 Detainees at the U.S. Military Prison in Guantánamo will finally get their day in court on May 27  Superior Court, in Washington DC.
That is when 35 Americans from cities and towns across the country will go on trial for a protest at the U.S. Supreme Court on January 11, 2008.
WASHINGTON, DC -
In a new twist on traditional protest, the 35 activists will
enter their names as those of actual Guantánamo inmates. On January
11th, they were arrested without their own identification and were
taken into custody under the name of a Guantánamo prisoner.
This act symbolically grants the Guantánamo prisoners their day in court--which the Pentagon has denied them for years.
Father
Bill Pickard, a Catholic priest from Scranton, PA, is one of the
defendants. But he will be tried "as" Faruq Ali Ahmed, a Guantánamo
detainee.
- "I went to the Supreme Court to make a simple plea that
the inhumane treatment and actual torture of inmates at Guantánamo Bay
stop," says Fr. Pickard.
- "I went to bring the name and the humanity of Faruq Ali
Ahmed - who claims he traveled to Afghanistan in 2001 simply to teach
the Koran to children and that he has no affiliation with the Taliban
or Al Qaeda - before the law. He cannot do it himself, so I am called
by my faith, my respect for the rule of law and my conscience to do it
for him."
Among the defendants is a hog
farmer from Grinnell, Iowa, a social worker from Saratoga Springs, New
York, and a legal secretary from Baltimore.
Representing
themselves, the defendants plan on justifying their acts as upholding
U.S. law and international human rights and will call witnesses to
document the abuses at Guantánamo.
Witness Against Torture will hold two events related to the trial on May 27:
At
7:45 am, dressed in orange jumpsuits and black hoods, those facing
trial will carry their Guantánamo inmates' names from the U.S. Supreme
Court (Maryland Avenue and First Street) to the D.C. Superior Court
(Carl Moultrie Court House, 500 Indiana, Ave NW), where their cases
will be heard.
At 8:30 am, Witness Against Torture will hold a press conference outside the Superior Court.
Defendants
and witnesses will address the media. They will also hold a ceremony of
justice, expressing their demand that the rights and humanity of the
detainees be respected by placing
placards bearing the detainees'
names alongside copies of the U.S. Constitution, the Geneva Convention,
and the sacred texts of various religious traditions.
The trial will begin at 9:30 am. Press is invited to attend all the proceedings.
The January 11 protest was organized by Witness Against Torture (
www.witnesstorture.org), which was formed in 2005 when 25 Americans walked from Cuba to the U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo.
