A group of 35 protesters from the activist organization Witness Against Torture were tried in court on May 27 after their protest of Guantanamo Bay on January 11, the sixth anniversary of the prison’s opening. They are charged with “unlawful free speech” and “causing a harangue.” If convicted, they face up to 60 days in jail. As a political statement, the protesters refused to use their own names in the courtroom, using the names of various Guantanamo detainees instead.

Detainees in Guantanamo Bay are held as “enemy combatants” by the United States, which means that they are stripped of their Geneva Convention protections. This has drawn a large international outcry from groups such as Amnesty International, Witness Against Torture and many independent citizens.

At 7:45 AM., the people facing trial dressed in orange jumpsuits and black hoods, carrying their Guantánamo inmates' names from the U.S. Supreme Court to the D.C. Superior Court. They demanded that the detainees' names be placed on placards alongside copies of the U.S. Constitution, the Geneva Convention, and the various religious sacred texts. The trial began at 9:30 AM.

Christine Gaunt, a third generation hog farmer from Iowa, represented detainee Abdul Razak in court as a silent witness, considering herself “privileged” to do so. “He’s never had a chance to hear the charges against him,” she said, “let alone face the charges. When you detain someone indefinitely without charge, it’s cruel, it’s horrendously cruel…I’m outraged that my country would do something like this to another human being.”

Gaunt feels that the protesters were, “preemptively attacked” by the Supreme Court police, thus prevented from speaking at all. According to the protesters, the violations of Geneva Convention underline the difference between right and wrong.

“The Constitution should protect people. If we let torture go on…it’s like a virus, it will spread,” said Bill Pickard, a Catholic priest from Pennsylvania. “Even if they’re guilty of serious crimes, they’re still protected under moral and civil torture laws.” No matter what the prisoners have done, their American voice finds the mistreatment morally intolerable.

Almost four years after the Guantánamo Bay prison had opened, President Bush told CBS News Anchor Katie Couric, “We [Americans] don't torture,” on September. 6, 2006, despite publicly aired information to the contrary. Recently unearthed documents reveal that the CIA authorized methods such as waterboarding to interrogate the prisoners in 2005.

“I think the rest of the world agrees with us,” said Gaunt. “It’s just we can’t quite get to our top level of justice to say this is wrong. But we’ll sure make the effort.”

The January 11 protest, filmed in segments.

Words, photo by Alexandra Bregman. Video hosted by YouTube and uploaded by dmccunney1.