{"id":1757,"date":"2007-01-15T07:17:07","date_gmt":"2007-01-15T11:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/wordpress\/?p=1757"},"modified":"2007-01-15T07:17:07","modified_gmt":"2007-01-15T11:17:07","slug":"report-on-jan-11-stop-torture-shut-down-guantanamo-wash-dc-demo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karmalised.com\/?p=1757","title":{"rendered":"Report on Jan 11 STOP TORTURE! SHUT DOWN GUANTANAMO! Wash DC Demo"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Art Laffin, Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House, Wash DC<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am still savoring the spirit of hope-filled resistance that was so pervasive during the January 11th D.C. witness to close Guantanamo. From the “Prisoners Procession” where over 200 people dressed in orange jump suits and black hoods did a solemn walk from the unSupreme Court to the U.S. District Court, to the action inside the atrium of the court house, everyone who was part of this nonviolent witness sought to give voice to the Guantanamo prisoners who have been so brutally dehumanized.<\/p>\n

On the day of our action, the Fifth Anniversary of the first prisoners arriving at Guantanamo, we received news that at least 14 prisoners have resumed a hunger strike. As we acted, we were keenly aware that these prisoners are being violently forced-fed in special restraint chairs. We also remembered in a special way the three prisoners who died on June 10 in Guantanamo. The U.S. military stated that these deaths were suicides, but there still has not been an independent investigation done to establish the exact cause of death.
\n
\nSome 500 people participated in the January 11th witness in D.C. and 89 were arrested inside the U.S District Court. Outside the court house another 40 people were risking arrest in orange jump suits, but police sealed off entrances to the court house and people were not allowed in. Several people in our group delivered a legal brief and Habeas Corpus motions on behalf of the Guantanamo prisoners to Judge Hogan’s office, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court House. Others filed motions on behalf of prisoners at the court clerk’s office. For those of you who don’t know, this is the court house where several cases are pending for Guantanamo prisoners. Recently, a judge of the U.S. District Court in D.C. ruled that a Guantanamo prisoner, due to the Military Commissions Act, has no legal standing to be heard before a U.S. court.<\/p>\n

During our witness in the atrium, we wore our orange “Shut Down Guantanamo” t-shirts and several banners were displayed. We offered the Muslim Call to prayer, read from the scriptures, recited names of the Guantanamo prisoners, read accounts of the tortured prisoners, and read an excerpt from the legal brief we submitted on behalf of the prisoners. We also read from the Center for Constitutional Rights report which cited recent declassified government accounts of torture committed at Guantanamo. The chief U.S. Marshall ordered us to put away our banners and take off our t-shirts because, he said,” no political messages are allowed in the court house.” We continued with our prayer service to give voice to the prisoners who have been held five years without charges, who have been tortured, and who have been stripped of their humanity. As it became apparent the U.S. marshals were preparing to arrest us, most of us knelt or sat down. When the arrests began, we started singing Peace, Salaam, Shalom.<\/p>\n

For some great photos of this action see www.witnesstorture.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Following our arrest we were held in several large cells in the basement of the court house as the powers that be decided what to do with us. After five hours we were informed that we would be given a citation release. During processing most of us, who decided beforehand not to carry ID with us, declared that we were there on behalf of a specific Guantanamo prisoner and gave the name of that prisoner. We refused all other info, including our own names. Our photo’s were taken and we were given a ticket saying that we were John or Jane Doe, that we were charged with disorderly conduct, and that we have to appear in court on April 18.<\/p>\n

I am so grateful to have been part of this action. I am grateful, too, for all who did actions in their local communities and who supported us in any way. We keep our eyes on the prize and hold on!!!<\/p>\n

With love, hope and gratitude,
\nArt Laffin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Art Laffin, Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House, Wash DC I am still savoring the spirit of hope-filled resistance that was so pervasive during the January 11th D.C. witness to close Guantanamo. From the “Prisoners Procession” where over 200 people … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdXTf-sl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1757\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}