WITNESS AGAINST TORTURE

GUANTANAMO DETAINESS TO GET THEIR DAY IN COURT
Witness Against Torture Activists to "Represent" Detainees in Trial, May 27

WASHINGTON, DC - Detainees at the U.S. Military Prison in Guantanamo
will finally get their day in court on May 27 - Municipal Court, in
Washington DC.

That is when 35 Americans from cities and towns across the country
will go on trial on charges of "unlawful free speech" and "causing a
harangue" during a protest at the U.S. Supreme Court on January 11.

In a new twist on traditional protest, the 35 activists will enter
their names as those of actual Guantanamo inmates, giving them the
day in court the Pentagon has been denying them for years. During the
trial, the defense will call expert witnesses to document the abuses
at Guantanamo and will justify their acts as defenses of American
law. In a morning rally at the courthouse, the defendants will place
the detainees' names next to copies of the U.S. Constitution, the
Geneva Convention, and the sacred texts of various religious
traditions to express their demand that the rights and humanity of
the detainees be respected.

Fr. Bill Pickard, a Catholic priest from Scranton, PA, is one of the
defendants. But he will be tried "as" Faruq Ali Ahmed, a Guantanamo
detainee. "I went to the Supreme Court to make a simple plea that the
inhumane treatment and actual torture of inmates at Guantanamo 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.

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 to protest conditions there.

Witness Against Torture will be holding two events related to the
trial on May 27:

At 7:45am, those facing trial will walk in orange jumpsuits and black
hoods bearing their Guantanamo inmate names from the U.S. Supreme
Court (Maryland Avenue and First Street) to the D.C. Municipal Court
(Carl Moultrie Court House, 500 Indiana, Ave NW), where their cases
will be heard.

At 8:30am, Witness Against Torture will hold a press conference
outside the Municipal Court. Defendants and witnesses will address the media.

The trial will begin at 9:30 am. Press is invited to attend all the
proceedings.