educate people in the Muslim community on how to protect themselves against unwarranted surveillance. Among the resources I discovered was a comic book to educate the Muslim community, entitled Manufacturing “Terrorists” — The FBI’s Entrap & Demonize Strategy.

The Iftar Circle – A Reflection

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For me, the spirit of this year’s Torture Awareness Week events can be summed up in a vignette from Friday afternoon. Two vigils into the day and feeling the effects of fasting, I was walking with Jerica and Jeremy towards the White House, where we would meet up with our coalition partners who had organized a fast-breaking Iftar meal.

As the three of us arrived, dusk had already cast a hazy shadow on Pennsylvania Avenue, and we strained a little to pick out the gathering crowd of Marriage Equality celebrators, flanked by a numerous but relaxed line of police. Rainbow balloons bobbed above the crowd, and a jumble of red mylar letters eventually sorted itself out, Sesame-Street cartoon style, into the words “Love Wins.”

Looking across to Lafayette Park, a few telltale orange t-shirts helped us find our friends on the lawn. We joined the circle and before long were immersed in the words of Guantanamo detainees, read aloud. All of us gathered there listened quietly, took comfort in one another’s company, and reached out from that warm space to write letters to Muslim men in Guantanamo and in the US whose Ramadan celebration was taking place in a much colder environment.

We listened together to the call to prayer and broke our fast with a delicious range of thoughtfully prepared food. Many of us took the time to meet and talk with members of our coalition partner groups that we had not met before.

There was a sweet, natural intimacy to our gathering that evening. Maybe it was the circle and the food we shared, maybe it was light at sundown and the power of the detainees’ words. Maybe it was our desire for connection as we sent out prisoner letters we weren’t even sure would make it past the censors. As we sat together and strengthened our relationships in the shadow of a White House lit with rainbow-colored spotlights, we shared in the joy of that day’s historic civil rights victory. And in our hearts, we cherished the small and beautiful steps that we were making towards yet another civil rights victory: one over racism, Islamophobia, and state violence.

Case Dismissed: A Personal Reflection

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Case dismissed! On Monday morning eight bewildered-looking ex-defendants filed out of Courtroom 116 at DC Superior Court after the prosecution stated the government was “not ready,” and the case was immediately dismissed. I was one of the eight, and I felt a sort of comedic relief that overcame my letdown. After working for months on trial prep conference calls, we’d had a grueling mock trial the night before in front of our mock judge, attorney Mark Goldstone. “Fantastic performance,” according to Mark, who knows how to bring out the best in us, but we defendants were not so sure. It was a restless night for each of us. And so hearing “case dismissed” after only 30 seconds in front of the judge felt like a balloon popping! Maybe that “balloon” was our collective ego. We had so much to tell the court, so much that was so, so important. And now our “statement” came down to the simple act of standing before the judge. Well, we showed up ready to roll, right? Unlike the government! We lamented it was too early to go out for a beer, so we debriefed over coffee in the courthouse coffee shop instead. And by the time we emerged from the courthouse for our post-dismissal group photo, we were all smiles!

We offer a heart full of thanks to both our attorney advisors, Mark Goldstone and Matt Daloisio. Matt told us after the mock trial the previous evening to trust in ourselves and just keep the message simple. He reminded us that what we chanted in the Senate on January 12^th was indeed a simple and powerful message: “US Torture: It’s official. Prosecute now!” Let this message guide our words at trial.

And Mark guided us with a marvelous, if nerve-wracking, pedagogical method: he just kept throwing us into the water and telling us to swim. He would plunge us into mock trials without much in the way of preliminary advice, and then after asking many probing questions of us as “judge,” he would affirm all that had emerged from us as we found our way through the practice. In this way, he taught us that the truth is within us. We know what matters. Let it emerge from our hearts and souls.

Matt reminded us that none of this preparation is lost. Not only have we learned a great deal, but we have been strengthened by the experience. And so we parted with these simple words: “Til next time!”

Torture in the spotlight during Torture Awareness Week: by Josie Setzler

Legalized Torture: From Guantanamo Bay to Rikers Even in the wake of two WAT trial dismissals this week, many WAT activists stayed in town for events commemorating Torture Awareness Week. Tuesday evening, many of us attended a panel entitled Legalized Torture: From Guantanamo Bay to Rikers, held by Amnesty International at the Friends Meeting of Washington. Dr. Maha Hilal, executive director of the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms, emphasized the role of dehumanization in producing torture. At Guantanamo, she told us, dehumanization took three forms: first, a cultural erasure, then a legal erasure, leading finally to the physical erasure that is torture. She emphasized that torture is part of a continuum, not a discrete act. Prior to torture, people are dehumanized to get the public conditioned to accept it and that becomes part of the torture itself. According to Maha, the word “moral” is not part of the current conversation about torture, citing a 2014 poll showing that 59% of Americans think that CIA torture was justified.

Juan Mendez, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, also emphasized that Americans have been conditioned to accept torture in recent years. Mendez was tortured in Argentina before moving to the US in 1977. He found there was more consistent moral condemnation of torture when he arrived in the US than there is today. He pointed to the Senate Intelligence Committee Report on CIA Torture as evidence that the analysis has shifted away from a moral framework. Much of the report is given over to showing that torture was not effective. The UN Convention Against Torture unconditionally condemns torture, however, without any consideration of its effectiveness. Mendez asked the audience, “What kind of price do we pay if we engage in torture?”

El-Hajj Mauri Saalakhan, a DC-based human rights advocate and representative of the Jericho Movement, said that lowering standards regarding torture affects not only us but generations to come. He quoted Frederick Douglass: “A man is worked on by what he works on. He may carve out his circumstance, but his circumstances will carve him out as well.” Mauri believes the same can be said for nations: Our nation will surely be damaged by the torture it inflicts.

We left the event with the sure conviction that the real torture debate needs to happen among American citizens in our own communities, churches, and schools. Can we recover a communal sense of torture as a moral issue? If not, we will wait in vain for legislators, judges, and civic leaders to hold torturers and torture architects accountable.

TASSC Conference on Torture Wednesday we joined hundreds of people for a day-long conference sponsored by TASSC, Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition, held at Catholic University of America. Juan Mendez during his keynote address told us that 30-40 countries will not allow his request to visit their facilities, and the US is one of them. The US tells Mendez that federal prisons are “unavailable” to him. He is told that he is allowed to visit the base at Guantanamo but not its prisoners. Mendez will not agree to any such condition. Mendez appealed to the many torture victims from around the world who were in the audience: “We need the support of those of you who can bear witness to your experience and tell that there is life after torture.” Two panels followed the keynote: 1) Human Rights in Africa and the Middle East and 2) Immigration Detention and Torture. The second panel detailed the horrendous conditions facing many torture victims from other countries who seek asylum in the US. Although immigration detention is meant to be “civil” rather than “criminal” detention, the conditions of detention are often far worse than those experienced by criminals in this country. We were urged to advocate with our legislators for humane treatment of torture survivors and other immigrants detained in the US, supporting the efforts of many TASSC torture survivors who visited congressional offices the following day.

Community Prayer Vigil: “Called by God, Sustained by Faith, We Are Not Afraid” WAT members gathered at Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, an African-American congregation in NE Washington, Wednesday evening to attend a Community Prayer Vigil to commemorate the victims of the Charleston church shooting. Many people came forward during the period for witness. As each person spoke of his or her personal response to the slayings, a woman in the crowd kept answering “Tell it. Tell it!” We couldn’t help thinking that such advice was meant for each one of us. Tell it, tell it! A minister named Alethia, meaning ‘truth,’ told us that unless there is “a blackness that includes everyone,” the future will be bleak. The moving music, prayer of resistance, candle commitment ceremony, and powerful words by Rev. Graylan S. Hagler all reminded us of the connections “from Ferguson to Guantanamo” that we are gradually learning to make. We spoke afterwards with several members of the congregation and hope to stay in touch for future work.

White House Vigil On Friday we joined the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker at their weekly vigil in front of the White House. Now it was again time to make the story personal. We held a huge canvas portrait of Guantanamo detainee Tariq Ba Odah, while Aliya Hussain of the Center for Constitutional Rights told his story. In 2006 CCR filed a habeas petition on Tariq’s behalf. Last week CCR filed a motion for his immediate release, because his weight has declined to a life-endangering 75 pounds after having been on hunger strike since 2007 and force-fed daily. According to CCR, “Tariq says that protesting by hunger striking is the only way to communicate to those of us who have our freedom what it means to be unjustly detained, to be put in a cell for over a decade without charge.” We recalled that torture continues at Guantanamo through the widely condemned practices of force-feeding and prolonged solitary confinement.

After reading a closing prayer composed by Sr. Diana Ortiz, torture survivor and founder of TASSC, Art Laffin circled us up to sing about each one sitting under her own “vine and fig tree” where we all shall “study war no more.” Passers-by paused to film us and join our circle. Earlier in the vigil a Muslim woman stepped up and hugged each and every person holding the long Close Guantanamo banner. I was reminded of the words of encouragement we heard earlier in the week: “Tell it. Tell it!” To bear witness contains a power we do not direct or control. We simply consent to “tell it,” and the rest is grace.

What the Court Would Have Heard

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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 12^th. 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 12^th, 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 12^th, 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 1^st 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.

WAT Members on Trial

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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.

Witness Against Torture on Social Media

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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

Photos of WAT in DC, June 2015

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Members of Witness Against Torture hold a banner of Tariq ba Odah during a vigil outside the White House. See more photos on Flickr.

Join us in DC for Torture Awareness Week

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Dear Friends and Supporters,

We need your help to lift up the voices of those who will be speaking out next week all over the world to bring an end to torture. There are many ways to do this:

Join Witness Against Torture (WAT) in Washington DC during Torture Awareness Week (June 21 to 28, 2015) for the trials of WAT members who were arrested on January 12 for protesting in Congress. Twenty-two people spoke out on behalf of those who have been detained, tortured and murdered by our government, in two different places in the Capitol. We will also be supporting TASSC and their advocacy to end torture. We have a packed week of trial support, public discussions and vigils. Check it out below!

Join or organize a local vigil and Fast for Justice on June 26 – this is 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. See the facebook event here and Read More information here

Promote our work through social media and conversations with your friends, family and organizations. We will be posting pictures and updates on Facebook for you to share, respond to and talk about with your social groups. Please take this opportunity to lift up this important issue.

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.

Come to DC for Torture Awareness Week: WAT Members on Trial for Witnessing in the Capitol

Monday June 22

9:30 a.m. WAT Senate Gallery TrialCourtroom 116, Magistrate Judge Karen Howze
Superior Court of the District of Columbia
500 Indiana Ave, NW, WDC 20001
(trial likely to continue until Tuesday)

Tuesday June 23

6 to 8 p.m.: Panel: Legalized Torture: Gitmo to Rikers
Friends Meeting of Washington
2111 Florida Ave NW, DC 20008-1912

Wednesday June 24

9 to 5: TASSC Conference on Torture
9 a.m. to 2 p.m. speakers, 2 to 5 p.m. advocacy training (required for those doing advocacy Thursday)
Aquinas Hall, Catholic University (near Brookland Metro)
(entrance for cars at Michigan Ave NW and 4th St NE)

Thursday June 25

10:30 to 11:30 a.m.: Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
Testimonies by TASSC Survivors at the Lantos Commission
United States House of Representatives

2 p.m.: WAT Visitors Center Trial
Courtroom 120, Magistrate Judge Rainey Brandt
Superior Court of the District of Columbia
500 Indiana Ave, NW WDC 20001
(trial likely to continue Friday morning)

Friday June 26 – All Day Fast for Justice

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, and others)

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

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 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)

Join us for all or part of the week! We’ll be at St Stephens Episcopal Church. Contact Helen Schietinger to sign up at h.schietinger@verizon.net

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

Mark your Calendars – August 3rd, 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.

Contact Jeremy Varon at jvaron@aol.com to get involved in the August 3rd Vigil.

Witness Against Torture on Social Media:

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.

Rights Groups Send an Open Letter to President Obama

News // Film

Our Latest Press Release: Rights Groups Send An Open Letter to President Obama and Ashton Carter: Free the 57 Guantánamo Prisoners Approved for Transfer

Together the undersigned organizations call for the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to be closed, and we ask President Obama and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter to swiftly transfer the 57 prisoners at Guantánamo who have already been cleared for transfer—the majority for over five years—and release or charge in a federal court those who have not been cleared for transfer.

May 23 marks the second anniversary of President Obama’s promise to resume releasing prisoners from Guantánamo, after Congress raised legislative obstacles, which he made during remarks at the National Defense University. The President’s promise was prompted in particular by a prison-wide hunger strike at Guantánamo, undertaken by men who—according to SOUTHCOM Commander General John Kelly—were “devastated” that the administration had “backed off” closing the prison.

Since that speech, 44 men have been freed. However, 122 men remain at Guantánamo, even though almost all of them have never been charged, let alone tried, for any crime. It is time for President Obama, and Defense Secretary Carter, to take action to transfer the 57 men still held who have already been approved to leave Guantánamo, and to release or charge in federal court those who remain.

Today, just days before the anniversary of President Obama’s promise, a delegation of British MPs is visiting Washington, D.C., to discuss the release of Shaker Aamer, one of the 57 and the last British resident in Guantánamo. This follows the creation of a cross-party Parliamentary Group, and a motion passed by the British Parliament in March, calling for his release and return to his family in the U.K., and a similar call made by Prime Minister David Cameron in a meeting with President Obama in January.

As well as calling for the transfer of the 57 men cleared for transfer, including Shaker Aamer, we also call on the administration to speed up the Periodic Review Boards (PRBs), designed to review the cases of the men who have not been cleared for transfer and are not facing trials. Since the PRBs began in November 2013, 14 men have been reviewed and nine have been cleared for transfer. If the process does not speed up, it will take until January 2021 to complete the reviews—19 years after Guantánamo first opened.

The prison at Guantánamo is an expensive mistake that—according to national security officials, and President Obama—harms U.S. security interests. The U.S. government must act to close the prison as quickly as possible.

For further information, please contact Andy Worthington of Close Guantánamo at: andyworthington87@gmail.com

or Matt Hawthorne of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) at: mhawthorne@nrcat.org

For further information about the British Parliamentary delegation, please contact Katherine O’Shea of Reprieve at: katherine.oshea@reprieve.org

Witness Against Torture and HOOD share the Ally Award from CCR

News // Film

Witness Against Torture is honored to receive this year the Ally Award of the Center of Constitutional Rights (CCR). It will be presented at the Annual President’s Reception in New York City on May 6. The award is a testament to the dedication of the WAT community and its close partnership with CCR. We are honored to share the award with the The National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms (HOOD), a Yemen-based human rights organization demanding an end to torture and the closure of Guantanamo, among many issues. . The following is a letter sent to HOOD about sharing this award with them.

Dear Members of the National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms,

We, members of Witness Against Torture, write to you to say we are deeply honored and humbled to share the Center for Constitutional Right’s ally award this year with your organization. While we have never had the opportunity to meet in person, we have heard about and followed your courageous work defending the dignity and rights of so many in Yemen and around the world. We thank you for this. It is knowing that organizations like yours continue to struggle for justice and human rights, that fuels our work inside the United States to demand the closure of Guantanamo and an immediate end to torture and indefinite detention.

Our group formed in 2005 when 25 United States citizens went to Guantánamo Bay and attempted to visit the detention facility. Since we returned from that journey, we have continued to organize more broadly to shut down Guantánamo, working with interfaith, human rights and activists’ organizations for the last ten years. Every January, we gather in Washington D.C. to fast and protest the continued existence of Guantanamo, a place that must be forever shuttered. Our work focuses on nonviolent direct actions to expose and decry the US administration’s lawlessness and build awareness about torture and indefinite detention.

As we write to you today. We remember the 122 men that remain in Guantanamo. We also remember that 76 of them are from Yemen. We remember that they are missed and loved by so many of the people that you work with. We know that our government has stolen so many years of their lives. The continued resilience, resistance, and hope for freedom expressed by the men in Guantanamo continues to guide our work. This year, we have particularly been moved by the words of our brother Fahd Ghazy. We share his dream that one day he will taste freedom, walk once again upon his land, and be reunited with his loved ones.

We hope that sharing this award will bring us into closer relationship. Truly, it is an honor for us. Knowing that we are in this work together will help us continue until torture is decisively ended, Guantánamo and similar facilities are closed, and drone strikes are unimaginable.

Finally, we would like to be able to cultivate a relationship with you all. We are open to the many ways that this could happen. Once simple way would be to share the work you are doing through our email, social media, and personal networks. Please feel free to share any other ways you believe that we could partner in this work. You can email us at witnesstorture@gmail.com

Humbly honored,

Chris Knestrick, Paula Miller, Matt Daloisio, Uruj Sheikh, Helen Schietinger, Jeremy VaronJerica Arents, Justin Norman, Chissy Nesbitt, Marie Shebeck, Mike Levingston, and all of Witness Against Torture

May Newsletter: Protest outside U.S. Embassy, Take Action, Join us in DC!

News // Film

Dear Friends,

Witness Against Torture continues to plan, participate in, and take actions to demand an end to state violence — violence that continues to indefinitely detain 122 men in Guantanamo, incarcerate communities of color, and allow the police to murder Freddie Grey, Malissa Williams, Walter Scott, Tanisha Anderson, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and so many more. In April, 20 of our members at a a strategic planning retreat to determine the scope of our work for the coming year and deepen our analysis of the link between various forms of state violence. We are excited to implement many of the ideas generated by the group. Please stay tuned for more information about future campaigns and actions!

Click here to read the letter sent to HOOD about sharing this award with them.

Former Guatanamo Bay Prisoners Protest Outside United States Embassy in Uruguay.

Currently, there are 122 men that remain in Guantanamo, 57 of have been cleared for release. Despite the Obama administration’s recent promises, releases from the prison have once again ground to a halt. One of the last releases was in December of 2014, when six men were resettled in Uruguay. Four these men, Ahmed Adnana Ahjam, Ali Husein Shaaban, Abd al-Hadi Faraj and Abdul Bin Mohammed Bin Abess Ourgy, have begun to demonstrate in front of the United States embassy in Montevideo demanding compensation for the years of torture and detention they suffered at the hands of the United States government.

Watch this video from AJ+

Take Action Today to Demand Accountability for Torture:

We are calling all WAT members to join Amnesty International in pressuring the new Attorney General to Read the Torture Report! Last week, Amnesty International USA launched the American Torture Story campaign to get the Justice Department to commit to reading and review the full text of the so-called Senate “Torture Report,” which may contain evidence of prosecutable crimes. The report is a landmark document that should have legal implications for those who designed and carried out torture policies . Here is a quick action you can take to demand accountability. It won’t take any longer than a phone call.

Please send one page of the “Torture Report” to the Justice Department. You can do this through email, tweeting, printing and mailing a page. Please include the tag line, “If you won’t read the report, we’ll send it to you one page at a time”

Click here for more details: http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/torture/read-the-report

Secondly, there is a video action with the tag line, “If you won’t read the report, we’ll read it to you”

Click here for more details: http://blog.amnestyusa.org/us/if-the-justice-department-wont-read-the-torture-report-you-can-read-it-to-them/

Come to DC for Torture Awareness Week: WAT Members on Trial for Witnessing in the Capitol

Join Witness Against Torture (WAT) in Washington DC during Torture Awareness Week (June 21 to 28, 2015) for the trials of WAT members who were arrested on January 12 for protesting in Congress. Twenty-two people spoke out on behalf of those who have been detained, tortured and murdered by our government, in two different places in the Capitol.

The trials are timed to coincide with Torture Awareness Week, when WAT traditionally gathers in support of Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition, Inc (TASSC), whose members — torture survivors from all over the world — come together for solidarity and advocacy. The week culminates with the TASSC vigil on Saturday in Lafayette Square in front of the White House. Join us for all or part of the week! We’ll be at St Stephens Episcopal Church. Contact Helen Schietinger to sign up h.schietinger@verizon.net

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

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Please “like us on Facebook & follow us on Twitter & Instagram
Check out our latest news and updates on Tumblr.
Post any pictures of your local activities to our 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. www.witnesstorture.org

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Witness Against Torture
www.witnesstorture.org

@witnesstorture