On January 11, 2008, eighty-two people were arrested at the US Supreme Court calling for the closure of Guantanamo Bay Prison and an end to torture as policy and practice.
Thirty-four people were tried in Superior Court in Washington, DC the week of May 27. They were found guilty by Judge Wendell Gardner. As Witness Against Torture — the organizing group — reported, "The 34 defendants represented themselves, mounting a spirited defense of their First Amendment rights to protest the gross injustice of abuse and indefinite detention of men at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay. Twelve were given jail sentences ranging from one to fifteen days, as well as a one year stay-away from the Supreme Court, and $50 in court fees."
Pace e Bene staffer Ken Butigan and Pace e Bene Associate Judith Kelly were arrested in January. (Kelley’s charges were subsequently dropped.) Butigan received a suspended 25 day jail sentence, one year of unsupervised probation, and an order prohibiting him from visiting the Supreme Court during that year. Here are Butigan’s remarks at sentencing.
Sentencing Statement by Ken Butigan
Your honor, my name is Ken Butigan and I am here on behalf of Gul Zaman, a 38 year old Afghani man who has been held for years without due process at Guantanamo Bay Prison.
Imagine, sometime in the not so distant future, each of us in this courtroom going to our mailboxes and finding an invitation.
The invitation says that we are cordially invited to a party celebrating the closing of Guantanamo Bay Prison and – even more stupendously – a world free of torture as policy and practice.
What excitement and hope as we sit down to a grand table where we eat till we are full, all of us — all of us, especially the guests of honor, the inmates currently being held in Guantanamo but who, by then, have been given their day in court. Plates are set in remembrance of those who have already died at Guantanamo.
Sitting together at this grand table, in conversation and silence, we will begin the slow and humbling – but also deeply profound and joyous – process of discovering our humanity once again.
Of course, such a day of celebration will not happen by accident. It will be organized only if each of us, today, join the global effort of re-humanization.
Each of us defendants, but also you, Judge Gardner and you, Prosecutor Acevedo and your team – each of us is being called to respond to this summons of history to work for an end to torture and for a world that prioritizes the well-being of all.
Each of us is being called to help make this future celebration possible.
See Pace e Bene report on action and trial
See Witness Against Torture report on action and trial
- Ken Butigan's blog
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