Photos by Frida

From: Ken Butigan, Pace e Bene

Dear Pace e Bene community,

Pace e Bene Associate Judith Kelly and I were among 82 people arrested at the US Supreme Court on Friday, January 11, the sixth anniversary of the opening of the Guantanamo Bay prison. This event was one of many nonviolent actions that took place in the US and around the world.  We called on the United States to close this facility and we urged the US Supreme Court to guarantee due process for the 275 men who have been held there for years without being charged.  Many have been subject to torture.

In the spirit of our Pace e Bene community, I took this action in honor of Fr. Louie Vitale, Fr. Steve Kelly, Betsy Lamb and Fr. Jerry Zwada (all who are being held for their nonviolent witness to call for an end to torture training at Ft. Huachuca), as well as in honor of Pace e Bene trainer Diane Lopez Hughes and others who have recently taken nonviolent action at Ft. Benning (School of the Americas) and are now awaiting trial.

Most of all, I was mindful of the prisoners at Guantanamo. 

Nearly all of us who were arrested at the Supreme Court chose to withhold our names until we were brought before a judge (which is allowable under the law).   We explained to the officers processing us that we were acting on behalf of an individual Guantanamo prisoner who had been denied due process. 

We were clear with these officers that we were not giving a false name or alias, and that we would be happy to give our legal names once we were in court.  Until then, we were asking that the police and legal system to hear and engage with the names of these prisoners. 

We sought through this action to bring the names of these men into a US courtroom.  I represented a 37-year-old Afghani man who has been held without due process for years at Guantanamo.  By engaging in this witness, I was not arguing for his guilt or innocence.  Instead, I was urging that he and all the Guantanamo prisoners be allowed to hear the charges against them and to be able to contest them.  I was also calling on the Supreme Court to prohibit the practice of torture.

Because we withheld our name, we were held overnight.  Late on Saturday, we were brought before Judge Robert I. Richter.  One after another, each of us shared that we were representing a specific prisoner — asking that this individual being given legal due process — and then we gave him our legal name.  Most of us pled not guilty. Most powerfully, 82 names of Guantanamo prisoners were brought into a US court and legal proceeding for the first time, according to the organizers. 

Many thanks to Witness Against Torture which organized this nonviolent action.

To see some of the press coverage of this event, please click here.

To see photos, please click here.

Being linked with a specific fellow human being languishing in prison (who deserves the chance to hear the charges and evidence against him and to be able to contest those charges in a court of law) was an enormously prayerful and sobering experience.

Peace and goodness,

Ken Butigan
Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service